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Enneagram Type 4 Board Archive Re: Inertia Blues-for mercurio and annPosted by Mercurio (4w5) on August 18, 1998 at 21:07:37: In Reply to: Re: Inertia Blues-for mercurio and ann posted by Ann on August 18, 1998 at 12:17:32: : ...becoming builders is what struck me, because while I have lots of creative ideas, I frequently fail to develop them into something tangible. Also, as is typical of my MBTI type INFP, I get more pleasure from starting something new than from seeing it through and finishing it... Dear Ann: Where I come from we have an interesting saying... "No confundas la gimnasia con la magnesia..." Loosely translated--so as not to lose the pun--it means "don't confuse gymansium and magnesium." They sound the same, but are not at all alike. This argument is important because when you start to look at yourself from an MBTI viewpoint--just like it happened with this Spanish pun--something gets lost in the translation! Keeping in mind that all theories devised by man to understand his behavior are incomplete regardless of the work put into them, here is the big difference between the Enneagram and the Myers-Briggs Typology Inventory, as I understand it to be: MBTI is a test that attempts to predict behavior and promote personality understanding by measuring EXTERNAL BEHAVIOR. Sixteen possible personalities are available, of which you and I--and, I suspect, most of the correspondents in this board--are INFP's. This type constitutes approximately 1% of the American population and there are at least three INFP females for every INFP male. As an accepted psychometric instrument, this test is pretty new, since its creator--not a doctor, psychologist or social scientist--developed it along with her daughter during the earlier decades of this century. What's the catch? It provides the answers to the questions WHAT? and HOW? The Enneagram is a system that attempts to help human beings become balanced in their outlook of life, so as to provide the greatest level of self-understanding and promote our efforts to accomplish our mission in life, whichever that may be. As a tool of psychological understanding, though, it aims to find what the individual's MOTIVATION is as he or she goes about his/her life. It is believed that the Sufis, a tribe with a long history of mysticism, developed the system thousands of years ago. More recently, the writings of Gurdieff and Naranjo have brought the discipline past the "obscure" stages and "into the light." What's the catch? It answers the question WHY? Having established this difference--I apologize for all the hominy--I can tell you that I know EXACTLY where you're coming from. That's why it is so important for me to move towards one. Once a type one starts something, he or she is compelled to see it to its completion because it's the RIGHT thing to do. I spent the first thirty years of my life starting things and not finishing them. As a result, I have lost family, friends and opportunities. While I've had to write these off as part of the learning process, one thing still nags me and perhaps you should "absorb it if it's useful." No matter what I lost throughout my life, I have been able to regain to some extent in different shapes or forms. The one thing that has slipped through my hands while I foolishly watched is the one thing I can never get back: TIME... You see, Ann, if I loose a dollar or an acquaintance or an argument, I can always win them back. But every second I lose is gone forever and, consequently, since we live in the same universe, every second you lose is gone forever, too. This is a PRINCIPLE, a natural law, a self-evident truth. This is what "moving to one" or "integration" is all about... Build, Ann...BUILD. Don't rely on what others say as your measuring stick, though. Take their counsel into consideration, but make sure the conclusions you arrive at are SOLELY YOURS! Only in that way will you be able to build when your tools are broken, when there are less than adequate materials and when you're so tired you'll question why you even started. But don't doubt for a single second that the discipline that will come about from integrating will help you stick to it when it gets rough. It will also be the joy that will warm your body when you look at that which you have built and it will help you own the moment while you say: I MADE THAT!!!! You can't manage the past and you can't predict tomorrow. All you have to work with is NOW. Start NOW!!!!!!!!!
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