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Enneagram Main Board Archive Modeling, etc.Posted by Jason on February 01, 2000 at 10:59:51: In Reply to: Re: A path to excellence, make clear my point posted by Z on January 31, 2000 at 14:55:18: > Dear Laurence, > Sorry I didn't have much time in composing biographies of the great minds of our time, especially when I'd rather let an expert type and/or write a biography instead. > From an NT point of view (as opposed to NF, which yours seems to be), it seems much more useful to cultivate our own best qualities instead of imitate someone elses. No matter how similar two people are, they are two different individuals. I don't think one should try to "model" the other. > Z Hey Z. I can understand your feeling on this perspective...however, to me, it seems that that is one of the main points of the enneagram - that we are all limited in our ability to perceive "reality" because we are looking at it from one (of nine) possible perspectives. By reading (or otherwise learning) about other types, we expand our behavioral flexibility and our comprehension of human motivation. This IS modeling; if you don't want to "model" anyone, then you have to lock yourself in a closet and never come out. Certainly we "should" focus on our own best qualities - these are our path to "essence," in Palmer's lingo. But if we fail to "model" the strengths and strategies of others then our "openness" is severely restricted. I think perhaps it is the word "modeling" that is causing the difficulty here...I look at it as another phrase for "learning." When we grow up, we learn to walk, talk, interact, etc. through "modeling" or "learning" or "imitating" or whatever linguistic representation you prefer...and that is how we continue to learn throughout our lives. When we think we are "learning on our own" through reading, reflecting, etc. we are simply "modeling" by comparing ourselves to a textual or experiential "model," and then increasing our behavioral/perspectival repertoire.
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