Posted by Derf on October 28, 1998 at 11:23:54:
In Reply to: Charisma posted by Kronus on October 28, 1998 at 09:03:45:
: Is charisma a physical attribute or is it merely an emotional response?
I think it exists somewhere in the space where those two paths meet.
: We say that one has "charisma" but is that an outward manifestation of an internalized physical attribute of that person or is the "charisma" a generalized emotional response to that person by other people?
It takes two people, and both must have their facilities "activated." (You gave a pretty good overview of what those facilities were - the active and the reactive - or perhaps they could each have a bit of both.) So I would say your answer is YES.
: Does charisma reside more often within the behavioral traits expressed by any particular enneagram point?
Yes. The SIX. Of course, that's only my opinion.
I often fail to pick up anything from ONES and FOURS. I guess the facility is missing in me. Also, these types seem, more often than not, to be dry and over-controlled, "clapped into jail by [their] conscience" (Emerson - reputedly an amazingly charismatic individual). These points exist on a line, at opposite ends, so their priorities are practically reverse of each other. But they share a common drive in their conscience (to use the word in Emerson's sense) - their dissatisfaction with themselves.
People are at their best when they are free of inhibition and worry.
Yet, since one of my goals is to be a compendium of the human ability to feel, respond, etc., I don't want to concede that anyone "lacks charisma," because then I would only be conceding that I lack the ability to look beyond people's surface inhibitions, or at least to feel beyond them with faith. Wait long enough, and everyone will reveal a charismatic side - a comfortable, confident side, as it were. There are sublime wonders in every person.
I can feel my charisma slipping away when I forfeit my attention to self-doubt. If I fail to maintain even the slightest edge of confidence and high spirits, I know how it feels to be "pathetic" and "ineffectual." I know how all my humanity slips away. When I try to regain my confidence, it doesn't quite work, because then, I'm only trying to correct another problem in myself. When I am nitpicking myself, I become a walking shell. The spirit cannot survive in the face of this attitude. When I concede myself to others' nitpicking, then regardless of how polite I try to act, all traces of humanity (and therefore, the possibility for *positive* thrift) disappear. This is "the black hole of depression," because you have rejected yourself. And when you reject yourself, you reject the eyes in you that see the world. If this attitude is sufficiently self-contained, then it will merely look "dry" and "demagnetized." But I feel that if the nature of your attitude becomes tacitly clear to others, then you won't merely fail to inspire them with your presence. Your war within yourself will actually irritate most people. I know that the outside world, including other people, is a manifestation of the inside world. I can see this principle at work all the time in myself. When I feel confident, I feel contagious, and people will smile at me for no reason. If that sounds too good to be true, however, then imagine the flip side. Some have said that I cannot hide anything. My subtlest moods are in their face. Thus, I have come to understand the principle of "charisma," I think, and I've concluded that it's not something that you either have or you don't. It's something that you have to let yourself have.
: Is a SEVEN more likely to be considered charismatic than say a FOUR or a ONE?
I dunno.
: Kronus
- Derf (of the pseudo-oral tradition 8-).