Posted by michael on March 20, 1998 at 00:05:36:
In Reply to: Am I a 5 or a 9? posted by micki on February 18, 1998 at 10:51:36:
: After taking the test, I scored equally on 4, 5 and 9. I thought I was
: pretty sure I was a 5w6. Now I am a little confused. Anyone know the
: how to tell the difference between a 5 and 9? I'm quite sure I'm not a 4.
Are you still reading this message board?
I am a 9. For quite a while, many years ago as I was struggling to understand my position on the enneagram, I suspected I was either a 4 or a 5, with a distant possibility of 9. I think I really identified with the artistic emotionality of 4's and the intellectual image of 5's - that's how I liked to see myself at the time as many of my friends were artistic and/or intellectual, as I still consider myself, but those aspects are not central to my most deeply engrained habits.
It was as I was after reading a detailed description of all the points when it suddenly hit me, the 9 being the last point described. I think that was Helen Palmer's book -- I'm not sure, I don't have it now (very thick w/black border on cover). 9's struggle with their self identification because they experience such a range of orientations to life empathetically from contact with different people. I have an easy time understanding others' opinions, and can go along with all my friends plans. They usually provide my social and sometimes even proffesional opportunities for me (when I am least healthy), and seem to do so gladly. I believe this is because the sense of non-judgementality that I project wins their loyalty. In the past, I often have found my friends promoting me when I felt I did not deserve it. I also found myself doing things simply because friends and family told me that I should or ought to, but I didn't realize this because there opinions often quickly became my own.
Does that sound anything like yourself? I would say that describes the core of a 9 dependancy syndrome, and it is not easy to transcend. I would say my continual life struggle is to take charge of my own path -- to be Self-possesed. The greatest decision I ever made in my life was to join the Peace Corps. I felt the most satisfaction from that decision because 1) no one else suggested it to me and 2) it took me away from so many influential people in my life.
As others have said, it really helps to read about all the types. I don't think these tests mean very much, although they are interesting. I recomend the site "Enneagram Personality Dynamics":
http://graphics.lcs.mit.edu/~becca/enneagram//chat_ennea.html
which is probably how you got to this message board. Read through the items on each type, that will take quite a while, but it may be worth it if you really are trying to understand yourself -- the enneagram is a powerful tool to that end. Good luck.