Posted by Ryan on June 27, 1999 at 23:57:34:
In Reply to: Re: Does dysfunction mask type? posted by Dave on June 26, 1999 at 22:25:03:
> Now, contrary to dialectics where the synthesis subsumes the other points, in a trialectic all 3 points are continuously active in a cycle. There is a function flowing between them. If that flow is stuck more on the 5 side, well that wing becomes more developed. Personality grows from where attention goes and energy flows. To the degree you unstick your attention and intention is to the degree you become more in essence (ie. living in liberated consciousness and higher thoughts and virtues).
This is all very interesting, Dave. I don't quite understand the "clockwise" aspect of it, however. I would say that your secondary wing type (very repressed) acts out first, because at the moment of shock you lose control of the self-controlling aspect of your personality. That wing that you don't normally want to acknowledge (because it is contrary to your primary wing type) thus emerges. Then, after you regain control, you swing over to the primary wing, which is the type of your personality which normally comes into play during a crisis/stressful situation. Finally, depending on your healthiness, in a certain amount of time your true enneagram type comes into control, and you gain control of the crisis (at least for the moment :) . This stuff about energy flowing between points sounds almost a little mystical to me...
I'm glad you posted some more of what you believe. However, I still think that enneagram types are necessary components in order to retain our humanity. I've been thinking about this and what it seems to me you are saying is that there is one road to true wisdom, and to do this we must first shed our types. But why can't there be 9 roads? I have been influenced greatly by Plato's "Republic" and structural-functionalist sociology. Both of these argue that an ideal society consists of healthy individuals each performing the task that best suits him or her. This would be a "hive mentality" where happiness would be in performing the task that psychologically suited you best. Of course, this is probably a pipe dream, but it influences my beliefs about the enneagram. Humanity needs all nine types to retain its essential qualities. What would happen if we all became like you said, free from all fixation? Somebody who no longer had an enneagram type would be an extremely boring person to me. What's more, I think this is in fact an impossibility. Too many of the types take contradictory approaches that are neither correct or incorrect, they are just different. A 1 will probably act immediately against a perceived injustice, going to Washington to picket the White House (I'm making this country specific. sorry. :). A 5 will try to understand and analyze the issue and maybe write a paper about it. Both of these are good, healthy approaches. What would somebody who was neither a 1, 5 or any other enneagram type do in this situation? If that person acts in any way at all, they are becoming a personality type, an enneagram type, and thus, by your definition, flawed. Of course, you can argue that someone free of enneagram type will no the exact best thing to do in every situation and be able to act like any enneagram type they want without becoming that type. But I find this a very implausible way of viewing how even the healthiest human being would work.
I still believe, and always will, that the road to personal perfection is a different road for each individual. And that road is dependent on your enneagram type. I'd love to hear you outline an ideal society where every single person lost their enneagram type completely? How would it work? Who would do what, and why? As I have argued many times before, I don't believe there's been a single case in human history where somebody transcended enneagram type, so why should I believe it is possible now? My advice to all is to realize and understand who you are and to develop yourself to be the best person you possibly can without losing the essential sense of who you are.
Ryan (blaspheming against the One True Enneagram Point)