Posted by Hal on June 28, 1999 at 16:45:26:
In Reply to: Re: Does dysfunction mask type? posted by Ryan on June 27, 1999 at 23:57:34:
> 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)
I'm with Dave on this one. Why is it that humanity should be equated with enneagram type? Why should it be that we lose our humanity when we lose our fixations? This would imply that the essence of being human is being flawed. If this is so, I'd rather not be human. I know that you completely disagree with the idea of transcending type, Ryan, so I may be barking up the wrong tree. But I've come to consider (maybe even embrace) the possibility that my true self is not my enneagram type. I am not my thoughts, feelings, actions, or fixations. You seem to be saying that if you shed your fixations, you shed yourself.
This in no way implies that there is only one road to transcendence. There are as many roads as there are people. It just implies that all roads lead to the same place--in other words, underneath all the personalities and fixations, we are all the same. I completely understand your reluctance to give up your individuality this way, as I often feel the same way. But a book I read pointed out that even this sense of self is not necessary for individuality--just look at trees, which have no sense of self, but are all individual and unique.
- Hal -