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Not long ago I bumped into an enneagram blog and found this information extremely helpful in the sense of not only putting my own persona into words but also identifying my actual Enneagram type and subsequently my Archetype/Tri-type. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.
Please feel free to share your impressions and comparisons.
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Description
The Four is the personality type which emphasizes the subjective world of feelings, in creativity and individualism, in introversion and self-absorption, and in self-torment and self-hatred. In this personality type we see creative artists, romantic aesthetes, and withdrawn dreamers, people with powerful feelings who feel different from others because self-consciousness blocks them from getting outside themselves.
Creatures of emotional extremes, enneagram type 4s are awash in a stormy sea of emotions. They are all about relationships and seem to be always beginning, ending, or analyzing relationships. They feel frustrated in their search for connection to others. As children, they didn’t feel like the parents really understood them or were there for them emotionally. Whether or not this was really true is beside the point. They feel like they were born into the wrong family and continue to seek out people who will nurture them, mirror them, and rescue them from their suffering.
People of Enneatype Four construct their identities around their perception of themselves as being somehow unique and fundamentally different from others. This deep felt sense of being “different from” or “other than” pervades the Four’s sense of self, and functions as the basis for the Four’s attempt to create a persona that properly reflects who they feel they really are. Fours are not content (or even able) to live out the role assigned them by their societies or their families; they self-consciously search for an expression they feel will be truly authentic. Of all the types, Fours are the most acutely aware that the persona is a construct – something which has been created and can thus be re-created. This is indeed the fundamental respect in which Fours are artists; they may or may not be artists in the conventional sense of the term, but all Fours have a sense that their identities are, in some respect, their own creation.
Withdrawn Triad
The 4 prefers to focus on what makes him who he is (a.k.a. "The Feeling Center"), to be out of touch with his actual physical body, or instinctual motivation for doing things (a.k.a. "The Instinctual-Motivation Center). He tends to underuse his physical body and avoids acting meaningfully in the world. He uses his mental and cognitive functions (a.k.a. "The Thinking Center") in the form of imagination to ramp up the intensity of his feelings and sensation. He withdraws to protect his feelings and sensations and to live in his imaginary world.
Equivalents
More Common:
INFJ "The Mystic" - Have deeply felt compassion, desiring harmony with others.
INFP "The Dreamer" - Desire their world to be in line with their inner ideal vision.
Quite Common:
ISFP "The Aesthete" - Avoid disagreements, seeking harmony with people and nature.
ENFP "The Visionary" - Love the fluid and changing, expressing creativity and charisma.
Variations/Wings
4w3 - Seeking Identity and Image
Fours with a 3 wing can sometimes seem like Sevens. May be outgoing, have a sense of humor and style. Prize being both creative and effective in the world. Both intuitive and ambitious; may have good imaginations, often talented. Some are colorful, fancy dressers, make a distinct impression. Self-knowledge combines well with social and organizational skills. When more entranced, often have a public/private split. Could conceal feelings in public then go home to loneliness. Or they could enjoy their work and be dissatisfied in love. Tendency towards melodrama and flamboyance; true feelings can often be hidden. Competitive, sneaky, aware of how they look. Some have bad taste. May be fickle in love, drawn to romantic images that they have projected onto others. Could have a dull spouse, then fantasize about glamorous strangers. Achievements can be tainted by jealousy, revenge, or a desire to prove the crowd wrong.
4w5 - Seeking Identity and Knowledge
Healthy side of this wing brings a withdrawn, complex creativity. May be somewhat intellectual but have exceptional depth of feeling and insight. Very much their own person; original and idiosyncratic. Have a spiritual and aesthetic openness. Will find multiple levels of meaning to most events. May have a strong need and ability to pour themselves into artistic creations. Loners; can seem enigmatic and hard to read. Externally reserved and internally resonant. When they open up it can be sudden and total. When entranced or defensive, Fours with a 5 wing can easily feel alienated and depressed. Many have a sense of not belonging, of being from another planet. Can get lost in their own process, drown in their own ocean. Whiny - tend to ruminate and relive past experience. Prone to the emotion of shame. Air of sullen, withdrawn disappointment. May live within a private mythology of pain and loss. Can get deeply morbid and fall in love with death.
Please feel free to share your impressions and comparisons.
***
Description
- Riso and Hudson's Overview
The Four is the personality type which emphasizes the subjective world of feelings, in creativity and individualism, in introversion and self-absorption, and in self-torment and self-hatred. In this personality type we see creative artists, romantic aesthetes, and withdrawn dreamers, people with powerful feelings who feel different from others because self-consciousness blocks them from getting outside themselves.
- Palmer's Description "The Unique Person"
Creatures of emotional extremes, enneagram type 4s are awash in a stormy sea of emotions. They are all about relationships and seem to be always beginning, ending, or analyzing relationships. They feel frustrated in their search for connection to others. As children, they didn’t feel like the parents really understood them or were there for them emotionally. Whether or not this was really true is beside the point. They feel like they were born into the wrong family and continue to seek out people who will nurture them, mirror them, and rescue them from their suffering.
- Ocean-Moonshine.net's Description
People of Enneatype Four construct their identities around their perception of themselves as being somehow unique and fundamentally different from others. This deep felt sense of being “different from” or “other than” pervades the Four’s sense of self, and functions as the basis for the Four’s attempt to create a persona that properly reflects who they feel they really are. Fours are not content (or even able) to live out the role assigned them by their societies or their families; they self-consciously search for an expression they feel will be truly authentic. Of all the types, Fours are the most acutely aware that the persona is a construct – something which has been created and can thus be re-created. This is indeed the fundamental respect in which Fours are artists; they may or may not be artists in the conventional sense of the term, but all Fours have a sense that their identities are, in some respect, their own creation.
Withdrawn Triad
- Palmer at Enneagram-Spirituality.com (Derived from)
The 4 prefers to focus on what makes him who he is (a.k.a. "The Feeling Center"), to be out of touch with his actual physical body, or instinctual motivation for doing things (a.k.a. "The Instinctual-Motivation Center). He tends to underuse his physical body and avoids acting meaningfully in the world. He uses his mental and cognitive functions (a.k.a. "The Thinking Center") in the form of imagination to ramp up the intensity of his feelings and sensation. He withdraws to protect his feelings and sensations and to live in his imaginary world.
Equivalents
- Myers-Briggs Equivalents
More Common:
INFJ "The Mystic" - Have deeply felt compassion, desiring harmony with others.
INFP "The Dreamer" - Desire their world to be in line with their inner ideal vision.
Quite Common:
ISFP "The Aesthete" - Avoid disagreements, seeking harmony with people and nature.
ENFP "The Visionary" - Love the fluid and changing, expressing creativity and charisma.
Variations/Wings
4w3 - Seeking Identity and Image
- LifeExplore
Fours with a 3 wing can sometimes seem like Sevens. May be outgoing, have a sense of humor and style. Prize being both creative and effective in the world. Both intuitive and ambitious; may have good imaginations, often talented. Some are colorful, fancy dressers, make a distinct impression. Self-knowledge combines well with social and organizational skills. When more entranced, often have a public/private split. Could conceal feelings in public then go home to loneliness. Or they could enjoy their work and be dissatisfied in love. Tendency towards melodrama and flamboyance; true feelings can often be hidden. Competitive, sneaky, aware of how they look. Some have bad taste. May be fickle in love, drawn to romantic images that they have projected onto others. Could have a dull spouse, then fantasize about glamorous strangers. Achievements can be tainted by jealousy, revenge, or a desire to prove the crowd wrong.
4w5 - Seeking Identity and Knowledge
- LifeExplore
Healthy side of this wing brings a withdrawn, complex creativity. May be somewhat intellectual but have exceptional depth of feeling and insight. Very much their own person; original and idiosyncratic. Have a spiritual and aesthetic openness. Will find multiple levels of meaning to most events. May have a strong need and ability to pour themselves into artistic creations. Loners; can seem enigmatic and hard to read. Externally reserved and internally resonant. When they open up it can be sudden and total. When entranced or defensive, Fours with a 5 wing can easily feel alienated and depressed. Many have a sense of not belonging, of being from another planet. Can get lost in their own process, drown in their own ocean. Whiny - tend to ruminate and relive past experience. Prone to the emotion of shame. Air of sullen, withdrawn disappointment. May live within a private mythology of pain and loss. Can get deeply morbid and fall in love with death.