Favorite Enneagram Theorist
personally, I'm partial to Naranjo. he hits to the core and doesn't pull his punches. before coming across his work, I sorted through so much nebulous, white washed shit trying to figure out my core, but Naranjo made it obvious.
apart from practical value, I love the defensive reactions his work gets out of people when he brings up an inconvenient part of their personality. no other Enneagram theorist is as controversial
apart from practical value, I love the defensive reactions his work gets out of people when he brings up an inconvenient part of their personality. no other Enneagram theorist is as controversial
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Good stuff. I did a bit of research into temperaments & physical typologies. Fascinating stuff. Too bad they were discontinued.
Maitri has some unique insights that neither Almaas nor Naranjo have. Both of those are up in the clouds somewhere and she is more down to earth. She has the sensibilities of a normal person. She knows what he/she experiences in real life. I find them all good.
Before anyone too quick to doubt Naranjo, he's spent years and years counseling and studying people before and after he was introduced to the Enneagram. His knowledge base of actual cases is HUGE. That was why he was able to reach the depth and breath in C&N. I think it is unfortunate that the current quick fix mentality permeates the minds of most Enneagram students. With quick online tests and look ups, charts and a myriad of nomenclatures, people just switch symbols from one week to the next: 8w7/3w2/7w6 sp/sx/so to another set after a new bit of information. They're just inundated with information. Informed but never wise nor discerning.
I mean they start polls about what they like about each type (with wings) in real life... That's 18 categories, on top of that they claim to be able to distinguish so/sp/sx for each of them. That's 6 instinct stackings for each. 18x6 = 108 (not to mention the ridiculous 27 tri-types) That comes out to hundreds distinct types. And they can pinpoint that some body is a 8w7-6w5-4w3 sp/sx/so from just reading a few posts from that person? lol. Look at it again, that's 8 levels of unique distinctions (the "so" at the end doesn't count) We're talking about computer level of processing and bookkeeping. That's humanly impossible
Some of them don't even know 50 people in real life left alone hundreds enough to verify these hundreds of categories. Even the most basic of these "real life" claims are dubious, for example: do you even know enough people to spread over the 18 type-wing combinations? Any mistyping will throw your whole "experience" out the window because they will cause you to draw the wrong conclusion and the accuracy of any further typing is reduced.
What if you typed the first person wrong? What if you're wrong about typing a core type? Do you really know them that well? I mean the person you know best all your life is yourself, and you're not even sure of your core type. You keep changing time after time. Then how confident are you of another person's type? We're only talking about ONE person here, not 20 or 30 or however many you claim to know in real life to even have polls on.
The most respectable answer is "I don't know... I don't know enough about types in real life to draw such universal conclusions about them, it's gonna take me 20 years or so." People should stop making polls and start reading.
I mean they start polls about what they like about each type (with wings) in real life... That's 18 categories, on top of that they claim to be able to distinguish so/sp/sx for each of them. That's 6 instinct stackings for each. 18x6 = 108 (not to mention the ridiculous 27 tri-types) That comes out to hundreds distinct types. And they can pinpoint that some body is a 8w7-6w5-4w3 sp/sx/so from just reading a few posts from that person? lol. Look at it again, that's 8 levels of unique distinctions (the "so" at the end doesn't count) We're talking about computer level of processing and bookkeeping. That's humanly impossible
Some of them don't even know 50 people in real life left alone hundreds enough to verify these hundreds of categories. Even the most basic of these "real life" claims are dubious, for example: do you even know enough people to spread over the 18 type-wing combinations? Any mistyping will throw your whole "experience" out the window because they will cause you to draw the wrong conclusion and the accuracy of any further typing is reduced.
What if you typed the first person wrong? What if you're wrong about typing a core type? Do you really know them that well? I mean the person you know best all your life is yourself, and you're not even sure of your core type. You keep changing time after time. Then how confident are you of another person's type? We're only talking about ONE person here, not 20 or 30 or however many you claim to know in real life to even have polls on.
The most respectable answer is "I don't know... I don't know enough about types in real life to draw such universal conclusions about them, it's gonna take me 20 years or so." People should stop making polls and start reading.
absolutely.
Almaas has his whole school of Diamond Approach thing. Facets of Unity is the intersection of the Enneagram and that, all from Eastern philosophies. Facets of Unity is a great alternate perspective on the Enneagram that moves people away from the perspective of the ego to the perspective of the universe. I can see how people can be stuck in a rut reading all these Enneagram books from the perspective of the self. Once you move yourself up, you can get a clearer picture.
His chapter on type 9 is great and it is very different from any other author. Another example is type 2 experiences "humiliated castration" and its number one compulsion is "willful action."
His chapter on type 9 is great and it is very different from any other author. Another example is type 2 experiences "humiliated castration" and its number one compulsion is "willful action."
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