I'm a 9.
Last night, I was supposed to be preparing a presentation on New Testament afterlife backgrounds for my Biblical Backgrounds class. What was I doing instead? Researching the Enneagram test. I eventually got to my Biblical Backgrounds presentation, but that in turn meant that I didn't get to bed until about 5:45 a.m.
You can take a good Enneagram test here. It's a personality test, but I've never seen one I actually found helpful until now. It finds how you identify with nine different "types." These types are a lot more complicated than simply personality or temperament. Instead, the types seem to be more built in to how a person naturally experiences, processes, and interprets the world.
For example, I am a prototypical 9/8. (The 9 is my primary type. The 8 is my "wing," which I have many elements of.) The 9 type is often called "peacemaker." It means that I process the world through controlling my emotions closely, having a stable personality, and seeking to find harmony and balance internally and between myself and others. At first, I thought the test got it wrong, but the more I read about the Enneagram and understood it, the more I knew the test was right. See, I am always working in the 9 mentality--I just didn't recognize it because I was not aware that most other people DON'T--I assumed it was pretty universal.
It actually blew my mind to realize that a 2 might be upset that a relationship is messed up, and that they don't want me to just try to convince them that it's ok (which is simply what I'd do internally--9's avoid dealing with these kinds of problems). I always thought people just wanted peace of mind no matter what the cost, like me. On the contrary, though, a 5 (the thinker) just wants to process things, a 6 wants to be secure, and a 7 just wants to express his/herself in relation to the circumstances. That is how they respond to the world. This is actually very helpful to me, because I sometimes deal with people by sending the message, "get over it," or, "It's not that important." That's because I'm a 9. But now I know not everyone works that way.
By the way, my "wing" trait, the 8, is all about principles, justice, control, and assertiveness. It makes a lot of sense for me to be first a 9 and then an 8.
Of cousre, there are also plenty of negative attributes to being a 9 and an 8, but why would I want to deface myself on my own blog? ;) You'll just have to check out the test yourself to find them out.
You can take a good Enneagram test here. It's a personality test, but I've never seen one I actually found helpful until now. It finds how you identify with nine different "types." These types are a lot more complicated than simply personality or temperament. Instead, the types seem to be more built in to how a person naturally experiences, processes, and interprets the world.
For example, I am a prototypical 9/8. (The 9 is my primary type. The 8 is my "wing," which I have many elements of.) The 9 type is often called "peacemaker." It means that I process the world through controlling my emotions closely, having a stable personality, and seeking to find harmony and balance internally and between myself and others. At first, I thought the test got it wrong, but the more I read about the Enneagram and understood it, the more I knew the test was right. See, I am always working in the 9 mentality--I just didn't recognize it because I was not aware that most other people DON'T--I assumed it was pretty universal.
It actually blew my mind to realize that a 2 might be upset that a relationship is messed up, and that they don't want me to just try to convince them that it's ok (which is simply what I'd do internally--9's avoid dealing with these kinds of problems). I always thought people just wanted peace of mind no matter what the cost, like me. On the contrary, though, a 5 (the thinker) just wants to process things, a 6 wants to be secure, and a 7 just wants to express his/herself in relation to the circumstances. That is how they respond to the world. This is actually very helpful to me, because I sometimes deal with people by sending the message, "get over it," or, "It's not that important." That's because I'm a 9. But now I know not everyone works that way.
By the way, my "wing" trait, the 8, is all about principles, justice, control, and assertiveness. It makes a lot of sense for me to be first a 9 and then an 8.
Of cousre, there are also plenty of negative attributes to being a 9 and an 8, but why would I want to deface myself on my own blog? ;) You'll just have to check out the test yourself to find them out.
posted by J. Arthur Ellis at 8:42 PM
3 comments
