The Enneagram - Type 5 (The Observer)
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Fifth of a 9 part series highlighting the Enneagram. Others in the series are:
The Enneagram - Type 9 (The Mediator) (GC2E134)
The Enneagram - Type 8 (The Boss) (GC2DBY6)
The Enneagram - Type 7 (The Enthusiast) (GC2DBXC)
The Enneagram - Type 6 (The Loyalist) (GC2DB71)
The Enneagram - Type 4 (The Tragic Romantic) (GC2DA10)
The Enneagram - Type 3 (The Performer) (GC2D9N3)
The Enneagram - Type 2 (The Giver) (GC2D8RM)
The Enneagram - Type 1 (The Perfectionist) (GC2CZKJ)
The Enneagram ("ennea" means "nine") has roots going back to ancient Sufi mysticism, & describes 9 different personality types & their interrelationships. It helps us understand our own type & how to cope with our issues; understand our work associates, family & friends; and to appreciate the predisposition that each type has for higher human capacities such as empathy, omniscience & love.
The Enneagram was popularized by the Jesuit order in the 20th century. It is a personality typing system (similar to, but quite different from, the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicators). Each person is one of nine different and distinctive types, though all of us have characteristics found in each of the types. I am a 9, for example. Discovering this, and working with it, has been very informative and helpful to me.
While it's uncertain whether one's type is genetically determined, many believe it is already in place at birth. Enneagram authors have attached their own individual names to these numbers. Helen Palmer for example names them: 1. The Perfectionist; 2. The Giver; 3. The Performer; 4. The Tragic Romantic; 5. The Observer; 6. The Devil's Advocate; 7. The Epicure; 8. The Boss; 9. The Mediator. People of a particular type have numerous characteristics in common, but they can be quite different. It depends, among other things, on each person's level of mental and emotional health. Unhealthy (neurotic) people from a particular type can appear to be quite different from healthy ones of the same type.
For more in-depth information go to my now archived cache "The Enneagram (overview) GC8A196
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Type 5 - The OBSERVER The Intense, Cerebral Type: Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated
Type Five in Brief Fives are alert, insightful & curious. They are able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas and skills. Independent, innovative & inventive, they can also become preoccupied with their thoughts and imaginary constructs. They become detached, yet high-strung & intense. They typically have problems with eccentricity & isolation. At their Best: visionary pioneers, often ahead of their time, and able to see the world in an entirely new way.
Basic Fear: Being useless, helpless, or incapable Basic Desire: To be capable and competent Key Motivations: Want to possess knowledge, to understand the environment, to have everything figured out as a way of defending the self from threats from the environment.
Examples: Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Georgia O'Keefe, Stanley Kubrick, John Lennon, Lily Tomlin, Gary Larson, James Joyce, Emily Dickinson, Agatha Christie, Ursula K. LeGuin, Jane Goodall, John Cage, Bobby Fischer, Tim Burton, Stephen King, Friedrich Nietzsche, Vincent Van Gogh, Kurt Cobain, Jodie Foster & "Fox Mulder" (X Files).
Type Five Overview
Fives want to find out why things are the way they are. They want to understand how the world works, whether it is the cosmos, the microscopic world, the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms—or the inner world of their imaginations. They are always searching, asking questions, and delving into things in depth. They do not accept received opinions and doctrines, feeling a strong need to test the truth of most assumptions for themselves. Behind Fives’ relentless pursuit of knowledge are deep insecurities about their ability to function successfully in the world. Fives feel that they do not have an ability to do things as well as others. But rather than engage directly with activities that might bolster their confidence, Fives “take a step back” into their minds where they feel more capable.Their belief is that from the safety of their minds they'll eventually figure out how to do things & one day rejoin the world.
Fives spend a lot of time observing & contemplating—listening to the sounds of wind or of a synthesizer, or taking notes on the activities in an anthill in their back yard. As they immerse themselves in their observations, they begin to internalize their knowledge and gain a feeling of self-confidence. They can then go out and play a piece on the synthesizer or tell people what they know about ants. They may also stumble across exciting new information or make new creative combinations (playing a piece of music based on recordings of wind and water). When they get verification of their observations and hypotheses, or see that others understand their work, it is a confirmation of their competency.
Knowledge, understanding & insight are highly valued by Fives, because their identity is built around “having ideas” and being someone who has something unusual and insightful to say. Fives are not interested in exploring what is already familiar and well-established; rather, their attention is drawn to the unusual, the overlooked, the secret, the bizarre, the “unthinkable.” Investigating "unknown territory"—knowing something that others do not know, or creating something that no one has ever experienced—allows Fives to have a niche for themselves that no one else occupies. They believe that developing this niche is the best way that they can attain independence and confidence. Thus, for their own security & self-esteem, Fives need to have at least one area in which they have a degree of expertise that will allow them to feel capable and connected with the world. They therefore develop an intense focus on whatever they can master and feel secure about.
Not all Fives are scholars or Ph.Ds. But, depending on their intelligence and the resources available to them, they focus intensely on mastering something that has captured their interest. The areas that Fives explore do not depend on social validation; indeed, if others agree with their ideas too readily, Fives tend to fear that their ideas might be too conventional. History is full of famous Fives who overturned accepted ways of understanding or doing things (Darwin, Einstein, Nietzshce).
Many more Fives, however, have become lost in the Byzantine complexities of their own thought processes, becoming merely eccentric & socially isolated. The intense focus of Fives can lead to remarkable discoveries and innovations, but when the personality is more fixated, it can also create self-defeating problems. This is because their focus of attention unwittingly serves to distract them from their most pressing practical problems. Whatever the sources of their anxieties may be—relationships, lack of physical strength, inability to gain employment, and so forth—average Fives tend not to deal with these issues. Rather, they find something else to do that will make them feel more competent. The irony is that no matter what degree of mastery they develop in their area of expertise, this cannot solve their more basic insecurities about functioning in the world. The challenge to Fives is to understand that they can pursue whatever questions or problems spark their imaginations and maintain relationships, take proper care of themselves, and do all of the things that are the hallmarks of a healthy life.
(from The Wisdom of the Enneagram, Riso and Hudson p. 208-210) To take a short test to discern your Enneagram type click here: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp
Congratulations to DMB4Life for FTF.
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