The Enneagram & Why It Matters
May 23, 2018
Written By: Erin Diaz
You’ve heard the word for the past few months/years, whether it’s been in a church setting, school setting, or in a social circle: “Enneagram”. Most people respond to the word the same way that I did when I first heard it, which mostly has to do with butchering the way it’s supposed to be pronounced. Once you get past the easily mistaken morphology of “Enneagram”, the next question posed is usually “what on God’s green earth is that?” The long answer to the question is “It’s a personality test like Myers-Briggs but more in-depth about what your motivations are behind the things you do,” and the short answer is “I’ve never had something explain me to myself better than this.”
The Enneagram is becoming more popular in some circles, yet its origin is anything but new. Relevant Magazine’s recent article “The Rise of the Enneagram” states, “Depending on who you ask, its earliest iterations were either in the 1950s or the 1910s, though there are some experts who say versions of it can be found in the writings of fourth-century Christian mystics (and there are some who trace its roots all the way back to ancient Egypt).” The pretty amazing part of why the Enneagram is so cool is that it has adapted to the world through decades of change. No matter how long the world goes on, people will always desire self-exploration and identity, which is why the Enneagram still matters (maybe even more so) today.
As the Myers-Briggs test uses four letters to explain what your tendencies are as a person, the Enneagram focuses on numbers, beginning with one and ending on nine. Although it is easy to think of a scale when you think about numbers, the Enneagram isn’t a scale at all. Each number is distinct in its strengths, weaknesses, motivations and desires. A few months ago, I told my friend (who had no prior experience with the Enneagram) that I felt like she was an eight, to which she responded “Does that mean I’m better or worse of a person than 1-7?” Her thinking cannot be faulted, but it is not a true statement. Within each number there are many different types of people, and the range within the numbers is sometimes classified as “healthy/unhealthy” or “growth/weakness” and more.
I’m no expert on the Enneagram, so I will not be the one to tell you about each number in depth, as there are plenty of people who could do a better job at that than me (check out Typology to start). The numbers, as previously stated, are descriptive of each person and what motivates them in life. When I realized what my number is, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing about myself. I felt more known by the Enneagram test than I had felt by any other personality examination I had ever conducted on myself.
This blog post could easily turn into a research essay about the Enneagram and its ins and outs, but there are some other places that could explain why it’s important a bit more. Check out www.exploreyourtype.com to take the Enneagram test and begin finding out more about yourself in a way you never have before!