More than a number: A practical guide to understanding yourself through the Enneagram personality model

By Martin Quigley

The Enneagram is one of the world's most dynamic and enduring personality models. Its origins are ancient, but it has profound contemporary applications. Through its nine patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving, it shows us how to overcome our habitual patterns and how to think, feel and behave more consciously.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Release date: May 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9781916544345

Book preview

Foreword

In his new Enneagram book, More than a number, Martin Quigley has undertaken and successfully accomplished a major contribution both to the Enneagram field and to anyone pursuing self-discovery and growth or transformation. I say this because at this point in time, there are thousands upon thousands of Enneagram books now available in multiple languages. Many of these are written by accomplished Enneagram professionals, while others are written by people who either don’t know the Enneagram very well or deeply enough. So why do we need a new book?

Martin’s book is just different. It does cover the Enneagram accurately, and it also covers the Enneagram completely. There are a few, but not many, books available that also do that. But that is not why I am so wholeheartedly enthusiastic about More than a number. Here’s what I love about Martin’s book. First, it is extraordinarily well written. I knew Martin had a gift for verbal expression – a gift of the gab – but his writing is also remarkable for its clarity and fluid use of language.

Second, Martin includes crisp, clear and compelling graphics throughout the book, a great way for us to learn, especially for those of us who are visual learners. I’ve always said that if I can’t draw a concept, I don’t fully understand it. Martin truly understands what he is writing about and it shows. My absolute favorite is his use of the iceberg model – what is above the water line that we can easily see and what lies below it – to illustrate each type. This model is overused to such an extent that I’d given up on its utility. That was before I saw how Martin uses it. He gives the iceberg model new life! You could easily and thoroughly teach each Enneagram type in great depth just from Martin’s remarkable iceberg illustrations.

Finally, there is the book’s main proposition, which can be gleaned from its title More than a number. The point is that our Enneagram type number is not the reason to pursue the Enneagram. Instead, our Enneagram type is a gateway for our development, showing us more of ourselves and our paths for development. Only half of Martin’s book is about the most important Enneagram concepts: centers of intelligence, type, wings and arrows, and subtype. The other half focuses on our growth and transformation, as well as on applications such as communication, stress, conflict, relationships, and more. Here you’ll find practical and easy to follow guidelines that also include the much neglected area of somatics or body work.

Martin’s intention in this book, into which he has clearly poured everything he knows and loves, is to help us become more conscious at the individual, pair, group, organizational and even societal levels. And I believe this book can make a difference if we are to move in that direction.

If you’re new to the Enneagram, this book is perfect for you. If you are already Enneagram savvy, you’ll want to read this book because it is just that good, plus you’ll pick up a nugget or two and go Ahhh.

– Ginger Lapid-Bogda, PhD

Founder of the Enneagram in Business

For my three wonderful granddaughters

Abigail, Skye and Mackenzie.

May you live in more enlightened times.

Preface

I have been grappling with this journey of self-exploration for most of my life. I often reflected on how I appeared to get to a place in life that was often in opposition to where I was trying to go. Then one Sunday evening in 1988, my wife and I were going to bed; she had just returned from a weekend workshop. As I turned over to go asleep, she had her bedside light on and was going through her notes from the weekend. All of a sudden, I got a nudge in the ribs and a piece of paper was put in front of my face with an instruction: Read this, this is you. I duly opened one eye and read the page. No, it isn’t, I said and threw it back. There was another rustling of paper followed by another prod, this time with the instruction, Try this one. I read the page and sat bolt upright in the bed, Where did you get this? I said. The page described me from the inside out. Nobody should be able to know this, let alone write it down. That was my introduction to the Enneagram.

When I came to understand myself through the Enneagram, I had a framework, language and concepts that explained the world I experienced from within. It brought me to an understanding of my inner world. Even more importantly, I discovered that the Enneagram gave me a plan for my own growth and development.

Through this book, I invite you to go on the same journey of observation, exploration, self-discovery, self-awareness and self-­acceptance that I made, using the Enneagram as a framework. My aim in writing this book is to help you bring yourself to the same depth of self-understanding that I experienced – and am still experiencing. With the Enneagram model, I offer you a map of growth and a reflective practice whereby you can see where you have come from and how far you have travelled in life’s journey. Whatever proficiency I have in this field comes from my nearly 30 years of studying and teaching the Enneagram.

In this book, you will be encouraged to reflect on why you think, feel and behave as you do. You will be challenged to accept that others see reality differently from you, so they are not necessarily wrong, difficult, or obtuse, just different. You will have to consider why you tell family and friends that you are fine even when you are not. You will have to admit you have challenges or even dreams that you have been putting on the back burner and not addressing.

What is the Enneagram?

The Enneagram is a typology that identifies a certain collection of traits that make up a profound personality classification. The word Enneagram comes from the Greek ennea, for nine and gram, a figure drawn, a nine-pointed diagram. The model itself describes nine distinct and fundamentally different patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. It represents nine different ways of viewing the world - nine different type patterns - each with a different driving energy, compulsion and focus.

Our type patterns are strategies that help us get through daily life by focusing on a part of reality rather than being overwhelmed by all of it. We come to identify with our patterns as who we are and lose sight of the life force we entered the world with. In time, we come to recognise that the outside world does not always serve our needs, and at some point, we realise that it is not giving us what we are looking for. We conclude that we actually need to look inside ourselves in order to find a richer, more satisfying, purposeful way of living.

My own experience is that the Enneagram has greater depth and structure than other models of personality and gives profound insight into our inner world. Understanding yourself through this model gives greater insight into the motivations and drives that determine your responses to life’s events. The Enneagram framework then enables you to explore and understand what you gravitate towards, what you avoid and your defence reactions.

Through this awareness, you can gain more flexibility in the way you respond to people and situations. Using the Enneagram as a framework, you too can recognise and tell your own story; you will put your own words, experience and understanding onto the model – you are the expert in your own type patterns.

The benefits of exploring yourself through the Enneagram are many, including gaining a greater understanding of yourself and others, having better personal and professional relationships, being more effective at work and at home, making more balanced decisions and managing stress and conflict more effectively.

I believe the Enneagram is a wonderful tool to help us understand ourselves, our behaviours, motivations and relationships more clearly. Wherever you are on your life journey, if you are asking yourself questions about who you are and why you do what you do, it has something to offer you.

Don’t Get Hung Up on the Numbers!

The nine Enneagram patterns have many names, but the numbers are used by all writers and teachers on the subject. However, the purpose of this framework is absolutely not to reduce you to a number or put you in a box. Rather, it reveals the boxes you have put yourselves in (for really good reasons!) and how to get yourself out of them in order to give yourself more freedom.

The study of the Enneagram can be interesting but limited if you see it simply as a model that reduces people to a number. In this book, I often use the phrase people with patterns of Nine rather than Nines to remind us that we are so much more than our type patterns. The study of your inner world through the Enneagram can be life-changing.

There are two main distinctions to recognise when you come to study the Enneagram; there is the Enneagram of Personality and there is the Enneagram of Transformation. The former is the description of the nine type patterns; the latter describes how you can reconnect with the qualities that disappear from awareness when the patterns develop. The journey is firstly about recognising the patterns that drive you and secondly developing practices for allowing the inner qualities to consciously influence your thinking, feeling and behaviour patterns.

To use a motoring analogy, we come into the world with a two-cylinder engine that is not effective in getting our needs met, so we develop another two cylinders that drive us through life, our type patterns. However, the original two cylinders are still there behind the new cylinders. The goal, therefore, of journeying with the Enneagram is to learn to consciously use all four cylinders. I am aware this analogy may be alien to you, especially if you drive an electric vehicle!

What Makes This Book Different?

At one level, this book is a source of information. At another, it is a workbook to guide you through the model. It is also a reference book for students and teachers working with the Enneagram. 

This book has all the basic information you need to understand yourself and the other different views of the world as described by the Enneagram. However, it is not about simply describing the type patterns. It is about understanding what really drives you that was previously unseen and awakening your dormant superpowers. You can create your own story and growth path, which may be similar to others, but the experience is uniquely yours. Let this book inform you and guide you through this inner journey.

Elements of the Enneagram can be found in many of the world’s major faiths. I particularly wanted to describe the Enneagram from a secular perspective. I have attempted to demystify the language and the spiritual content often associated with it in order to produce a pragmatic description of the model that is a practical guide for growth.

In this book, I talk about how I have used the Enneagram as part of my own development. The book contains a number of my reflections about my own journey (written in italics). I hope these will inspire you to work through the book so that you can gain insights about your own life in the same way I have because these have been fundamental to my own personal growth.

This book shows you how understanding your type patterns is only the start of the journey. It is full of activities and exercises that will help you to experience that you are far more than your type patterns. By engaging with the exercises, you will learn how to respond to life more skilfully and how to respond to yourself more compassionately. This book will help you to start rediscovering (the superpowers of) your true self.

How Might You Use This Book?

The book begins by outlining key concepts before describing all nine type patterns in more detail. There then follows a section on discovering your type patterns, followed by a deeper exploration into the main features of each of the nine type patterns. The next stage is about discovering your type-specific inner qualities, such as courage, expectation and self-appreciation. These are aspects of being that each type possesses but which lie dormant within; you will explore how they function and learn to embody them more effectively. The final part of the book looks at some practical applications and resources for lifelong development. In essence, this is a journey from being asleep to your true self, by blindly letting your type patterns run the show, to becoming awake to those patterns. You will learn to operate from a place of awareness, being present to reality as it is and embracing your true purpose and potential.

The book can be used at different levels over different time periods. I would not necessarily recommend reading it from start to finish; it is best to take it in stages, reflecting and journaling in between different sections.

Part 1 begins with outlining key concepts before going into describing all nine type patterns in more detail.

Part 2 provides further information to give more clarity to the nine types and help you discern which one best describes your inner world. Chapter 5 is about recognising your type patterns, those which best describe and drive you. 

Chapters 6 and 7 are a deeper exploration of the main features and consequences of each of the nine type patterns and how they show up in life.

Part 3, Chapters 8 and 9 are about exploring practices for awakening to your automatic patterns.

Chapter 10 explores practices for embracing your latent inner qualities, discovering how they operate in you and learning to embody them more effectively.

Parts 4 and 5 describe practical applications for working with the Enneagram.

Part 6 has resources for lifelong development.

I encourage you to do the work at a pace that best suits you. It is not a competition but a transformation that requires observation and reflection over time. You will need to draw on your resources of courage, humility and compassion to do this journey. If the work was easy, it would not bring the benefit of truly challenging yourself. 

If you are curious and willing to explore how you will be when you embrace your superpowers, then I encourage you to knuckle down, strap in and keep breathing as you embark on exploring your inner world.

PART 1

Introduction

Introduction to the Enneagram

So, where do we start this journey into the Enneagram? To get a sense of the value of the Enneagram and why it’s worth exploring, I’ll start by telling you a bit about where the Enneagram comes from and the benefits it can offer you. Then I’ll talk about the structure of our type patterns and how we come to have them. Once you’ve got that far, I’ll introduce you to some tools for the journey; core techniques will enable you to observe more skilfully what’s happening in your inner world.

I will remind you of the mental bias found particularly in Western culture that overrides feelings and gut instincts. Finally, you will be introduced to the work of self-exploration and the first steps on this journey of awareness.

Where Does the Enneagram Come From?

In the following paragraphs, I will address two key questions that often arise concerning the Enneagram. Namely, Where does the Enneagram come from? and Why should I bother to explore it?

The Enneagram symbol has been around for many centuries and some attribute the numerical structure to Pythagorean theory. The philosophical roots go as far back as the early Greeks, including Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. There are references from the writings of Evagrius and the desert fathers in the 4th century to the presence of divine attributes in human nature and their opposites. Similar observations on the human condition are found in many of the main mystical religious traditions, including the seven deadly sins of Christianity. The medieval writings of Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales and Dante in his Divine Comedy have explored similar themes.

It was George I. Gurdjieff, an Armenian philosopher of Greek parents, who introduced the Enneagram symbol to the modern world in the early part of the 20th century. He used the symbol not primarily as a system identifying people’s chief feature (Gurdjieff’s term for personality type), but rather as a model of natural moving and dynamic processes.

In the middle of the last century, Oscar Ichazo, a Bolivian philosopher, is credited with mapping the nine personality types on the Enneagram symbol. Ichazo developed the nine types from the ancient philosophers, the desert fathers and the deadly sins, medieval literature and other mystical traditions. It is as if the Enneagram is a culmination of all these human reflections over the centuries.

A student of Ichazo, a Chilian psychiatrist, Claudio Naranjo, took the material to the USA where he linked the Enneagram to psychiatric categories and further developed the understanding of the nine types. In the early 1970s, Naranjo delivered classes to a group of interested people using the panel method, which is a system where representatives of each type pattern are interviewed and describe how they see the world.

Naranjo also ran public sessions, present at a number of these sessions was psychology teacher, Helen Palmer, who subsequently wrote two best-selling books on the Enneagram. Together with the late Dr David Daniels, Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University in California, Helen founded what is known today as The Narrative Enneagram School and developed the first Professional Training programme for students worldwide in 1988. Dr Daniels’ many contributions to the development of the Enneagram included the Stanford Enneagram Discovery Inventory Guide (SEDIG) as described in The Essential Enneagram. I had the honour of studying under the tutelage of both Helen and David.

In the 1970's, the Enneagram became popular in the Jesuit community in North America and beyond through Bob Ochs S.J., who learned it from Naranjo. A student of Ochs later taught the late Don Riso who went on to form the Enneagram Institute with Russ Hudson in 1997.

While early Enneagram teaching found its popularity in religious settings, its value stretches beyond the confines of the religious domain. The Enneagram’s penetration into all aspects of life, including the business world, education, parenting, psychotherapy, as well as spirituality, is testament to its all-encompassing application.

Benefits of Journeying with the Enneagram?

So, what are the benefits of studying this ancient model as opposed to studying some of the other more current and well-established models, such as Myers Briggs? My personal experience is that the Enneagram has greater depth and structure than other models and gives profound insight into our inner world. Using the Enneagram as a framework, you can recognise and tell your own story; you put your own words, experience and understanding onto the model – you are the expert in your own type patterns.

These days, more than ever, with social media and the onset of Artificial Intelligence pushing polarising agendas, it is becoming difficult to evaluate fact from fiction, good from bad, right from wrong. We are at the point where we must differentiate these differences for ourselves, in other words, to become our own authority. So that we can make the best decisions for ourselves, it is important to take in and evaluate the sources of information, how they impact us and how we react. In doing so, we need to process that information with all the resources available to us. The Enneagram is more than a typology; its profound nature will allow you to become your own authority as opposed to acting out your patterns should you choose to take the journey of self-discovery. So, the invitation is to discover why you do what you do; after all, you are the expert on yourself.

Knowing yourself using this model develops a greater level of awareness along with empathy for yourself as well as others. It brings a greater sense of ownership and responsibility for both your impact on the world and your development, should you choose that path.

Being more self-aware of yourself and others enhances your ability to connect in a more authentic and effective way. Being compassionate towards yourself and others is one of the many by-products of doing this work.

The following is a brief look at the nine different personality characteristics as described by the Enneagram Personality model. A more detailed description of each of the nine type patterns will follow in Part 2.

Type One - The Reformer

The Reformer is driven to make their environment and world better by constantly improving what they do and how they do it. They diligently work to very high self-imposed standards and become resentful or frustrated by others who don’t do similarly. They see themselves as being correct, hardworking, and responsible, so they avoid making mistakes or being impulsive. They would severely criticise themselves if their mask of being a good person slipped.

Type Two - The Enabler

The Enabler is driven to help and support others and intuitively knows what others need, although they may not notice their own needs. They easily connect with people and adapt themselves to be whatever is needed by the other person or group. They like to be appreciated by those they help and may feel angry or empty if they are not getting that recognition. They may neglect their own well-being in preference to looking after others.

Type Three - The Performer

The Performer likes to be seen for what they do and achieve. They are driven to succeed and fill their time with tasks and goals that must be completed. They identify with what they do or achieve as who they are. They project an image of efficiency, competence and success. They can shift their self-presentation to whatever is required by the audience. They avoid failure or people and tasks that do not show them in a good light.

Type Four - The Individualist

The Individualist is driven to achieve an ideal view of what is missing in themselves or their world. They feel deeply and may carry their heart on their sleeve. They internalise feelings, which makes them skilled in dealing with others in distress. They have a capacity for expressing their inner world