Excellent articles, In the Heart of the Relationship and Team Work with The Enneagram.  I've just begun sharing Enneagram materials with my new team mates at work. I'm a Five and tend to be concise, so if you want me to amplify anything, just ask. For a few years now I've been quite impressed with the Enneagram (the motivational orientation gives even more depth than the MBTI).

I really appreciate this Five's comment, "I tend to be concise…If you want me to amplify anything, just ask…" Not long ago I attempted to do some interviews about transformation by e-mail, and the first question I asked correspondents was to define "transformation" in their own words.

A Seven wrote (in part): "I would define transformation as using the knowledge one gains through the Enneagram and other spiritually meaningful reading to grow and become more whole. That is, I tap into the parts of me that I bury. I know God gave me the capacity to live and love more fully. Anthony de Mello calls it "waking up" and I feel like I'm hearing this call everywhere I turn. Knowing myself and my behaviors when I'm on autopilot has been so helpful for I can self-observe and understand the whys of my behavior. If I have a clearer understanding of my compulsions, they don't have as much power."

A Five wrote (in total): "Change."

In recent years I've discovered more depth and more developmental potential in Jungian typology. Like many others, I'd taught the MBTI somewhat superficially in business settings, primarily helping team members understand and value different ways of conceptualizing the world. Naomi Quenk's Beside Ourselves is a good example of some richer literature on Jungian types. As she notes, "The dynamic character of type theory is commonly overlooked by people new to typology and the MBTI personality inventory. This accounts for their own simplistic, categorical approach to the sixteen types." She continues:

"The way we move toward wholeness or individuation is by expanding our knowledge and awareness of ourselves, which increases our ability to control and direct our lives... For Jung, the route to the unconscious is through the inferior function... Inferior function episodes... alarm us with their 'Jeckyl and Hyde' character, forcing us to examine the essence of our character and personality."

Quenk uses a colorful and self-explanatory phrase to describe the experience of operating from our inferior function: "in the grip." She further describes this experience as "an overreaction, a single-minded focus, a high level of emotion, and a readiness to generalize and expand single incidents into global or eternal "truths." Of the INTJ, for example (the above reader's MBTI preference), Quenck says inferior extraverted sensing brings "obsessive focus on external data, overindulgence in sensual pleasure, and an adversarial attitude toward the outer world":

"Dealing with details, especially in an unfamiliar environment, can trigger inferior extraverted sensing in introverted intuitive ... Unexpected events that interrupt planned activities can also (be unsettling)... They may make more factual mistakes and become careless with spelling and grammar."

Consulting Psychologists Press publishes a handbook by Katharine Myers & Linda Kirby, Introduction to Type Dynamics and Development: Exploring the Next Level of Type. In Part I they cover topics others have also covered, using type preferences to resolve conflict, improve teamwork, improve learning. In Part II, though, they present a "Model for Lifelong Growth":"

"The primary task of type development in the first part of life is to establish the leadership provided by a trustworthy dominant function, balanced by the healthy development of the auxiliary function. The development of these functions gives the personality a sufficient degree of consistency, predictability, and effectiveness.

Later in life, the focus of development shifts again, this time to the less-preferred functions, aspects of the individual's personality and potential that have yet to be explored. This redirection of energy is part of the midlife transition, which Jung saw as the gateway to later life development and satisfaction. The task of the second half of life, then, is to move toward full development of all of oneself, including those parts that were previously neglected and unrealized."

If an INTJ stops growing, according to Myers & Kirby, dominant introverted Intuition ("the clear, complex insight") can become "a stubborn, blind insistence on the correctness of one's internal vision."

You can see the parallels with an Enneagram Five under stress. In my work I use the MBTI to help explain differences within Enneagram style. When a Five is an introverted Intuitive type, the Five's tendency to filter out differing points of view will be exaggerated. I also see the MBTI as one of the many windows to the soul of the Five. So Myers & Kirby's suggestions for "conscious type development" of the INTJ could be very helpful to any Five (they suggest type development can take place "without conscious direction, as part of the innate urge toward growth," or "as a conscious process, making use of the model to direct attention and exploration"). For example, regarding inferior extraverted Sensing they remark:

"Part of the essence of the Sensing function is being in the moment and focusing on what is actually there. For those with a preference for Intuition, turning off Intuitive perception can be quite difficult at first."

Among their specific developmental suggestions for an INTJ is the following:

"Take whatever amount of cash you feel comfortable spending 'unwisely.' Go to a mall and into a store you do not normally visit, perhaps a toy store or an arts and crafts store. Buy the first thing you see that attracts your interest and that can be paid for with the cash you brought. Do not ask yourself, 'Where will I put this?' or 'How will I use this?' Do not wait until you have looked at everything and then buy what you like best or what would be most usable. Take the object home and play with it, or just keep it where you can see it. Or, if you like, give it to a friend or charity."

Now wouldn't that be great homework for a Five? Incidentally, when my Five reader read this response, he wrote back (tongue in cheek):

"I'm looking forward to my $10 shopping spree!"

More responses to readers' questions