Why Divide Humans into 9 Personality “Types”?

“Like any field of scientific study, personality psychology needs a descriptive model or taxonomy of its subject matter … Moreover, a generally accepted taxonomy would greatly facilitate the accumulation and communication of empirical findings by offering a standard vocabulary.” Oliver P. John, Institute of Personality and Research, University of California.

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My sister Elizabeth and I taught Alexander - and also the nine enneatype personalities - to actors training at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) in Sydney during the late 80s and early 90s. Cate Blanchett was a student there at the time.

One day, Tony Knight, the Head of Acting at the time, rushed into Liz’s office and exclaimed:

TONY: “What in the hell are you teaching those actors?!”

LIZ (looking up puzzled): “What do you mean?”

TONY: They talking about their characters in numbers. They say things like, ‘She’s a 4 with a 3 wing,’ and then another says, ‘No, she’s an 8 disintegrating to 5!’ I don’t know what they are talking about!

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I guess many of my readers resist categorising human beings into 9 personality types. Why would you want to do that?

The answer is simple: to facilitate communication and understanding. Language – in the form of words (sounds) - is how we understand each other. When we all agree on the general meaning of a word, it opens up new possibilities for everyone.

The system of mapping 9 personality types onto the symbol of the Enneagram does not imply there are only 9 types of people – of course, that is a silly idea. As Oscar Wilde put it:

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

No two people are the same, and the system of personalities represented on the Enneagram is more fluid than any other ‘typing’ system I know. It is based on three essential human behaviours, the same three behaviours that Buddha spoke of 2,500 years ago:

1.    Ignorance –laziness
2.    Craving - desire
3.    Aversion - anger

Ignorance sets us up to be delusional – we don’t understand how things work.

We start to believe that if we can only get this or eliminate that, our life will be happy. The nine personality types are organised around these three fundamental characteristics of human behaviour. Actors, therapists and teachers gain clarity by seeing first in themselves, then others, how ignorance of the Self evolves into a cascade of emotions.

And in each case, the physical characteristics will differ, depending on the underlying emotion. A lazy person moves very differently from a person in anger. Can we understand how our movement system translates these basic emotions into movement?

Starting next Sunday in Tokyo - that’s exactly what I will be exploring!

https://workshop.upsnews.co.jp/?p=9229&post_type=events&preview=1&_ppp=8d194cfda5