You are probably already familiar with the Enneagram if you found your way to this site. However, there is a lot of mystery and mythology around the origins of the system and I’d like to offer some perspective.
First, despite the frequent references to it in the literature as an “ancient system,” there is no evidence that the Enneagram of personality, as we know it, is any more “ancient” than the 1960s. That is when Oscar Ichazo first tied characteristics of personality to the nine-pointed diagram called the “Enneagram” (from the Greek for “nine” and “drawing”). Ichazo turned this combination of insights and diagram into a system for classifying nine distinct-but-interrelated personality types.
Psychologist Claudio Naranjo learned about Ichazo’s system and began putting some meat on the framework that Ichazo created. Naranjo then taught his version of the Enneagram to a varied group in Berkeley, California, who then dispersed and started adding their own observations and insights onto the model. Thus, a variety of models and interpretations of the Enneagram evolved.
In 2000, Robert Tallon and I set out to write what was to become our book “Awareness to Action: The Enneagram, Emotional Intelligence, and Change.” Despite the variety of interpretations of the Enneagram, we felt that there were no clear definitions that captured the essence of each type. Most of the existing descriptions of the types were either one-word names or lists of traits. We felt something more concrete was needed; a short but accurate handle that captured what could be said to be true about everyone of a given type.
After months of discussion we settled on nine “strategies” or approaches to interacting with the world around us. At the core of each of the nine types is what we are “striving to be,” an emotional tone they are trying to maintain and the related attitudes and behaviors that provide a sense of security and direction in our dealings with life. Type One is striving to be perfect, Type Two is striving to be connected, etc.
(To learn more about the nine types, visit our website at www.awarenesstoaction.com, watch our videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/mariosikora, or purchase our book at www.amazon.com.)
As I said, there are many interpretations of the Enneagram. Some are good; some are really, really bad. I encourage the reader to use their own critical thinking when reading about the Enneagram, including what you read on this site. Judge for yourself whether the descriptions of your type and the types of the people you know hold true rather than accepting any author’s writings without question.
Mario Sikora
