# ENFJ uncovers 458 tritype



## marzipan01 (Jun 6, 2010)

So, it's the wee hours of the morning again. My good friend asked me to drive him home at the expense of four hours of my day and I did so without complaint and for free and finished up by editing two other friends' essays. I actually enjoy extending help to my friends and even to people who aren't my friends if it means I can use my expertise, insight, or ability to ameliorate some injustice. 

I've read that 2's see 4's as self-absorbed, that 8's don't give compliments, etc. These statements are bunk stereotypes and cannot be used to determine someone's actual enneagram type. I finally concluded on my tritype, I am a 4w3, 5w6, 8w7. 

I stumbled upon this website and found a couple of videos that actually answered the questions I was having about determining my enneagram type. http://www.enneagram.net/

I needed a clear cut way of measuring and quantifying my motive. I filled in this short answer question-are and matched it up to the video to determine my enneagram tritype. I'm not totally certain what order my motives are in yet. I thought I was an 8 but everyone says 8's aren't helpful and that stereotype made me fairly confused. I become very uneasy when a chunk of information is unknown, unfamiliar, and everyone's comments are just as enigmatic. I need to take time to think about it on my own and figure it out. 

Once I figured out my actual personality type, the enneagram started to make some sense. It was a slow process of gradually unraveling its meaning and complexity but it was very rewarding. I realize now that I am deeply passionate and inquisitive. I've always been odd. I've always been testing my boundaries. I've always been curious. Photographs of me as a two year old show my eyes wide and observant. I've always been so very curious that teachers loved me or hated me. 

I've also always been fiercely protective of the little ones which is indicative of type 8 motive. Type 8's are the protectors. We guard with ferocity the weak, down trodden, and helpless. I realize type 2's have that love for everyone and just want to help or whatever. But 8 is the same way. We want to protect our loved ones and protect the little ones. In a way, 8 is a more ethical version of 1. I don't pass judgement on people, I just call it how I see it. If you don't like what I say then it's how you're interpreting the information. And I don't really care about the perfect house. I just want it to be mine and if it's mine, don't fuck with it or I'll fuck with you. Hahaha.

8's want to be against. Combined with 5w6 and 4w5, I can be pretty defiant, unconventional, testing my limits, constantly. There are a lot of misconceptions about 8's, I don't think many people really understand us very well at all. The way 8's help people is different from 1 or 2, I don't want to help people just for the sake of helping. I want to protect the innocent. It's a kind of rightness that has nothing to do with a clean kitchen. It's just an instinct to protect the pure part of humanity from being destroyed, lost, or broken. 

They say 458's are the darkest type in the enneagram, especially if 4 or 5 leads. I might lead with 8 then because I have no idea what is supposed to be meant by dark. Sure, I've entertained the notion of evil. Sure, I've been told by others that some of the topics I was interested in were very dark. I've been told by crazy occult people I'm immensely powerful. I've heard insinuations that as a child my mother was frightened that I might turn into a psychopathic killer. While I think her fear is absolutely absurd, still I wonder--am I dark? Maybe I wouldn't know if I was. 

In any case, I'm glad I finally found my types because duality and type relations are finally making sense. I like to know the box because it's part of the landscape. Don't worry, I'm only using it as a stone to jump on.


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## timeless (Mar 20, 2010)

Eights are usually self-centered. Even when they help people they still see things in terms of "I." It's not that that they are necessary selfish, but I think it's based in egotism. The "Defender" types are usually considered to be 6, 1 and 2 but the motivations are slightly different. 6 = I don't like the misuse of power, 1 = It's the right thing to do, 2 = I want to be helpful by protecting others. Other types can of course be protectors but it depends on the circumstances.


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## marzipan01 (Jun 6, 2010)

timeless;bt23331 said:


> Eights are usually self-centered. Even when they help people they still see things in terms of "I." It's not that that they are necessary selfish, but I think it's based in egotism. The "Defender" types are usually considered to be 6, 1 and 2 but the motivations are slightly different. 6 = I don't like the misuse of power, 1 = It's the right thing to do, 2 = I want to be helpful by protecting others. Other types can of course be protectors but it depends on the circumstances.


It's interesting that you bring it up. I never thought about why I want to help people when I do until a few years ago, my bf at the time (a type 6 ISTJ) brought up the inner motive for helping people. Looking back, each time I help others its for a different reason: I loved them, they were innocent, I wanted them to rely on me, I needed something to do, it looked good on my resume and made me feel important etc. I'm finally starting to understand what was meant when one of my exes and a good friend of mine told me I was selfish. It didn't make sense to me at the time considering that they were self-indulgent, lazy, pleasure seeking, themselves. But...maybe they're a little right. lol

In any case, if the unhealthy two serves as a testament to anything, it demonstrates that even the most altruistic people are selfish. Selflessness is fiction at worst, a descriptive quality for giving beyond expectation at best.


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## kateykinz (Nov 19, 2009)

I've just admitted to myself that I'm an 8w9 sx/so, mistyping as a 5w4 (also in my tritype). I'm either 852 or 854, and I very much identify with your post. I know I have dark thoughts though for several years they have been heavily repressed for the sake of compromise in intimite relationships. But I am in a very healthy state right now and so I entertain the thoughts, then try to figure out the motivations, fears and desires behind them in an attempt to healthily and safely integrate them into everyday life, rather than living them out through fantasy or having them burst out of nowhere from my subconscious when drunk or in dreams.

With respect to helping people...I let my gut instinct take over when I decide who to proactively help, then strive for win-win. I don't want people to be indebted to me and I don't want to be indebted to them. I want to help them reach their potential, or get past a particular struggle point in their lives, etc and then generally I wish to move on, unless they match my intensity on emotional, intellectual and creative issues. My love for my fellow man is a love of humanity as a whole, and if the individual that I'm trying to help isn't interested in using my ideas to help themselves then they are wasting my time, time which could be better utilized helping someone who* is* interested in self-actualizing.


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