# Is it possible to have 2 wings? Is it possible to change enneagram type?



## AdroElectro (Oct 28, 2014)

I'm not as familiar with enneagram, so sorry if this is a dumb question. 

The reason I ask is because as a 4w5 I find myself spending most of my time introspecting, contemplating, and researching random shit. But I find myself getting more and more tired of this sedentary existence, and I have an ever increasing drive and desire to go out and achieve greatness, like a type 3. So is it possible to change? Could I become a type 4w5w3? Or even just a 4w3?


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## drmiller100 (Dec 3, 2011)

AdroElectro said:


> I'm not as familiar with enneagram, so sorry if this is a dumb question.
> 
> The reason I ask is because as a 4w5 I find myself spending most of my time introspecting, contemplating, and researching random shit. But I find myself getting more and more tired of this sedentary existence, and I have an ever increasing drive and desire to go out and achieve greatness, like a type 3. So is it possible to change? Could I become a type 4w5w3? Or even just a 4w3?


smiles............

so here is how I look at it.

I eventually figured out I'm an 8, but I was really wondering if was a 5. When I'm beat up, depressed, emotionally down, I act like a messed up 5. 
When I'm "normal", I act like an 8. When I'm healthy, and feeling great, and things are going awesome, I find myself helpign others and singing happy songs like a frigging 2. 

All of which is predicted by enneagram theory.

A 4 grows towards looking like a 1 when happy, and devolves to 2 when unhappy. 

A 3 grows towards 6 and helping others, and devolves to 9 looking for peace and disconnecting from the world when wounded.


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## Paradigm (Feb 16, 2010)

Everyone shows signs of both of their wings. In the majority of cases, a person has a dominant wing, even if the other wing is heavier than expected.

IMO type never changes, but that doesn't preclude us from learning behaviors "from" other types. Sometimes (more often than you'd think) even to the point of habit / fooling ourselves (and others).


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## mariahj (May 10, 2015)

there's been times in my life where either a 3 or 5 wing has dominated (particularly when i've been under duress), but overall i don't think one or the other is stronger. i see a lot of both in my everyday behaviors. i conceptualize wings as tools; in any given situation, you'll learn to use the one that serves you best.

i don't think your type changes. some people can trace their type back to their earliest memories, but for others it can take a while to show up & truly solidify into an ego fixation, it could even take until your 20s according to some literature, and so someone could get confused and think "i was never like that before..." i was definitely not the prototypical 4 child. i was impulsive, insensitive and had all the charisma one could ask for. but i was still determined to express myself and turn life into art. i guess i was exhibiting the better qualities of 4 without the ego fixations of envy and self-inhibition. i started expressing a lot of 1ness when i was 12 or so, and disintegrated 2 behaviors surfaced around 14 or 15. failing to navigate the push and pull between those two extremes is what i think brought on the coping strategy of withdrawal/fantasy.

you can also take on the traits of your parents' styles, and others who had a big influence in your life.


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## Teen Rose (Aug 4, 2018)

Same..afterall what to do with all the depth of info. and connections gathered?


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## enneathusiast (Dec 15, 2012)

Teen Rose said:


> Same..afterall what to do with all the depth of info. and connections gathered?


My take is:

You are all nine types to varying degrees.
You have one type which is dominant that you've learned to respond from over your lifetime.
Look at the types that influence you most regardless of what the symbol indicates.

IMO, there's too much emphasis on the symbol to determine connections to other types. It was never meant for that use. Gurdjieff used it for a very different purpose in a very different way. The derived rules from the symbol are arbitrary with little if any logical reasoning to support them.

For example.

Wings can ONLY be the types on either side of your dominant type. There can often be another type besides the wing type that has more of an influence and would be more useful to explore.

The inner lines are used to determine where you go in stress/non-stress or integration/disintegration. The lines are a remnant of the Gurdjieff enneagram. There's no logical explanation for why this would be true except to point to the symbol. If you find them useful then fine. If you don't then ignore them.

Tritype says you are three types, one from each center. The centers aren't well-defined or consistently defined. Why is type 3 in the feeling/heart center (2,3,4) when 3 is not really a feeling type but often more of a doing type yet 3 becomes the epitome of that center (2,3,4) when the center is called the image center? Again, if Tritype works for you then fine. If it doesn't then don't get tangled up in the confusion it can create by requiring you to find a dominant type from each of the three centers.

Frankly, I wish they'd just get rid of the symbol or create a new one based on some actual logic. It seems too late to do that though because the system is named after and known by the symbol.


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