# What if I don't have any of the core fears?



## malachi.holden.3 (Jul 2, 2014)

I've heard it said multiple times that Enneagram is based on what your core fears are. The fears for each type are:

1. Corruptness, imbalance, being bad
2. Being unloved
3. Worthlessness
4. Having no identity or significance
5. Helplessness, Incapability, Incompetence
6. Being without support or guidance
7. Being trapped in pain and deprivation
8. Being harmed, controlled, violated
9. Loss, fragmentation, separation

I don't really identify with any of these. If I were to have a core fear, it would be fear of the unknown. I'm an INTJ, which is usually associated with Enneagram 5, but I don't think that helplessness, incapability, or incompetence is what I fear most.


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## 0+n*1 (Sep 20, 2013)

Why do you fear the unknown? Or what exactly is the unknown? If you fear it, then it means you avoid it. Why do you think you need to know? Is it because it could harm you? Is it because you cannot control it? Is it because you fundamentally feel a lack of inner guidance and that's why you need to know? I'm just tossing words here and there. What exactly is frightening about the unknown? What does the unknwon theatens that you value deeply? Or there is no reason and you feel you just fear it?


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## petite libellule (Jul 4, 2012)

God? ... Is that you?


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## mushr00m (May 23, 2011)

If you don't see yourself in any of the fixations, you likely either haven't grasped it properly or you are mega healthy. :ninja: or you're a 37 legged alien. xD

Tbh though the listed traits above I found too generic to be able to distinguish from one type to another. 

As it seems to be the way to go here, perhaps the best way to find your type is through process of elimination.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

These are the childhood fears that underlie the type behavior patterns you still exhibit today. What were your fears as a child?


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## Swordsman of Mana (Jan 7, 2011)

malachi.holden.3 said:


> I've heard it said multiple times that Enneagram is based on what your core fears are. The fears for each type are:
> 1. Corruptness, imbalance, being bad
> 2. Being unloved
> 3. Worthlessness
> ...


6w5 =)


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## petite libellule (Jul 4, 2012)

Everybody has fears.. Look to your behavior patterns historically. Large chunks of time as opposed to periods of your life that varied from the rest. Being subconscious fears, they're often the first to be denied. It takes time. I was teasing you might be god having no fears but, seriously, it's probably because they're right at the tip of your nose. Introspection.


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## Figure (Jun 22, 2011)

The language of the enneagram is codified. You can't simply read a description of a type and get the full picture of what the type's core fear is right away. In a _good _type description (one from a critical theorist), the codified words lead you to identify bits and pieces of a larger coping mechanism, one of nine, that we develop in response to our experiences with self/others/world. Your enneagram type is basically a psychological hardware that you develop very early on in life, and structure your worldviews and assumptions around. This "hardware" is ultimately kept in tact by a passion - gluttony, for example in type 7, or sloth for type 9, which in a _bad_ type description, is warped into a set of very vague, nondescript personality traits. 

In other words, it's fairly plausible that someone doesn't look at a type and immediately understand their relation to it, because the "fears" and passions themselves aren't always immediately conscious. To really identify and work within your type, your task is to identify how each inner structure works, and which one your habits go to most often. This can be really difficult if you don't have a good sense of what you do to begin with, but that's what this forum is for.

Good type descriptions describe the type's structure, not the person or their self-concept. Don't assume you're a 3, for arbitrary example, just because you want to be successful. Or not a 6, because you "aren't afraid."


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## malachi.holden.3 (Jul 2, 2014)

0+n*1 said:


> Why do you fear the unknown? Or what exactly is the unknown? If you fear it, then it means you avoid it. Why do you think you need to know? Is it because it could harm you? Is it because you cannot control it? Is it because you fundamentally feel a lack of inner guidance and that's why you need to know? I'm just tossing words here and there. What exactly is frightening about the unknown? What does the unknwon theatens that you value deeply? Or there is no reason and you feel you just fear it?


I don't know exactly why I fear it... it's more like I don't fear something if I know it. Like I'm not afraid of dying, because I'm pretty sure I know what happens afterwords. But swimming in murky water is terrifying, because I have no idea what's down there. I'm not afraid of an octopus grabbing me, or a shark eating me. As soon as I come up with possibilities I'm not scared anymore. It's when the options are open that I'm scared.



tanstaafl28 said:


> These are the childhood fears that underlie the type behavior patterns you still exhibit today. What were your fears as a child?


Um... I was mostly scared of the dark.



ningsta kitty said:


> Everybody has fears.. Look to your behavior patterns historically. Large chunks of time as opposed to periods of your life that varied from the rest. Being subconscious fears, they're often the first to be denied. It takes time. I was teasing you might be god having no fears but, seriously, it's probably because they're right at the tip of your nose. Introspection.


That'll be helpful.


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## malachi.holden.3 (Jul 2, 2014)

I'm starting to think that the term "fears" is bad. When I think of fear, I think of being scared, of terror. In the case of the enneagram, I think it has more to do with what you work away from, what you're passionate against in yourself.

I've been identified on another thread as being a type 1w9. This is not because I actually fear "Corruptness, imbalance, being bad" but because I'm more against that than anything else. I'm not actually scared of it, I just despise it.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

malachi.holden.3 said:


> I don't really identify with any of these. If I were to have a core fear, it would be fear of the unknown. I'm an INTJ, which is usually associated with Enneagram 5, but I don't think that helplessness, incapability, or incompetence is what I fear most.


MBTI and the enneagram don't correlate for a lot of people. Just because more INTJs are probably Fives doesn't mean that being an INTJ makes you a Five. You could be any type at all and be an INTJ - tho some combinations are very rare, they all can happen.

Your personality types collectively have an effect on eachother. Being an INTJ 9 is different to being an INTJ 3, for example. Also there are your tritypes, your wings, and your instinctual variant...combined they may have a surprising effect, and even have an influence on what your core fears are - or aren't.

Lastly, everyone is unique, despite typology.


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## Squirrel (Jun 14, 2014)

Just because you don't identify with any of them, doesn't mean that you don't have any. Everyone has some kind of fear.


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## Quernus (Dec 8, 2011)

malachi.holden.3 said:


> I'm starting to think that the term "fears" is bad. When I think of fear, I think of being scared, of terror. In the case of the enneagram, I think it has more to do with what you work away from, what you're passionate against in yourself.
> 
> I've been identified on another thread as being a type 1w9. This is not because I actually fear "Corruptness, imbalance, being bad" but because I'm more against that than anything else. I'm not actually scared of it, I just despise it.



Yeah, fear may not always be the best word, due to connotations. Though I think fear can be complex. 

I feel like I relate to all of the enneagram 'fears', to some degree, but not in the sense of being shaken up and terrified. They're all pretty human things. But I'm less insecure about some than I am about others, and some I feel more capable of coping with some than others. So for example, with 7's fear (I relate to 7 the least)--- I'm not particularly compelled to fight against "being trapped in pain", because while I don't want to be trapped in pain, I trust I can handle it if it happens. I cannot, however, handle the idea of having no identity or significance, so all my direction goes into avoiding that.

I think "detesting" corruptness (as opposed to being actively scared of it) still makes sense.


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## Recede (Nov 23, 2011)

malachi.holden.3 said:


> I'm starting to think that the term "fears" is bad. When I think of fear, I think of being scared, of terror. In the case of the enneagram, I think it has more to do with what you work away from, what you're passionate against in yourself.
> 
> I've been identified on another thread as being a type 1w9. This is not because I actually fear "Corruptness, imbalance, being bad" but because I'm more against that than anything else. I'm not actually scared of it, I just despise it.


Yeah, it might work better to view the fears as false beliefs rather than literal fear. So type 1 tries to be good and perfect because deep down something in their childhood caused them to believe they are bad, evil, corrupt. Type 1's defense mechanism is reaction formation, so maybe by being against corruption and despising it, you're trying to get rid of subconsciously perceived corruption in yourself?


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## malachi.holden.3 (Jul 2, 2014)

Silveresque said:


> Yeah, it might work better to view the fears as false beliefs rather than literal fear. So type 1 tries to be good and perfect because deep down something in their childhood caused them to believe they are bad, evil, corrupt. Type 1's defense mechanism is reaction formation, so maybe by being against corruption and despising it, you're trying to get rid of subconsciously perceived corruption in yourself?


It's not subconscious at all. I know it's there; it's in everyone. That's why the world is so shitty right now.


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