# Left and Right side of the Enneagram



## SharkT00th (Sep 5, 2012)

The enneagram is a system with 9 personality types, but there is a right (9,1,2,3,4) and a left (5,6,7,8,9) side as well. As you may have noticed that the Type 9 is repeated twice and that is not an accident, the type 9 is truly the crown of the enneagram and is able to bring both sides together. Certain individuals have argued that the 3,6,9 also represent the global side of the enneagram, but in my opinion this is false, the Type 3 does belong on the right while the Type 6 belongs on the left. 

The Right side of the enneagram represents tradition and upholding society/structure in some form or another. The Type 1 being the ultimate guardian of morality who views it as his duty to become not only the arbiter of the law but it's executioner as well. The type 2 is about taking care of the world and hence is a supporter. The Type 3, as much as there are mover and shaker type 3's, still work to uphold a structure and need some external set of criteria on which to base their values on. The type 4 may appear initially to be more of a left type, but on closer examination is right type, for starters Type 4's need to connect and express their stance but without a framework this will become a more difficult task. The right side of the enneagram is more people/customs oriented as well. 

The left side of the enneagram is about change and exploration. The type 8 represents challenging an existing system in order to bring about a new order or to bring down an existing order. Many world leaders who have ruled in times of upheaval and had to redefine entire systems have been Type 8's and this is no accident there are times when a system needs to be challenged and not upheld or entire orders need to be formed. The Type 7 is the seeker who is out to explore and find out novelty or the new, they are also willing to share about their findings or catalyze change. We have seen that the Type 7 emerges whenever there is a revolution or societal change to be called upon such as during the 1960's within the United States. The type 6 is looking to create stability/structure/order and while this looks like a right side trait, ultimately the Type 6 will create the structure if need be, and infact type 6's are at times referred to as the devils advocate. The type 5 is the thinker of the enneagram and is detached from any such traditional system and hold little regard for it at a fundamental basis, the Type 5 needs to obtain knowledge for themselves. 

The left and right side of the enneagram typically also interact more with themselves as well, so right types will have an easier time getting along with right types while lefts will have an easier time interacting with lefts. This is not to say that Right's can't be friends with Left's but one will have an easier time getting along with their quadrant. 

This is a theory that I keep reading about and I'd like to see the communities thoughts on it, I think that there is truth to this considering that most of my close friends/business partners are 6's, 7's and 5's. I'm more familiar with the Left types than the Right so this article may also have a skewed bias as well.


----------



## Dyidia (May 28, 2010)

That's interesting. Yeah, Naranjo mentions the Enneagram as being roughly divided into anti-social types on the left and social types on the right, as if to say the types on the left follow a "left-handed" path (and ones on the right, "right-handed"). Types 3 and 6 seem to be an anomaly in that regard, but you make good points for them in the way you put it.


----------



## Little Cloud (Jan 12, 2013)

SharkT00th said:


> The enneagram is a system with 9 personality types, but there is a right (9,1,2,3,4) and a left (5,6,7,8,9) side as well. As you may have noticed that the Type 9 is repeated twice and that is not an accident, the type 9 is truly the crown of the enneagram and is able to bring both sides together. Certain individuals have argued that the 3,6,9 also represent the global side of the enneagram, but in my opinion this is false, the Type 3 does belong on the right while the Type 6 belongs on the left.
> 
> The Right side of the enneagram represents tradition and upholding society/structure in some form or another. The Type 1 being the ultimate guardian of morality who views it as his duty to become not only the arbiter of the law but it's executioner as well. The type 2 is about taking care of the world and hence is a supporter. The Type 3, as much as there are mover and shaker type 3's, still work to uphold a structure and need some external set of criteria on which to base their values on. The type 4 may appear initially to be more of a left type, but on closer examination is right type, for starters Type 4's need to connect and express their stance but without a framework this will become a more difficult task. The right side of the enneagram is more people/customs oriented as well.
> 
> ...



That makes sense and it's very interesting. But are you sure that the 6 should be put in the left side and not in the right side or at least in both sides? I think it depends from the type of 6s, because they're phobic 6s and over\against-phobic. The fobic 6s tend to follow rules even if these rules and not generally objective but are determined by some people that they see as their "leader"\"authority". While the 6s over-phobic are rebel against these rules.


----------



## mushr00m (May 23, 2011)

Little Cloud said:


> That makes sense and it's very interesting. But are you sure that the 6 should be put in the left side and not in the right side or at least in both sides? I think it depends from the type of 6s, because they're phobic 6s and over\against-phobic. The fobic 6s tend to follow rules even if these rules and not generally objective but are determined by some people that they see as their "leader"\"authority". While the 6s over-phobic are rebel against these rules.


I think thats because they have the need to both uphold and knock down rules and structures. Their minds are constantly moving to locate the source of security, it sounds contradictory but it actually works in harmony with the security seeking. Quite similar to 9 in how Sharktooth explained it, being 9 sitting inbetween.


----------



## SharkT00th (Sep 5, 2012)

@Little Cloud

There is an argument that the 3,6,9 is the global triad which actually can oscillate between the Left and the Right side of the enneagram and are not apart of either of the two groups which will than put the (5,7,8) and the (1,2,4) as the pure lefties and righties.


----------



## DoctorYikes (Nov 22, 2010)

Interesting.

If nothing else, it gives me some enneagram language explanation for HOW often I have people telling me, "Don't rock the boat!"

(Man, I hate that. What if it's a crappy boat?)


----------



## SharkT00th (Sep 5, 2012)

DoctorYikes said:


> Interesting.
> (Man, I hate that. What if it's a crappy boat?)


Than Rock the boat with great intensity!

I've just realized that all pure lefties are influenced by the Type 5, either they integrate to it, disintegrate to it or have it as their core. While the pure righties are influenced by the Type 4 by either integrating/disintegration or having it as their core.

Remember that wings are only added perspectives and not cores so a 5w4 is not a righty while a 4w5 is not a lefty.


----------



## darude11 (Jul 6, 2011)

SharkT00th said:


> @_Little Cloud_
> 
> There is an argument that the 3,6,9 is the global triad which actually can oscillate between the Left and the Right side of the enneagram and are not apart of either of the two groups which will than put the (5,7,8) and the (1,2,4) as the pure lefties and righties.


For problems with associating 3's and 6's with only one side, I have two theories. One was this one above mentioned by SharkTooth.

Second one is, that closer to the bottom the type is, more ambiguous it is (with exception for 9 of course). 3, 4 and 6 are explained, so I'll take care of 5.
5 needs framework to observe.

My opinion of course might be wrong, and I'd rather be corrected than wrong for rest of my life, so don't worry about correcting me.


----------



## SharkT00th (Sep 5, 2012)

darude11 said:


> For problems with associating 3's and 6's with only one side, I have two theories. One was this one above mentioned by SharkTooth.
> 
> Second one is, that closer to the bottom the type is, more ambiguous it is (with exception for 9 of course). 3, 4 and 6 are explained, so I'll take care of 5.
> 5 needs framework to observe.
> ...


Top and Bottom is false abundance vs. False deficiency. Type 5 creates mental maps for their own sake to explore things, needing a framework to observe though is very helpful for any type with prototypical Extraverted Feeling (exhibits traits of Fe, but doesn't have Fe in their cognitive stack) such as the Type 1 and 3.


----------



## darude11 (Jul 6, 2011)

SharkT00th said:


> Top and Bottom is false abundance vs. False deficiency. Type 5 creates mental maps for their own sake to explore things, needing a framework to observe though is very helpful for any type with prototypical Extraverted Feeling (exhibits traits of Fe, but doesn't have Fe in their cognitive stack) such as the Type 1 and 3.


What is interesting is, that 1, 3 and 5 are triad which I like to call Performance triad. All three of these types are centered around their performance - type 1 in performance of law and order, type 3 in performance of... well, performance overally (how succesfull they can sound) and type 5 in performance of knowledge.

It could also be interesting to have look at interactions with other triads, and with MBTI... do you think that it might correlate with J/P? When I was reading it at first, it was shouting at me "Hey, it's me - J/P, remember?", but now I am not that sure about it...


----------



## SharkT00th (Sep 5, 2012)

darude11 said:


> What is interesting is, that 1, 3 and 5 are triad which I like to call Performance triad. All three of these types are centered around their performance - type 1 in performance of law and order, type 3 in performance of... well, performance overally (how succesfull they can sound) and type 5 in performance of knowledge.
> 
> It could also be interesting to have look at interactions with other triads, and with MBTI... do you think that it might correlate with J/P? When I was reading it at first, it was shouting at me "Hey, it's me - J/P, remember?", but now I am not that sure about it...


Well, the Type 3 and Type 5 show no predilection for J or P, while the Type 1 shows an overwhelming favor for J. They are all competency based, but it's important to look under the surface and examine the motivations, and I'm not so sure that each type goes after competency the same way.


----------



## darude11 (Jul 6, 2011)

SharkT00th said:


> Well, the Type 3 and Type 5 show no predilection for J or P, while the Type 1 shows an overwhelming favor for J. They are all competency based, but it's important to look under the surface and examine the motivations, and I'm not so sure that each type goes after competency the same way.


Yeah... thing that made me undecisive about whether or not there is something between those two was exactly that. For example - I can't imagine IXXJ 7, even EXXJ 7 seems more realistic to me. For type 1 it's EXXP which seems to me as impossible.
Okay, those are two of types, what would be some other types, which would make me problems typing? I'll try my best in doing so, but I can't guarantee, that J/P will be determined.

(I am writing which kind of MBTI type *CAN'T *be that enneagram type IMO)
1 - EXXP
2 - INTX
3 - INXX
4 - XSXJ
5 - XSFX
7 - IXXJ
8 - XSFP
9 - XSTJ

Okay, hardest ones to do were 3, 8 and 9, but 2 and 4 weren't easiest ones neither. Also notice that I left out 6... well, anybody can be 6 IMO, so that would be useless thing to do. Don't take my words as granted, I could have made mistake... I haven't even met all the types yet, so it's just theory...
But you can still see, there are types, which have J/P dichotomy filled in, and types, which don't.


----------



## SharkT00th (Sep 5, 2012)

darude11 said:


> Yeah... thing that made me undecisive about whether or not there is something between those two was exactly that. For example - I can't imagine IXXJ 7, even EXXJ 7 seems more realistic to me. For type 1 it's EXXP which seems to me as impossible.
> Okay, those are two of types, what would be some other types, which would make me problems typing? I'll try my best in doing so, but I can't guarantee, that J/P will be determined.
> 
> (I am writing which kind of MBTI type *CAN'T *be that enneagram type IMO)
> ...


The enneagram and MBTI exist in separate spheres and I have yet to see any solid correlation study conducted. There are prototypical functions such as Type 1's being Te and Fe meaning that they are aware of social norms and are thinking about how to fix things.


----------



## darude11 (Jul 6, 2011)

SharkT00th said:


> The enneagram and MBTI exist in separate spheres and I have yet to see any solid correlation study conducted. There are prototypical functions such as Type 1's being Te and Fe meaning that they are aware of social norms and are thinking about how to fix things.


Agree. It just seems interesting to me to try to correlate those two together. People usually try to assign them in such way, that "If you are type EXXP, you are 7", but there are also introverted 7's, and maybe even judging 7's, so that's inaccurate thing to say. In cases like this, it is better to say what types are not those types... in other words, it's better to do exact opposite of correlation sometimes.


----------



## Dyidia (May 28, 2010)

darude11 said:


> People usually try to assign them in such way, that "If you are type EXXP, you are 7", but there are also introverted 7's, and maybe even judging 7's, so that's inaccurate thing to say. In cases like this, it is better to say what types are not those types... in other words, it's better to do exact opposite of correlation sometimes.


Also my view. If I say "1's are MBTI's J-types" that is fairly useless information, as they aren't exactly the same and can lead to a muddier understanding of both, but if I say "you can't be a 1 and also a dominant perceiving type" that gives us two separate spheres to work with, and showing why they're incompatible helps refine the concepts of both.


----------

