The Enneagram and the MBTI: In Search of Common Ground, Part 4
Abstract
In part 4 we conclude our series with a deeper look at the (positive) role that the 'inferior' function can play as a 'door' to the unconscious and a path to 'enlightenment'. We also discuss issues involved in confirming our mapping hypothesis, and how some anomalies that arise might be dealt with. But first we turn our attention to a discussion of empirical methods that might be used to confirm our theory.
There are some general empirical approaches that come to mind for testing the hypothesis presented in this paper regarding distribution of MBTI type across enneagram zones. The first is obvious - check the hypothesis against reported statistical findings. We have done this informally, with information generated by studies others have made [including, but not limited to, information regarding the readership of the Enneagram Monthly - presented in the last issue]. The statistics appear to be generally consistent with our hypothesis. Anomalies do appear, however - such as some INFJs turning up in zone 6. This would constitute an anomaly, if mis-identification of type is not involved (some feel that anywhere between 25 and 75 percent of individuals in such studies could be misidentified). For zone 6 is associated with 'inferior intuition' and INFJs have intuition as their dominant function.
This led us to look more closely at Enneagram and MBTI testing. We (informally) rated each Enneagram question (in the RETI) as indicating a preference for, or aversion to, each function (N,F,T,S) or combination of functions. One would expect that a number of the answers associated with enneagram type 8, for instance, would show an 'anti-feeling' disposition, which is in fact the case. But our expectation that the answers associated with '6' would show an 'anti-intuitive' tendency was only partly true. Although there were some answers that indicated just such a disposition, one could see how an INFJ with a strong 'F' leaning might qualify as a 6 despite the fact that he had not responded positively to the 'anti-intuition' questions. What this would mean is that some members of the 6 group may not share problems resulting from inferior intuition with the other 6s - they will not be 'phobic' 6s. [Remember that according to Von Franz and others, inferior intuition is often manifest as suspicion of others, fear of the unknown, and in premonitions of what is about to go wrong]. Does personality inventories conflate two (distinguishable) types as '6'?
One might also attempt to account for anomalies by testing persons who are 'non-prototypical' types in each zone for anomalous (non-MBTI-legitimate) 'preference orders' (using Singer-Loomis's SLIP), or by trying to determine if 'non-prototypical' MBTI types have 'inferior' (in the sense of 'underdeveloped') auxiliary or tertiary functions (using, perhaps, a method based on our '5 levels of development of the 4 functions').
In the foregoing we have proposed conceiving of each zone as structured around issues related to the specific inferior function associated with it. Inferior extraverted thinking, for example, acts like a kind of personality magnet at zone 8, attracting not only ESTJs and ENTJs, but also some ENTPs and others who have weak feeling functions.
Could we go one step further and understand the inferior function in each zone as constituting a door to the enlightened quality associated with each enneagram point? [see 'Nine Qualities of the Enlightened Being', by John Fudjack]. This would suggest a radically different method for understanding 'self-actualization'. Instead of trying merely to 'develop' the inferior function (as some who work with the MBTI recommend), one might learn to 'go with it', exaggerate it even (in a manner that we associate with Milton Erickson's unconventional style of hypnotherapy and with his 'utilization technique' in particular). The idea being that such exaggeration would eventually lead to an 'enantiodromic' shift to the inferior function's opposite quality as it reached its extreme. For the INFP, for instance, instead of attempting (against the tide of personality) to develop thinking, one might learn to appreciate 'positionlessness', and (taking it to its ultimate) develop a capacity for having all positions at once (the quintessential mediator)! If done right, this could propel one right out of one's personality prejudices, into a transcendence of personality that incorporates one's opposites. Personality-wise there would be a 'loosening up', a detachment from the fixations imposed by the dominant (and auxiliary) functions.
Erickson's technique involved utilizing both his client's resistances and natural propensities. He assisted in loosening clients from their neurotic fixations - in some cases by asking them to exaggerate those fixations (for instance - for one who was of a naturally controlling temperament he recommended learning to exert optimal control - by giving power to others!)
Could the enlightened qualities that are associated to the nine enneagram points correspond to a possibility, at each point, for an enantiodromic shift in the inferior function characteristic of that point? This might indeed constitute a form of wisdom embedded in the enneagram that is unique to it - there is no similar notion in the MBTI system (although insights on the part of Jung and other Jungian analysts would suggest that they have come close to such a view1). According to such a perspective, one must learn to go through the 'black-hole' that is one's inferior function, not avoid it or 'reform' it. One then enters a kind of personality worm-hole (a black-hole/white-hole pair) to enlightenment. This idea is very similar to 'left-handed' tantric techniques, in which 'samsaric' reality is embraced in order to transcend it!
If 'positionlessness' is the worm-hole (associated with inferior thinking) at zone 9, what about the other zones? Let's take the 5: his defect is his 'withdrawal' (associated with inferior feeling). But can it be 'perfected' in what the buddhists call 'equanimity'? If so, the 5's inferior function could lead to the transcendence of his 'dominant' functions (and, ultimately, his fixation to INTPness). So equanimity may be the 'worm-hole' to 'enlightenment' at zone 5.
Similarly, egolessness (associated with inferior thinking and superior feeling) could be the wormhole at zone 2. Spontaneity (as in the 'spontaneous embodiment' that the zen masters are capable of) may be the wormhole at zone 3, associated with inferior intuition. 'Emptiness' (in the buddhist sense of the word), associated with inferior sensation, may be the wormhole at zone 4. 'Seeing through', also associated with inferior sensation, the wormhole at zone 6. A capacity to 'see' the infinite in the finite would be the wormhole at zone 7. At zone 8 the worm-hole would be traveled through by exploring power and excess , and in non-evaluation (the evaluative capacity being traditionally associated with feeling, which is inferior in zone 8). And finally, 'completeness' itself is the wormhole at zone 1.
Like the 'vajrayana' approach, the self-proclaimed 'fast-track' to enlightenment, this approach (using the inferior function as a 'key' to transcending personality) may very well be considered dangerous. One could end up a distorted type, exaggerated and unbalanced - because one would be attempting to forego the 'development' of the inferior function, opting instead to 'utilize' it. [If Jungian analyst Irene Claremont de Castijello is right, this is precisely what happened to Hitler when he fell under the grip of his inferior (but intense) intuition.2)] But there is also the possibility, if one uses skill, that one could successfully travel this path that takes one directly through the unconscious, the source of our vitality and wisdom. In accomplishing this, one would be doing precisely what Jung recommended when he suggested that we use our 'stumbling block' as the cornerstone for our personal development. He was talking, to be specific, about the creation of the inner 'philosopher's stone', the quintessential mystical 'substance' that the alchemists sought to create - which is, paradoxically, as ordinary and undervalued as the common pebble, despite also being precious.
To the ancient idea of the philosopher's stone Jung was trying to give a contemporary psychological interpretation. The stone, for Jung, symbolizes the 'Self'. The Self (which is not the 'ego') constellates around the stumbling block that is our unconscious mental function. It is the jewel that is also ordinary and (at its center) unknowable, and hence often repugnant to our 'conscious' minds.
The individuated (self-actualized, or enlightened) person is the one who has structured consciousness around this unknown (and unknowable) center, thereby re-establishing mystery into its key role in life. The inferior function (precisely in its role as inferior ) is our connection to this mystery.
1. Consider, for instance, the following account of the nature of the 'inferior' function as described by Jungian analyst Irene Claremont de Castillejo:
2. Castillejo says:
No intuition as a first conscious function could possibly have had the dynamism of Hitler's. His intuition arose from the depths of the collective unconscious, alight with the flames of Hell. Hitler was a man possessed. (Page 35)
References
Castillejo, Irene Claremont de (1973), Knowing Woman: a Feminine Psychology. Boston: Shambala Publications.
Riso, Don Richard (1992), Discovering Your Personality Type: The Enneagram Questionnaire. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Spoto, Angelo (1995), Jung's Typology in Perspective, Revised Edition. Wilmette, Illinois: Chiron Publications.
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