Type 9: Notepad for the Collective

[Animal]

Share your ideas, questions and musings about Type 9.
Discuss the meaning of the type & how it manifests.
Address misconceptions.
Debate is welcome.

Discussion of Exemplars is welcome - but if it turns into a typing thread for someone, the mods can move the posts to a separate thread.

[[redacted]]

With type 9 I never relate to the haziness associated with the type, as I don't feel fogginess/am cognizant of what's going on inside myself. Although does anyone actually feel that way, without being super out of it? It sounds like a made-up thing.

[Animal]

With type 9 I never relate to the haziness associated with the type, as I don't feel fogginess/am cognizant of what's going on inside myself. Although does anyone actually feel that way, without being super out of it? It sounds like a made-up thing.

Would someone be aware that they're not aware? Nine is the crown of the enneagram because it signifies that we all are unaware of our true essence. As Eli says, deep down, 9 is 'angry at having a body' because it separates them from the womb, the All, God. This is the human condition. We are all separated from Oneness, our true essence. We all have bodies, which are inherent boundaries, and we must negotiate these boundaries. So each type does this differently, protecting themselves and creating barriers to survive. We must be unaware, to some degree, in order to survive - because if we sit thinking "I am not one with God, I have a body, I'm going to die one day, i want my mom...." every minute of every day, we will get nothing done. The 9 virtue is action -- more specifically, right action. An unhealthy 9 can move mechanistically, an empty shell, just surviving...whereas a healthy 9 lives for a purpose, rather than merely surviving. To feel this purpose, this drive, this love, is to be aware.

[[redacted]]

Would someone be aware that they're not aware? Nine is the crown of the enneagram because it signifies that we all are unaware of our true essence. As Eli says, deep down, 9 is 'angry at having a body' because it separates them from the womb, the All, God. This is the human condition. We are all separated from Oneness, our true essence. We all have bodies, which are inherent boundaries, and we must negotiate these boundaries. So each type does this differently, protecting themselves and creating barriers to survive. We must be unaware, to some degree, in order to survive - because if we sit thinking "I am not one with God, I have a body, I'm going to die one day, i want my mom...." every minute of every day, we will get nothing done. The 9 virtue is action -- more specifically, right action. An unhealthy 9 can move mechanistically, an empty shell, just surviving...whereas a healthy 9 lives for a purpose, rather than merely surviving. To feel this purpose, this drive, this love, is to be aware.

With that argument you can project anything on anyone and just say they aren't aware of themselves whenever it fails to resonate on them.

This doesn't resonate with me. I like having a body and I don't want to be one with God or any of that stuff...But because this Eli person says so, I must want it deep down? No, there is no "we" (speaking of boundaries, they should learn to speak for themselves) and any system that assumes the same for everyone is flawed. It's more useful to learn about how different people have different inner experiences.

This take feels off anyway. It would make more sense if it was something like... Being in a body can feel uncomfortable because then you have the potential to be violated. Just the simple act of existing opens the potential for violation, so a 9 might pretend not to exist through various means in order to avoid violation. Whether that's through projecting weird stuff that doesn't make sense so they don't need to own their own experience, or... Something else. I mean this isn't complete but it's already making more sense than wanting to be one with god at least.

(Instincts might play a part, since as a self-pres I naturally prefer to feel like a separate unit, but that's veering off-topic.)

[SpiritoftheGael]

[redacted] anyone who uses that argument to project onto someone else is making a fallacious argument. Just because everyone has blind spots, doesn't mean they specifically are right about what that person's blind spot is. Any idea can be misused and twisted. It doesn't mean the idea is in itself wrong. I mean it could be, but the fact that someone misuses it to project does not falsify it. All tools can be misused.

[SpiritoftheGael]

[redacted] to answer your specific questions about nine theory, nines are afraid of loss in some sense. This could be of the violation of the body, which you're right, does sound more specifically SP 9. Nine resists that loss and separation, which leads to the idea of trying to form a unity or oneness (basically the opposite of separation and death). It doesn't mean all nines believe in God or that they'll be literally trying to form a unity with God. That is all symbolic language. I do know 9s who very literally fit this but not all of them. It is perhaps slightly more SX 9 the way it is worded.

[Animal]

With that argument you can project anything on anyone and just say they aren't aware of themselves whenever it fails to resonate on them.

This doesn't resonate with me. I like having a body and I don't want to be one with God or any of that stuff...But because this Eli person says so, I must want it deep down? No, there is no "we" (speaking of boundaries, they should learn to speak for themselves) and any system that assumes the same for everyone is flawed. It's more useful to learn about how different people have different inner experiences.

This take feels off anyway. It would make more sense if it was something like... Being in a body can feel uncomfortable because then you have the potential to be violated. Just the simple act of existing opens the potential for violation, so a 9 might pretend not to exist through various means in order to avoid violation. Whether that's through projecting weird stuff that doesn't make sense so they don't need to own their own experience, or... Something else. I mean this isn't complete but it's already making more sense than wanting to be one with god at least.

(Instincts might play a part, since as a self-pres I naturally prefer to feel like a separate unit, but that's veering off-topic.)

My point was that everyone is unaware - absolutely everyone. So if you think you're the one person that is absolutely aware and this doesn't apply to you at all, then to me that demonstrates a blindness to yourself. I'm not suggesting that all 9s see it that way or that 9 core would be a reason to explain this blindness --- I'm just pointing out that it stands out to me. I've known all my life that there's a lot going on inside me that I'm unaware of, and I've always aimed to dig into it and learn more about myself. Same with other people. I would never credit myself for being absolutely completely fully self aware and awake while everyone else is asleep. I might have said things like this poetically, in moments of frustration, but when I'm having a reasonable conversation I'd have the humility to say "we all are asleep" and that lifting the veil is an art. Everyone would approach this in their own way, but to completely deny any unawareness in yourself just sounds unaware to me, regardless of your type.