9 Types

In this section, we provide an overview of each of the 9 Enneagram types and introduce language that is used within the Diamond Approach to articulate important elements that can further support the understanding of ego development and spiritual realization of each type.

Essential Endowment - Keys to the Enneagram offers the understanding that we are each born and lose touch with a predisposition toward a quality of Essence, or a particular flavor of authentic spiritual presence. This quality is known as an essential endowment. Because we lose touch with this essential endowment in its authentic form, each ennea-type idealizes the essential endowment and forms an identity based on a facsimile of this quality. Due to this well-intentioned and mostly unconscious imitation, the characteristics of the endowment are expressed in distorted ways. When each type learns to cease imitating and instead authentically embodies their essential endowment, the fetters of the egoic structure are powerfully loosed and Essence shines through.

Passion & Virtue - The passion is the emotional, affective, and feeling tone or quality that characterize each ennea-type. The virtue is an inner attitude and orientation that is expressed as action, both inner and outer, reflecting the soul’s alignment with Being and results from the working through of the passion.

Ego Trap - The specific action that this type fixates upon as a solution to problems, but, in fact, distracts attention from the real issue.

Anti-Self Action - The specific way in which this type turns against their own souls.

Ego Lie - This is the characteristic attitude and orientation through which this type deceives themselves and others about reality.

Defense Mechanism - This is how each type defends against experiencing the core deficiency central to the ego structure.

Holy Idea – A particular direct perception of reality as a specific characteristic or facet of the unobscured perception of what is. Each is a particular and accurate view of reality beyond the blinders of the personality.

Specific Delusion – This is the distorted view of reality that forms the center of the psychological complex of each ennea-type.

Specific Difficulty – The painful and difficult state that results from early loss of love and connection that is specific to each ennea-type.

Specific Reaction – This is the particular way each ennea-type responds to its deeply painful specific difficulty.

"It is important to remember that each ego self contains all the types. One type dominates, but when we investigate this type deeply, we find that our personality also includes all the other fixations. In other words, the ego self has all nine fixations, all nine delusions, in its inner core. By exploring each fixation as it appears in our sense of self, we may access its idealized aspect. This means it is possible for us to access nine idealized qualities by studying our fixated ego self, which in turn will make penetrating the inner core of our type much easier since we have many powerful qualities of presence to aid us. It is rare that an individual will access all nine of the idealized aspects, and I am not saying we need to do this in order to be able to penetrate our inner core. But the more essential qualities we integrate, the easier it is for us to open up the core of our type and access its holy idea. In fact, there is the potential for us to penetrate the cores of all nine types and access all their holy ideas. In this way, the Enneagram map functions as a powerful tool for spiritual realization and liberation."

- A.H. Almaas

Keys to the Enneagram, pg 23