I NEED TO UNDERSTAND
so I can control my environment

PREVIOUS: Basic Triads, Part 2b

SECOND Triad (567) : HEAD, Mental-based character structure
#5 = Observer – – Energy: ‘Invisible’ Detachment, Hoarding
#6 = Questioner Energy: Fight 6 – Jabbing Confrontation
Agreement seeking – – – –  Flight 6 – Poised-for-flight Scanning
#7 = Adventurer Energy: Airy Excitement, Re-framing

At a party: If you stand at the door, looking around to see who’s there & what’s happening, you’re likely in the Head triad. You want to have a good idea of what to expect before going in to a new situation, approaching others cautiously.

Flow: Head-centered people think first – act and feel later. They tend to view life as outsiders looking in. Their driving ‘sin’** is fear, feeling separate from people and their environment

**”SIN” – the Enneagram comes out of a spiritual-direction tradition, so it teaches that each type has a definite sin disrupting their journey toward psychological & spiritual wholeness. In Greek it means “to miss the mark,” so it’s what makes us miss the ‘target’ in our life, which must be confronted & integrated

POSITIVE 567s notice more than other people, but don’t realize that most can’t see the same things they do, or don’t see things the same way! At their best they’re knowledgeable, intellectual & brilliant & visionary. (Bill Gates…). But caught up in the world of ideas, they can forget about the rest of the body (Sherlock Homes).

Purpose: “The goals of this center are to help us all minimize anxiety, manage potentially painful situations They want to gain a sense of certainty through the mental processes of analyzing, figuring out, envisioning, imagining & planning.

In addition, all of us depend on the HEAD Center of Intelligence to develop the higher qualities of wisdom, inner knowing & thoughtfulness.” ~ David Daniels, M.D

Physical center: Their main activity takes place in the Head, where they make decisions based either on logic on & mental processes (thinking things thru).
Also – they’re acutely aware of the environment, living very much in the present, & instinctively take everything in by physical senses (touch, taste, smell is the way to their “holy idea”) – because it gets them out of being stuck in mental loops

Priority: They want to create security by making sense of the world & other people – using ideas, concepts & rational thinking. Their most important quest is for Truth – for what’s real & what’s not.

Their implied Q is: “What does it all mean?” as they constantly try to figure out how each piece of information they’ve gathered fits in with everything else they’ve picked up. Controlling all the pieces by ‘understanding’ things makes them feel safer

Direction: 567 Types initially move away or withdraw from relationship
Key Mode: Detachment & upward displacement (away from gut)
Key Words: Assurance, Certainty, Opportunity, Predictability, Safety, Security

Basic defense: A concentration of mental energy makes it possible to detach from emotions & the body, to live in the mind. Fear of life (& death) is countered by thinking, explaining, rationalizing. Personal wants & needs are explained away or simply not felt.
Neurotic Style: Paranoid/schizoid process – distrust leads to withdrawing from contact with the world, to figure things out & feel protected.  Re. Emotion:
5s externalize their fear
6s repress their fear, as a primary strategy
7s internalize their fear inwardly

Life challenge: To integrate mind & body. They have trouble combining their inner world with the outer environment. For them – being ‘seen’ is a two-sided dilemma:
— if they get noticed, they lose their valued privacy
— if they don’t get seen they get too isolated, & feel unappreciated for all their knowledge

Much of the time they have lots of ideas & plans that never go anywhere, which tend be forgotten or go unnoticed. In business, being rigid & dogmatic in their thinking (they’re always right!) can create resentment & conflict, but they don’t know why, since they’re just being ‘reasonable’.
📌 The primary attraction / avoidance dance is trust vs. non-trust.

NEXT: Triad basics – Part 2c