Pt 3: Nothing to Fear
“Nothing to defend, nothing to promote and nothing to fear” - Don Riso
SECURITY
The Thinking or Head Center of the Enneagram is home to Types Five, Six and Seven. These types are sensitive to issues of safety and security, as is the Head Center in all of us. We each have a Thinking Center and can relate to how life can be experienced as unsafe and unpredictable. This requires us to think and figure out what to do to protect ourselves. Fear, which underlies the Head types, is related to feeling unmoored and dropped into life ill-equipped to survive - something that is literally true for us as infants, when we depend completely on others to keep us safe.
One way to understand the three Head types is to see how the personality tries to get the need to be safe met.
Type Five: The Investigator (Withdrawn) is cerebral, trying to mentally understand how the world works and relying on knowledge and expertise to feel safe, living in some degree of isolation.
Type Six: The Loyalist (Dutiful) is doubtful and worrying, giving loyalty to those in their trusted circle, building a safety network, living with anxiety.
Type Seven: The Enthusiast (Assertive) is pleasure seeking, anticipating, and moving forward to avoid feeling pain and fear, trying to get their needs met and be happy.
We all experience our mental world as busy, anxious, and anticipating what’s next. We try to think our way to understanding our situation. We all want to feel safe and happy. We can learn to improve our understanding of the world, get grounded to lessen our anxiety, and explore ways to be more truly happy. Philosophies and techniques abound, including the Enneagram. But ultimately, we must trust. Having courage in the face of uncertainty and giving up on the personality’s quest to figure things out, we let go of finding certain correct beliefs, accepting that there is a mystery beyond our human understanding. This does not mean we don’t continue to grow in understanding and learning, but we allow our minds to be spacious and rest.
Using all three Centers of Intelligence, grounded in our belly, open hearted and with spacious mind, we live in the mystery. Knowing that there is nothing to defend, nothing to promote and nothing to fear, our personalities begin to relax.
