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SIX

At SIX we are in the middle of the head zone – the place of logic and reason. SIX gathers information as it goes along – and then uses that accumulated knowledge as the foundation on which to build its further interactions with the world around. Meeting the daily complexity of the world, the strategy of head type SIX is ‘stick with what you know.’

There is an empowering confidence in this strategy. It asserts that if something is known, there is no need to fear: you take what you know, and you stay with it, you commit to it. Loyalty and faithfulness belong to SIX. SIX stays the course once a choice has been made. SIX is a point of stability: constant and dependable, the least swayed by passing emotions or unexpected developments, the one still standing at the end of the storm. Classic, enduring, loyal friendships are SIX. Dependable companionship is SIX.

SIX’s faithful commitment to the ordinary business of life means that SIXes get things done – and do so without ever wishing to draw attention to themselves. For the church fete, while the other types are dreaming about revising the concepts behind the event or re-branding it or changing the whole approach, the SIXes are organizing trestle tables and repairing the games and printing the posters and making the jam and ensuring that the event will actually happen, like every year, on the day and at the time appointed.

In mainstream society, quietly getting things done, SIX – in the English vernacular – is ‘the salt of the earth,’ ‘a brick’ – or ‘a rock’ – holding to what is known and staying the course.

SIX is a team player, naturally at home in a group. A group functions perfectly as a defined ‘known world’ within which SIX can operate with confidence. SIX can be an exemplary team member – loyal, reliable, committed, cooperative, even self-sacrificial, ready to take on a share of responsibility, and expecting others to do the same.

To make their strategy workable – to ‘stick with what they know’ – SIXes do need clear boundaries. They need to know what counts as the safe area and what counts as the danger zone; what counts as known, and therefore safe, and what counts as unknown, and therefore unsafe; who is in the group, and therefore a known quantity, and who is not in the group, and therefore an unknown quantity; who is friend, and who is foe; who is with us, and who is not; what is compulsory, and what is not; what is permitted, and what is not. Within the known boundaries, SIXes can operate with absolute confidence and bring their unique gifts of loyalty, faithfulness, and commitment – but they do not like to have to go beyond those boundaries, they do not like to have to take the lead, and they do need to know where those boundaries lie.

It has sometimes been asserted that ‘God has a blueprint for your life’ – whereby God has determined in advance who you should marry, where you should live, what you should do for work and for leisure, the color of your kitchen, and the menu for dinner tonight. In this view of the world, the definition of sin is any deviation from the daily blueprint. Everything is either forbidden or compulsory: there is nothing optional in between.

This is a very fearful, ‘corrupted SIX’ view of the world – with the boundaries drawn very tightly. A healthier SIX knows that beyond the compulsory, and before the forbidden, lies a realm where it is ‘known’ to be both safe and permitted to explore, to run free – where the richness of life can be lived to the full with confidence and freedom and creativity. Part of the challenging dynamic for SIX is defining and redefining where the relevant boundaries lie.

Daring to draw a boundary wider is a life-changing experience for SIX – for example: the definition of who is safely Christian could be expanded from the membership list of one strict denomination to include ‘all those who can name Jesus as Lord’; the definition of worthy and valuable fellow human beings could be extended from the residents of one village or district or national group to include the entire human race of every continent and creed. These are daring redefinitions which liberate SIX – more than any other type – to go forward with confidence into new or unexplored areas and discover whole new aspects of life, using their gifts of loyalty and commitment ever more widely. The sense of ‘home’ – the old boundary – can remain as the final place of safety, but a whole new world has opened up within the new and wider boundary.

With their clarity of thought and their nose for danger, SIXes can be far-sighted and discerning as they work with others on future plans. SIXes often need to trust more and to fear less – but there are times when their reciprocal gift to others is to point out well in advance where danger may lie.

The national stereotype for SIX is rural white America – ‘the American red neck’ – fiercely loyal to the farm, the family, the village, possibly the county – and deeply suspicious of all else.

The cartoon animal for SIX could be anything which operates with loyalty and efficiency in a group – whether a pack or a shoal or a flock. Think of the starlings that arrive on the lawn – first a half dozen, then twenty, then forty, then a hundred and more – and take flight together in an instant at the first unfamiliar sound. Or think of the geese that can fly together for thousands of miles – always in the same familiar ‘V’ formation – taking it in turns to take the lead. Working together in this way almost doubles their potential range. Those taking a turn further back in the formation honk to encourage those taking a turn up front. And if one becomes weak or takes an injury, a small group will break off to stay with the weaker bird and continue later – in their own, smaller, ‘V’ formation. On the ground geese are fiercely protective of their own. Confidence, loyalty, and faithfulness.

In the Bible, Peter shows us SIX – a complex mixture of loyalty and fear. He is one of the core group of loyal disciples, alongside Jesus at all the key moments in three years of itinerant ministry – and yet fear repeatedly prevents him from achieving his best: fear of sinking, fear of what lies ahead in Jerusalem, fear of what is happening as Maundy Thursday night becomes Good Friday morning – although even then, his loyalty keeps him well within sight of the courthouse. Jesus gives Peter a wonderful SIX name – the Rock – for the best of the gifts of SIX – which flourish in Peter after Pentecost. Those gifts of SIX are confidence and loyalty and faithfulness – within the realm of what is known.

And the temptations of SIX are cowardice – the fear of the unknown – and sometimes the active condemnation of anything unfamiliar. Sometimes life challenges us to move beyond what we already know.

The path from corruption to redemption for SIX involves questioning and dismantling some of those boundaries: learning not to have to ask permission; learning to trust God and self a little instead of just the dry old rules; learning to trust more, and to fear less. On the path from corruption to redemption, SIXes learn to talk to God like a perfect loyal friend, and learn to have fun, laugh a little, and enjoy the potential richness of life.

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