- Home
- Preface
- Introduction
- Three Zones and Nine Sectors
- Wings and Moves and other functions
- Biblical Journeys
- Prayer
- The Enneagram
- From the Enneagram to the Strategy Board
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The wings and the outer circle
Among the various authors, the arrangement of the nine types in a circle is universally acknowledged. It is explained by some variation of ‘wings’ theory: that NINEs tend to have a bit of EIGHT in them, or a bit of ONE, or possibly both, and so on around the board; and that this is more pronounced than any other mixing of the types.
Once again this is presented as information without explanation.
The explanation lies hidden elsewhere in the literature: in the three ‘centers’ or zones.
Authors are constantly looking for patterns and groupings within the list of nine types in order to categorize, simplify, and increase understanding. The most widely acknowledged pattern within the list is the division into three groups of three – under the headings of ‘head’ and ‘heart’ and ‘gut.’
Descriptions given for ‘head’ and ‘heart’ and ‘gut’ are often extraordinarily strained, being derived not from the plain meaning of the words but from an attempt to spot – for example – what FIVE and SIX and SEVEN might have in common: any strained form of words to link the three together is then labeled ‘head.’
The present author was able to revisit the head and heart and gut classifications in the light of the newly identified strategies.
‘Think it through first’ for FIVE, ‘stick with what you know’ for SIX, and ‘stay positive come what may’ for SEVEN, do indeed sound like ‘head’ choices.
‘Give and care’ for TWO, ‘lead and achieve’ for THREE, and ‘be true to yourself’ for FOUR, do indeed sound like heart-influenced choices.
Many authors find ‘gut’ a difficult category, and speak of ‘body’ or even ‘belly’ – but ‘test people out’ for EIGHT, ‘keep it simple’ for NINE, and ‘be on your best behavior’ for ONE, now identify the underlying nature of these types: they are strategies based on ‘gut instincts’ or ‘gut reactions.’
The head zone, the heart zone, and the gut zone are no longer awkwardly defined enneagram ‘super-categories’: they are now defined by the natural meanings of the words ‘head’ and ‘heart’ and ‘gut’ – head and heart as the classic inner rivals, plus gut as in ‘gut instinct’ and ‘gut reaction.’
More importantly, each one has been identified as the origin of the three strategies in its zone. We are firstly head types and heart types and gut types: we adopt one of the three strategies available in our zone, and everything else follows from there. Head and heart and gut come to form the foundation of the entire system.
And yet it remains to be explained why there should be three distinct strategies available in each zone, why each individual should choose the one they choose, and why each strategy should have its particular ‘wings’ – sometimes the other two strategies in the same zone, but more often not.
For this author, the answer to all of this was staring out of the diagram – and yet it is found nowhere else in the literature. The answer lies in the idea of the secondary influence.
In the gut zone, it is the presence of a secondary influence that differentiates EIGHT and ONE from NINE. The strategy of EIGHT – ‘test people out’ – is fundamentally a gut-plus-head strategy. And the strategy of ONE – ‘be on your best behavior’ – is fundamentally a gut-plus-heart strategy. Head influence is not just on the SEVEN wing of EIGHT – it is in the very essence of EIGHT itself. And heart influence is not just on the TWO wing of ONE – it is in the very essence of ONE itself. It is this secondary influence that sets EIGHT and ONE apart from each other, and sets them apart from the all-gut-influenced NINE. In each zone the same principle applies – producing three distinct strategies in each zone.
Each strategy is now recognized as the consequence of one particular blend of influences from head and heart and gut. From this comes the explanation for the wings: they represent minor variations in that usual balance of head and heart and gut.
The nine strategies – and the pattern of the wings – now emerge from an entirely new ‘first principle’ of the enneagram: that everything in the system can be traced back directly to the interaction of head and heart and gut as the individual engages with the world.