Hey Five!
I signed up to attend the international enneagram conference in california at the beginning of august. Am hoping to learn tons. It looks like an interesting schedule.
A forum such as this serves multiple purposes. Me, I'm most interested in some of the discussions, and I think it's great that we have people of all different ages, genders, orientations, abilities entering into the conversations. I'm curious about Asperger's--in general theory, how it works itself out in different individuals, and what it has meant for my life.
Yetti, in my experience, people don't generally want advice unless they specifically ask for it, and even then, they often don't want it. (Does this stop me from giving advice? Well hell no!) And I think it's natural that each person here gravitates to some people and might be abhorred by others. There's picking and choosing among the tidbits that are offered...take what is meaningful or useful. Since you've lived 55 years without Asperger's as a conceptual framework, it's clear that this isn't something you have to have in order to live a good life. Maybe after your discovery and information-gathering frenzy has hit saturation, you'll pretty much pick up as you were before, but with more insights. I don't know.
I second Five's sentiment--I hope that you'll stay.
And I second Marieke's opinion that you might be reading into some posts criticism that is not intended by the poster but felt as such by you. What Marieke said about the literal thing--I agree. I've had people here project unintended meaning onto what I've written and it can be really frustrating. (Not been my personal experience with you....but rather is my observation from reading some of the back-and-forths between you and some other posters.)
Regarding personality theories like enneagram, Myers-Briggs and even, gasp, astrology, they're one of my aspie-style special interests. They give me roadmaps by which to interpret why people might behave the ways they behave, prioritize the ways they prioritize, etc. I've found it really helpful in making sense of some of the interpersonal mazes I find myself in.
I'd love to meet Helen Palmer--I don't think that she'll be at the conference. I've read her books, and even though I cannot relate to her description of five hardly at all, I like much of what she says. We joke on the EIDB about her "five" being sp/sp/sp. I'm soc/sx/sp
I'm travelling there from Seattle.
Some theorists advocate the concept of "trifix", meaning that you have a dominant fixation for each of the three head-gut-heart groupings. In my case, for example, 5 is my main type (head), but my trifix would be 5-1-2 (1 from the gut triad, and 2 from the heart triad). Using this idea, Batman could have a 6-9-4 trifix possibly. Of course, one might object that this idea as yet another example of expanding the system to the point where it can explain everything and therefore nothing. Nonetheless, I have found it helpful. For example, I see within myself that "give in order to get" motivation characteristic of type 2--it's a drive to be connected. Even though it runs counter to my 5 drive towards self-sufficiency, it is still operative. And I've had to own that love-seeking part of myself.
I think at this point I'd find some emo feelings to be rather refreshing.
Good point, Five! Well said.
Hey Five--welcome back.
I attended Bogda's workshop at the IEA--she's good.
I just got back from the Riso-Hudson Part I enneagram training--it was awesome! Russ Hudson was great in the way that he put things together--Riso wasn't there because he's recovering from arsenic poisoning he got from eating the wrong fish in China.
Anyways, I'm definitely a 5, heavy 6-wing.
Max--soc/sx stacking for you makes sense. That's my stacking also.
Natalie--you're in good company here being a 5.
Note: the link to the test that Max posted will only work for a couple more days.
There's a different free online test you can take linked below (take the classical)
http://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test.php
Same type as Don Riso, eh? (Don't barf, don't beat me, I'm just giving you a hard time)
I don't see much 3 or 9 in you, based on what I've observed so far.
I wavered between 5w6 and 6w5 for a while.
Max--do you see me as more 5 or 6? (or something else?)
The classical test on the eclectic energies site is pretty good but the variant test sucks, in my opinion. That's why I recommend classical.
I'm pretty darn low in 9 also.