Type 5s enjoy deeply understanding the world and improving their intellect. They are alert, insightful, and curious. To conserve their energy and avoid being drained by others, they can become detached and isolated.
At their best, type 5s are visionary pioneers, able to see the world in an entirely new way. But at their worst, they are cold and distant, believing that everything is meaningless.
Cerebral, Perceptive, Innovative, Isolated, Secretive
Key Desire: To be competent, autonomous, and capable
Key Fear: Being helpless, dependent, and incapable
Key Longing: Your needs are not a burden
Strengths:
- Cerebral
- Insightful
- Perceptive
- Intellectual
- Objective
- Innovative
- Dependable
Challenges:
- Withdrawn
- Intense
- Obsessive
- Arrogant
- High-strung
- Detached
- Stingy
Type 5 Wings
Each type is influenced by its nearest “wing.” We usually lean on one wing more than the other. These wings give more intricacy to who we are.
5w4 “The Iconoclast”
If you lean more on your 4 wing, you are more in touch with your emotions and self-expressive. You enjoying expressing your imagination through abstract art and original ideas. You love to create what has never been thought of before. You are independent with deep emotions.
- Imaginative
- Curious
- Original
- Hypersensitive
- Introspective
- Afraid of intimacy
- Open-minded
5w6 “The Problem Solver”
If you lean more on your 6 wing, you are still very independent, but more cooperative and loyal. You are practical with great observational skills and excel at solving complex problems. You are not very emotional and struggle with social skills.
- Philosophical
- Objective
- Disciplined
- Suspicious
- Cooperative
- Scientific
- Emotionally reserved
Growth & Stress
Every Enneagram has stress and growth paths. These are the directions we go toward as we grow or become more secure, and when we’re stressed and disintegrating.
Security
Move toward healthy 8s
- self-confident
- Openhearted
- Assertive
Stress
Move toward unhealthy 7s
- Insensitive
- Unreliable
- Scattered
Levels of Development
Healthy Levels
Level 1:
At their best, type 5s open-minded visionaries leaving a profound impact on the world. They make pioneering discoveries and find entirely new ways of doing and perceiving things.
Level 2:
They observe everything with extraordinary perceptiveness and insight. They are mentally alert and curious. They have incredible foresight and focus.
Level 3:
They attain skillful mastery of whatever interests them. Excited by knowledge, they often become experts in some field. Innovative and inventive, producing original works. Highly independent and whimsical.
Average Levels
Level 4:
They work things out in their minds before acting. They prepare, practice, and gather resources. They are studious and acquire a specialty in something. They challenge accepted ways of doing things.
Level 5:
They become increasingly detached as they get involved with complicated ideas or imaginary worlds. They focus more on their visions than reality. They are detached, yet also high-strung and intense.
Level 6:
They are antagonistic toward anything that goes against their inner world beliefs. They are harsh, cynical, and argumentative. They develop extreme and radical views.
Unhealthy Levels
Level 7:
They become reclusive and isolated from reality. They see everything as meaningless. They are highly unstable and fearful of aggressions. They push away all social attachments.
Level 8:
Obsessed yet frightened by their threatening ideas. They becoming horrified, delirious, and fall victim to gross distortions and phobias.
Level 9:
Seeking oblivion, they may commit suicide or have a psychotic break with reality. Deranged, explosively self-destructive, with schizophrenic overtones.
The Human Connection 