The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

Gurdjieff’s teachings portrayed humankind as living in a kind of waking sleep. His “Fourth Way” approach held out the possibility of finding a path out of mechanical functioning through self-knowledge:

Nines can actually find it more relaxing and grounding to be by themselves,

They dislike feeling controlled, but like structure and clear lines of authority.

to begin to think, feel, and act with more choice and awareness.

start believing that, somewhere inside, you know what you want, and just take a stab at it. Over time you will develop a clearer channel to that part of you that does know what you want and need.

line with this, they (often unconsciously) give up on the effort to even know what they want.

When they were children, Nines may not have received the attention they needed, and their wishes and preferences typically weren’t listened to and acted upon.

while this “work on self” challenges us to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zones and confront things we’d rather stay asleep to, it is also a great adventure of the kind immortalized in epic poems and classic myths that can liberate our energies to live our lives in more peaceful, alive, authentic, and meaningful ways.

And overadapting to others eventually creates a sense of dissatisfaction that can leak out through passive-aggressive behavior and lead to the kind of conflict the adaptation was designed to prevent in the first place.