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[Type 8] Stackemup Enneagram Description for Enneatype VIII

Tomb1

Active member
Joined
Jun 15, 2011
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993
Type Eight

Eights are power-oriented. In the eight's might makes right view of the world, power is the one course open for them.

Eights are independent. Since the eight is power-oriented, they rely on themselves to make things happen in life. They are pro-active and like feeling masterful.

Eights are ambitious. Because they like feeling masterful, it's not enough for the eight to just exercise power, but rather, to exercise power masterfully.

Eights are willful. Needless to say that since the eight is engaged in wielding the power they have, taking the power that others have and holding onto the power that others want to take from them, this is a naturally assertive and dominant character, one who is not vulnerable to intimidation and doesn't back down. They are the least squeamish type and have the stomach for anything.

Eights are aggressive. Since eights are fundamentally independent, being assertive is not a good to an eight unless it is for their own benefit. Therefore, the assertiveness of type eight runs on an aggressive mind. Distinct from just outwardly aggressive behavior, the eight's aggressive mind is the key instrumentality in their exercise of power.

Eights are animalistic. In order to keep the aggressive mind free from any principle or legal/ethical constraint, the eight's psyche employs the psychological mechanism known as denial. Denial keeps the eight out of touch with vulnerability and the experience of being human. Weakness is like a pit of despair that eights are wired to avoid falling into. They don't have to make a conscious effort at not falling into it.

Eights are action-oriented. Having sloughed off so many human needs, they are heavily focused on the prosecution of their own ends. They are not introspective. They are self-disciplined and tough enough that they don't even have a need to seek out external validation for their toughness.

Eights are cunning. Since they are not constrained by truth or principle, they can cultivate an impression of good intentions in order to camouflage the excesses of their power orientation. They pull strings so as to masterfully exercise power even over the consequences of exercising power.

Eights are controlling. When eights seek to control the environment its not because they fear being harmed or fear being controlled, but because controlling others gives them the leverage to wield a greater degree of power. Through power comes control and through control more power is wielded.

Eights are dominating. Now with the control they have, the possibilities for wielding power in an even more masterful way become realistic. The lust to realize these possibilities sets into motion the total objectification of the people they have control over.

Eights are punitive. Because the eight has objectified the people they have control over, they will use force and other ruthless means to maintain dominance and ensure compliance to their will. Since the eight is out of touch with vulnerability, they do not experience remorse or guilt for their use of force.

Unhealthy eights are dictatorial. Having established rule through fear, they are willfully cruel and self-serving in their use of power, acting with total impunity not out of any interpersonal sensitivity or spite but just because they have the might to do so.

8w7s are adventurous and subversive. The impatience of the 7 wing combines with the 8's power-orientation to make for an individual who is always on the move in the conquest of more territory. They exercise power through more subversive means.

8w9s are consolidating and traditional. The inertness of the 9 wing combines with the 8's power-orientation to make for an individual who is heavily involved in the consolidation of their own territory. They exercise power through more traditional means.

Distinctions:

Both eights and twos are energetic and assertive. However, the assertiveness of type two does not run on an aggressive mind. Eights are aggressive-minded. The two energy and assertiveness works more in the service of volunteering and sacrificing themselves to others.

Some threes can be dominating and therefore easy to confuse with eights. But for threes, dominance is a means of showing off and courting admiration. For 8s, dominance is an end in itself. In conflict, Threes lose ground because they get tied up trying to defend their past accomplishments, before they go back on the attack. An eight will stay more on the offensive without having to step out of the action to self-promote. Eights don't have that super competitive itch to brag and trash talk that threes do. Contrast Donald Trump and Muhammad Ali who are both 3w2s with Saddam Hussein or Frank Sinatra who were 8s.

Eights are action-oriented. Fours are introspective.

Both fives and eights are cunning. However, the fives' cunning utilizes better foresight and tries to exert power more through remote control, from a distance. This difference boils down to the fact that fives are vulnerable to intimidation. Eights are not.

Six aggression is defensive. Eight aggression is offensive. Eights are out of touch with vulnerability. Sixes use anger to cover up their vulnerability when they are counterphobic. For Eights, dominance is an end in itself. For Sixes, dominance is a means of having the power to defend themselves against others either pre-emptively or in response to an attack.

Sevens focus on options. Eights focus on leverage. Furthermore, dominance is an end in itself for Eights. For sevens, dominance is a means of having the power to subvert and rebel, to undo society, so to speak.

Eights are independent-minded. Nines seek mental reassurances.

Ones are often domineering. For that reason they may be confused with eights. But for Ones, dominance is a means of "righting" perceived wrongs. For eights, dominance is an end in itself, not a means to some other goal. Contrast Adolph Hitler who was a 1 with Joe Stalin who was an 8. Many Ones are dictators. Being a dictator or even a mass-murdering dictator does not make the person an 8.
 
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