When I started reading about Eights, my first reaction was relief. I finally knew why I had "rage issues", control/power issues (especially with those "above" me) and why people responded to me the way they did (fear, thinking I'm in charge when I'm often not, or that I'm strong and can handle anything, so they don't understand when I'm not). It's true, one doesn't always like reading that one has the potential to be a sociopath, and I was just reading a list of "Famous Eights" today and finding myself lumped in with the likes of Castro, Hussien, and Stalin, to name a few, and thinking I'm not like that!
It's true that admitting to the weaknesses of the Eight "position" does seem to create a vulnerability contrary to an Eight's predisposition. However, there are a few things I've learned in regards in my search for coming into my 'higher' self. One is that having secrets or hiding vulnerabilities (even, and especially, from one's self) is in itself a weakness. Another is the reality that despite my desire to be strong, the reality is that I do have vulnerabilities, even if it appears that I don't in comparison to others. Another is that by exposing my "weaknesses" or that which I'm ashamed of, I can cause the shame to evaporate - by facing the truth of myself, and befriending it, I take away the power it has to control me, and empowers me to make choices instead of acting impulsively from a place of repression.
Several years ago, I watched the movie "Monster" which was about Aileen Wournos, a female serial killer. I found that labels like "monster" create a false separation in one's mind - a Me vs. Not Me, and this is not helpful. Empathy for her, rather than condemnation, seems to be in order, because the reality is that she was imprisoned by her own suffering, which caused her to act out from her place of disempowerment. If we cannot find a place in ourselves with which to be empathetic for others who have done horrible things, then we cannot find a place in ourselves to forgive those acts which are damaging to others, or ourselves. This is, to me, the ultimate weakness. So, my willingness and ability to see those "darker" parts of myself, really comes from a place of the Eight: to find a way to be strong and gain/maintain control and power. Which means, in some ways, that I have not fully transcended my Eightness.