Beware Of Chasing The Social Shadow

You may have already learned about the Enneagram Shadow in one of the earlier posts but if you haven’t, you should definitely check it out to make sense of the following content. You would also ideally be educated on the basics of cognitive functions and other personality type-related items.

It is postulated that along with an MBTI type, each person has a shadow personality type that itches at the individual to chase unique internal desires, depending on their enneagram type. Hence, the individual’s MBTI type becomes a tool to meet their enneagram shadow’s “directive”. However, is it possible for the vision of the enneagram shadow’s “directive” to get muddled? You could say that the enneagram shadow’s fulfillment is obstructed by the existence of a third shadow – the social shadow.

The social shadow tends to manifest itself by rejecting our individual strengths in favor of meeting the needs demanded by our external environment. The perceiver who is normally lackadaisical exhibits judging tendencies when they’re forced to arrive on time to school everyday. The feeler who is normally very attuned to emotions can become forced to tone it down to survive in a cutthroat corporate environment. The intuitor that would routinely enjoy delving into philosophical discussions may altogether give up in an environment full of sensors (I’ve definitely been there).

One example of how the social shadow can obstruct the enneagram type: an ISFP enneagram 4 becomes a big-law lawyer in New York because it pays good money, even if he does not necessarily enjoy the work and would rather spend his days chasing his dream of being a musician. As he continues to work his way up the ladder, he is forced to adopt traits that will cause him to display ENTJ-like tendencies. Eventually he starts to identify with those ENTJ-like traits, despite ignoring the itches of unhappiness caused by ignoring his true calling (another reason why its easier to type people when they’re younger). He begins to develop a social self, while ignoring his individual enneagram as a result of societal influence. However, if he had followed his true calling, he may have found material success beyond what being a lawyer brought him, and if not that, then atleast a life full of passion and nearing self-actualization, which is arguably better.

If you agree with this line of reasoning so far, you may want to ask yourself “Am I doing something because I want to or am forced to? Do I really enjoy and feel passionate about this?” Is there a way you can lower the amount of time you spend doing things you don’t care about and find things that make you feel alive? It may make all the difference

Other interesting questions appear as well. At what point is the formation of the enneagram shadow finished being influenced in childhood and then becomes muddled by the later social shadow? Is it possible that our original enneagram shadow is merely a social shadow itself and that we have unconsciously developed a deep-rooted identification with that enneagram shadow? If you have thoughts, please do comment below.