14 Descriptive Essay Topics on the Enneagram Personality Types

14 Descriptive Essay Topics on the Enneagram Personality Types If you are tasked with crafting a descriptive essay on the Enneagram, it is important that you include many different facts to substantiate your thesis and your claims. That being said, below you will find a handful of useful facts that can help you present a comprehensive understanding of what the Enneagram is and how it can be used: The Enneagram functions as a gateway to understanding oneself and better understanding others. The Enneagram also describes the structure of nine distinct personalities so as to better understand those around you and integrate them. The name stems from two Greek words â€Å"ennea† which means â€Å"nine† and â€Å"grammos† which is a written symbol. The Enneagram symbol is a nine-pointed figure which represents the nine strategies for relating to yourself, to those around you, and to the world. With the Enneagram there are three centers of intelligence. The first is the head, the second is the heart, and the third is the body. Each person has all three but individual personality types result in one of the three being stronger than the others, functioning as the leader among them. Understanding your primary center and that of others allows you to develop your personal potential by overcoming blind spots. Those whose body type is the strongest center of intelligence use their instinctual center. They lead with gut-feelings, use their body for movement, are aware of their senses, and focus on social belonging and personal security. The focus for this type is controlling oneself and one’s environment, and taking action in a practical fashion. There are three personality types which fit into this category. The first is number 8: the protector. The second is number 9: the mediator. The third is number 1: the perfectionist. Those whose heart is the strongest center of intelligence use their emotional center primarily. They emphasize negative and positive feelings through the heart, they are devoted, have a lot of empathy and concern for other people, and they have a lot of romance inside of them. People with this personality type focus on relationships and success and in both things they perform up to expectations of others and of their career. There are three personality types which fit into this category. The first is number 2: the giver. The second is number 3: the performer. And the third is number 4: the romantic. Those whose heads are the strongest center of intelligence use their ideas, their perception, and their rational thinking as the leaders in their personality. People with this center of intelligence emphasize the need to have all of the facts before acting and they focus on cultivating certainty and safety. There are three personality types which fit into this category. The first is number 5: the observer. The second is number 6: the loyal skeptic. And the third is number 7: the epicure. The Protector is personality type 8 and this person will assume leadership roles wherever they are and regularly take charge of situations. They are intense people whose energy can intimidate others. They are also keen on doing things their way, making them impatient with regulations or rules. They have a high priority for justice and fairness in their life which is why they fight back if they feel wronged. For people with this personality type, the experience of weakness or vulnerability will only encourage attacks from those around them. This personality type can capitalize well on their strength and mild aggression, but if misapplied these two traits will cause problems. This personality type will boast power, generosity, and enthusiasm but they have problems with anger and excessive domination. They speak assertively but become bossy if things go wrong. Personality type 9 is the mediator and they share common problems with momentum. People with this personality type have issues with setting priorities and often find it challenging to shift their attention to the things which are most important. They are great mediators for other people though and naturally seek out harmony in the environment around them. They are well balanced and accepting but they also avoid conflict and are ambivalent. Personality type 1 is the perfectionist and they emphasize self-control and integrity. They always correct the things that are wrong and are well known for their common sense, their dependability, and their honesty. They are so responsible that they might resent those around them who are not as responsible as they are. They are often critical not just of others but of themselves. They work hard to be right all the time and are often in the role of a social reformer. They are improvement-oriented but have problems being resentful and overly critical. Personality type 2 is the giver and this person can easily make connections to others and empathize with their feelings and needs. They support others well and can bring out the potential in those around them but they also want to be liked and accepted by others so much that they change who they are to gain this approval. Twos absorb things from those around them and in this, must be cautious not to absorb too much and to set personal boundaries. Personality type 3 is the performer. This personality type is highly adaptable and will work hard to ensure their goals are completed. They are active and always on the go which makes it hard to slow down. They are highly concerned with their image and they concentrate heavily on receiving material rewards or external praise, something which can result in them losing contact with their true self. Personality type 4 is the romantic. This person regularly feels that something is missing and they are envious of others. They want depth in their relationships and express their emotions through poetry, dance, or music. They are passionate, but can often become over-emotional. They need lots of time by themselves and often struggle to balance their capacity for happiness with their sadness. Personality type 5 is the observer. This person is generally a scholar or a technical expert with a keen analytical skill or perception. They focus on the accumulation of knowledge and value privacy and personal autonomy. They can detach from those around them easily, but this cultivates loneliness. They are intellectually brilliant but struggle with feelings. Personality type 6 is the loyal skeptic who guards the safety of the family or group. They anticipate problems and have answers on the back burner. They use their intellect to figure out whether people are hostile or friendly. They are cautious and often worry. They also remain loyal and courageous once they have determined people to be good. Personality type 7 is the epicure who is a thinker and mover with an optimistic attitude to all life activities. These people maintain an interest in multiple subjects and they prefer to keep their options open. They do not focus on approval from others but on having fun. The facts speak for themselves: if you use enough of them in your paper, it will be excellent. But to make it even better, you may select the topic from 20 readymade titles on the Enneagram personality types. Also, don’t miss the chance to check out the writing guide on descriptive essays. References: Aspell, Patrick J, and Dee Dee Aspell.  The Enneagram Personality Portraits. San Francisco, Calif.: Pfeiffer, 1997. Print. Bennett, John G, and John G Bennett.  Enneagram Studies. York Beach, Me.: S. Weiser, 1983. Print. Bennett, John G.  The Enneagram. Sherborne, Glos.: Coombe Springs Press, 1974. Print. Bergin, EÃŒ iliÃŒ s, and Eddie Fitzgerald.  Enneagram. Dublin: SDB Media, 1996. Print. Blake, A. G. E.  The Intelligent Enneagram. Boston: Shambhala, 1996. Print. Ebert, Andreas, and Marion Küstenmacher.  Experiencing The Enneagram. New York: Crossroad, 1992. Print. Herman, C. Peter. Personality Types: Using The Enneagram For Self-Discovery..  PsycCRITIQUES33.7 (1988): n. pag. Web. Riso, Don Richard, and Russ Hudson.  The Wisdom Of The Enneagram. New York: Bantam Books, 1999. Print.

Robert Louis Stevensons Classic Essay on Walking Tours

Robert Louis Stevenson's Classic Essay on Walking Tours In this affectionate response to William Hazlitts essay On Going a Journey,  Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson describes the pleasures of an idle walk in the country and the even finer pleasures that come afterwardsitting by a fire enjoying trips into the Land of Thought. Stevenson is most well known for his novels including  Kidnapped, Treasure Island and The Strange Case of  Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Stevenson was a famous author during his life and has remained an important part of the literary cannon. This essay highlights his lesser-known skills as a travel writer.   Walking Tours by Robert Louis Stevenson 1 It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as some would have us fancy, is merely a better or worse way of seeing the country. There are many ways of seeing landscape quite as good; and none more vivid, in spite of canting dilettantes, than from a railway train. But landscape on a walking tour is quite accessory. He who is indeed of the brotherhood does not voyage in quest of the picturesque, but of certain jolly humoursof the hope and spirit with which the march begins at morning, and the peace and spiritual repletion of the evenings rest. He cannot tell whether he puts his knapsack on, or takes it off, with more delight. The excitement of the departure puts him in key for that of the arrival. Whatever he does is not only a reward in itself, but will be further rewarded in the sequel; and so pleasure leads on to pleasure in an endless chain. It is this that so few can understand; they will either be always lounging or always at five miles an hour; they do not play off the one ag ainst the other, prepare all day for the evening, and all evening for the next day. And, above all, it is here that your overwalker fails of comprehension. His heart rises against those who drink their curaà §ao in liqueur glasses, when he himself can swill it in a brown John. He will not believe that the flavour is more delicate in the smaller dose. He will not believe that to walk this unconscionable distance is merely to stupefy and brutalise himself, and come to his inn, at night, with a sort of frost on his five wits, and a starless night of darkness in his spirit. Not for him the mild luminous evening of the temperate walker! He has nothing left of man but a physical need for bedtime and a double nightcap; and even his pipe, if he be a smoker, will be savourless and disenchanted. It is the fate of such an one to take twice as much trouble as is needed to obtain happiness, and miss the happiness in the end; he is the man of the proverb, in short, who goes further and fares worse. 2 Now, to be properly enjoyed, a walking tour should be gone upon alone. If you go in a company, or even in pairs, it is no longer a walking tour in anything but name; it is something else and more in the nature of a picnic. A walking tour should be gone upon alone, because freedom is of the essence; because you should be able to stop and go on, and follow this way or that, as the freak takes you; and because you must have your own pace, and neither trot alongside a champion walker, nor mince in time with a girl. And then you must be open to all impressions and let your thoughts take colour from what you see. You should be as a pipe for any wind to play upon. I cannot see the wit, says Hazlitt, of walking and talking at the same time. When I am in the country I wish to vegetate like the countrywhich is the gist of all that can be said upon the matter. There should be no cackle of voices at your elbow, to jar on the meditative silence of the morning. And so long as a man is reasoning he cannot surrender himself to that fine intoxication that comes of much motion in the open air, that begins in a sort of dazzle and sluggishness of the brain, and ends in a peace that passes comprehension. 3 During the first day or so of any tour there are moments of bitterness, when the traveller feels more than coldly towards his knapsack, when he is half in a mind to throw it bodily over the hedge and, like Christian on a similar occasion, give three leaps and go on singing. And yet it soon acquires a property of easiness. It becomes magnetic; the spirit of the journey enters into it. And no sooner have you passed the straps over your shoulder than the lees of sleep are cleared from you, you pull yourself together with a shake, and fall at once into your stride. And surely, of all possible moods, this, in which a man takes the road, is the best. Of course, if he will keep thinking of his anxieties, if he will open the merchant Abudahs chest and walk arm-in-arm with the hagwhy, wherever he is, and whether he walk fast or slow, the chances are that he will not be happy. And so much the more shame to himself! There are perhaps thirty men setting forth at that same hour, and I would lay a large wager there is not another dull face among the thirty. It would be a fine thing to follow, in a coat of darkness, one after another of these wayfarers, some summer morning, for the first few miles upon the road. This one, who walks fast, with a keen look in his eyes, is all concentrated in his own mind; he is up at his loom, weaving and weaving, to set the landscape to words. This one peers about, as he goes, among the grasses; he waits by the canal to watch the dragon-flies; he leans on the gate of the pasture, and cannot look enough upon the complacent kine. And here comes another, talking, laughing, and gesticulating to himself. His face changes from time to time, as indignation flashes from his eyes or anger clouds his forehead. He is composing articles, delivering orations, and conducting the most impassioned interviews, by the way. 4  A little farther on, and it is as like as not he will begin to sing. And well for him, supposing him to be no great master in that art, if he stumble across no stolid peasant at a corner; for on such an occasion, I scarcely know which is the more troubled, or whether it is worse to suffer the confusion of your  troubadour,  or the unfeigned alarm of your clown. A sedentary population, accustomed, besides, to the strange mechanical bearing of the common tramp, can in no wise explain to itself the gaiety of these passers-by. I knew one man who was arrested as a runaway lunatic, because, although a full-grown person with a red beard, he skipped as he went like a child. And you would be astonished if I were to tell you all the grave and learned heads who have confessed to me that, when on walking tours, they sangand sang very illand had a pair of red ears when, as described above, the inauspicious peasant  plumped  into their arms from round a corner. And here, lest you shou ld think I am exaggerating, is Hazlitts own confession, from his essay  On Going a Journey,  which is so good that there should be a tax levied on all who have not read it: Give me the clear blue sky over my head, says he, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours march to dinnerand then to thinking! It is hard if I cannot start some game on these lone heaths. I laugh, I run, I leap, I sing for joy. Bravo! After that adventure of my friend with the policeman, you would not have cared, would you, to publish that in the first person? But we have no bravery nowadays, and, even in books, must all pretend to be as dull and foolish as our  neighbours. It was not so with Hazlitt. And notice how learned he is (as, indeed, throughout the essay) in the theory of walking tours. He is none of your athletic men in purple stockings, who walk their fifty miles a day: three hours march is his ideal. And then he must have a winding road, the epicure! 5  Yet there is one thing I object to in these words of his, one thing in the great masters practice that seems to me not wholly wise. I do not approve of that leaping and running. Both of these hurry the respiration; they both shake up the brain out of its glorious open-air  confusion; and  they both break the pace. Uneven walking is not so agreeable to the body, and it distracts and irritates the mind. Whereas, when once you have fallen into an equable stride, it requires no conscious thought from you to keep it up, and yet it prevents you from thinking earnestly of anything else. Like knitting, like the work of a copying clerk, it gradually  neutralises  and sets to sleep the serious activity of the mind. We can think of this or that, lightly and laughingly, as a child thinks, or as we think in a morning doze; we can make puns or puzzle out acrostics, and trifle in a thousand ways with words and rhymes; but when it comes to honest work, when we come to gather ourselves t ogether for an effort, we may sound the trumpet as loud and long as we please; the great barons of the mind will not rally to the standard, but sit, each one, at home, warming his hands over his own fire and brooding on his own private thought! 6  In the course of a days walk, you see, there is much variance in the mood. From the exhilaration of the  start,  to the happy phlegm of the arrival, the change is certainly great. As the day goes on, the  traveller  moves from the one extreme towards the other. He becomes more and more incorporated  with  the material landscape, and the open-air drunkenness grows upon him with great strides, until he posts along the road, and sees everything about him, as in a cheerful dream. The first is certainly brighter, but the second stage is the more peaceful. A man does not make so many articles towards the end, nor does he laugh aloud; but the purely animal pleasures, the sense of physical wellbeing, the delight of every inhalation, of every time the muscles tighten down the thigh, console him for the absence of the others, and bring him to his destination still content. 7  Nor must I forget to say a word on bivouacs. You come to a milestone on a hill, or some place where deep ways meet under trees; and off goes the knapsack, and down you sit to smoke a pipe in the shade. You sink into yourself, and the birds come round and look at you; and your smoke dissipates upon the afternoon under the blue dome of  heaven; and  the sun lies warm upon your feet, and the cool air visits your neck and turns aside your open shirt. If you are not happy, you must have an evil conscience. You may dally as long as you like by the roadside. It is almost as if the millennium  were  arrived,  when we shall throw our clocks and watches over the housetop, and remember time and seasons no more. Not to keep hours for a lifetime is, I was going to say, to live  for ever. You have no  idea,  unless you have tried it, how endlessly long is a summers day, that you measure out only by hunger, and bring to an end only when you are drowsy. I know a village where th ere are hardly any clocks, where no one knows more of the days of the week than by a sort of instinct for the fete on Sundays, and where only one person can tell you the day of the month, and she is generally wrong; and if people were aware how slow Time journeyed in that village, and what armfuls of spare hours he gives, over and above the bargain, to its wise inhabitants, I believe there would be a stampede out of London, Liverpool, Paris, and a variety of large towns, where the clocks lose their heads, and shake the hours out each one faster than the other, as though they were all in a wager. And all these foolish pilgrims would each bring his own misery along with him, in a watch-pocket! 8  It is to be noticed, there were no clocks and watches in the much-vaunted days before the flood. It follows, of course, there were no appointments, and punctuality was not yet thought upon. Though ye take from a covetous man all his treasure, says Milton, he has yet one jewel left; ye cannot deprive him of his covetousness. And so I would say of a modern man of business, you may do what you will for him, put him in Eden, give him the elixir of lifehe has still a flaw at heart, he still has his business habits. Now, there is no time when business habits are more mitigated than on a walking tour. And so during these halts, as I say, you will feel almost free. 9  But it is at night, and after dinner, that the best hour comes. There are no such pipes to be smoked as those that follow a good days march; the flavor of the tobacco is a thing to be remembered, it is so dry and aromatic, so full and so fine. If you wind up the evening with grog, you will own there was never such grog; at every sip a jocund tranquillity spreads about your limbs, and sits easily in your heart. If you read a bookand you will never do so save by fits and startsyou find the language strangely racy and harmonious; words take a new meaning; single sentences possess the ear for half an hour together; and the writer endears himself to you, at every page, by the nicest coincidence of sentiment. It seems as if it were a book you had written yourself in a dream. To all we have read on such occasions we look back with special favor. It was on the 10th of April, 1798, says Hazlitt, with amorous precision, that I sat down to a volume of the new  Heloise, at the Inn at Lla ngollen, over a bottle of sherry and a cold chicken. I should wish to quote more, for though we are mighty fine fellows nowadays, we cannot write like Hazlitt. And, talking of that, a volume of Hazlitts essays would be a capital pocket-book on such a journey; so would a volume of Heines songs; and for  Tristram Shandy  I can pledge a fair experience. 10  If the evening be fine and warm, there is nothing better in life than to lounge before the inn door in the sunset, or lean over the parapet of the bridge, to watch the weeds and the quick fishes. It is then, if ever, that you taste Joviality to the full significance of that audacious word. Your muscles are so agreeably slack, you feel so clean and so strong and so idle, that whether you move or sit still, whatever you do is done with pride and a kingly sort of pleasure. You fall in talk with any one, wise or foolish, drunk or sober. And it seems as if a hot walk purged you, more than of anything else, of all narrowness and pride, and left curiosity to play its part freely, as in a child or a man of science. You lay aside all your own hobbies, to watch provincial humour develop themselves before you, now as a laughable farce, and now grave and beautiful like an old tale. 11  Or perhaps you are left to your own company for the night, and surly weather imprisons you by the fire. You may remember how Burns, numbering past pleasures, dwells upon the hours when he has been happy thinking. It is a phrase that may well perplex a poor modern, girt about on every side by clocks and chimes, and haunted, even at night, by flaming  dialplates. For we are all so busy, and have so many far-off projects to realise, and castles in the fire to turn into solid habitable mansions on a gravel soil, that we can find no time for pleasure trips into the Land of Thought and among the Hills of Vanity. Changed times, indeed, when we must sit all night, beside the fire, with folded hands; and a changed world for most of us, when we find we can pass the hours without discontent, and be happy thinking. We are in such haste to be doing, to be writing, to be gathering gear, to make our voice audible a moment in the derisive silence of eternity, that we forget that one thing, o f which these are but the partsnamely, to live. We fall in love, we drink hard, we run to and fro upon the earth like frightened sheep. And now you are to ask yourself if, when all is done, you would not have been better to sit by the fire at home, and be happy thinking. To sit still and contemplateto remember the faces of women without desire, to be pleased by the great deeds of men without envy, to be everything and everywhere in sympathy, and yet content to remain where and what you areis not this to know both wisdom and virtue, and to dwell with happiness? After all, it is not they who carry flags, but they who look upon it from a private chamber, who have the fun of the procession. And once you are at that, you are in the very humor of all social heresy. It is no time for shuffling, or for big, empty words. If you ask yourself what you mean by fame, riches, or learning, the answer is far to seek; and you go back into that kingdom of light imaginations, which seem so vain in the eyes of Philistines perspiring after wealth, an d so momentous to those who are stricken with the disproportions of the world, and, in the face of the gigantic stars, cannot stop to split differences between two degrees of the infinitesimally small, such as a tobacco pipe or the Roman Empire, a million of money or a fiddlesticks end. 12  You lean from the window, your last pipe reeking whitely into the darkness, your body full of delicious pains, your mind enthroned in the seventh circle of content; when suddenly the mood changes, the weathercock goes about, and you ask yourself one question more: whether, for the interval, you have been the wisest philosopher or the most egregious of donkeys? Human experience is not yet able to reply, but at least you have had a fine moment, and looked down upon all the kingdoms of the earth. And whether it was wise or foolish, to-morrows travel will carry you, body and mind, into some different parish of the infinite. Originally published in the  Cornhill Magazine  in 1876, Walking Tours by Robert Louis Stevenson appears in the collection  Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers  (1881).