Why You Shouldn’t Take an Enneagram Test
I know.
In an era when all knowledge is at your fingertips, I’m telling you not to take a test to find out your enneagram type.
Why?
The results are likely to be wrong, and they’ll end up creating confusion and an identification with the wrong type. While there’s work to be done and something to learn from every type on the Enneagram, knowing your true type means your work will be deeper. And even if the test isn’t wrong, there is no good reason to stop at a test.
There’s a high probability that you’ll take a test anyway, because there are a million available via a Google search, but if you do, keep these 3 points in mind:
You filter yourself on a test. You might not even realize you’re doing it, but no matter how honest you think you’re being, you could still be hiding things from the test – and even from yourself. So much about uncovering our Enneagram type is about working with our Shadow: the side of ourselves we’ve pushed away, or that we don’t know we don’t know about. When you’re answering questions on a test, you’re answering in the way that you think you are or the way you’re aspiring to be.
The Enneagram is grounded in a mystery school. News flash – doing work with the Enneagram was never supposed to be easy. While its origins are murky, the man who is credited with bringing the Enneagram to the West and the 20th century – G.J. Gurdjieff – emphasized its importance as secret, esoteric knowledge that could only be understood through deep work. In fact, he called what he was doing “The Work.” Taking a test that has stripped the Enneagram down to stereotypes does a disservice to the complexity and mystery of the system and its origins.
Most people stop here. Personality quizzes and tests are fun. But once you start studying the Enneagram, you realize that there is so much more than a result a test spat out at you. People take a test, it tells them they’re a Type 4, and they think that’s it. They tell everyone they’re a Type 4 and that it means they’re artistic and individualistic. But the work of the Enneagram only begins after you truly know your type, and one important step is learning that you are not the qualities of your fixated type (tests generally ask about fixated type qualities, i.e. limiting personality patterns and traits). It’s akin to finding a treasure chest, picking open the lock, and then abandoning it before you’ve opened it.
So if you don’t take a test, what do you do instead? Or if you have taken a test but want to verify your result, what options are out there?
You can read some wonderful books, and there are some good resources online (a couple are here and here). But an even better idea is to take a workshop or schedule a one-on-one session with someone who has done proper training in an established lineage. The Enneagram is hot these days, and many people are teaching it without any formal training. Check the International Enneagram Association for Accredited Professional members and programs in your area. In these post-pandemic days, there are also wonderful virtual events happening all over the world you can sign up for.
(Oh, yeah – and of course I can help you with it!)