Absolutely the Enneatype of the theorist shapes the theory, what is seen as "healthy", where one's priorities should lie (e.g. Freud: "love and work", Carl Jung (9), "individuation" and being led by the Self or the soul, Adler's emphasis on the social component of being a human being and on the idea of "inferiority complex".

Hello.
I don't want to offend anyone, or challenge an attached belief, but I am amazed- (very) that I have seen nothing on the internet that reflects this viewpoint... surely, these points here can't be just mine alone...

my point is: I DO think that the enneagram system is a MAP of reality a little more than reality itself- and I don't think we can have an accurate, 100% map of the shifting, subtle reality that is the human psyche.

Like psychic gifts- as soon as one looks to prove, systemize & quanitfy them, they -rightly -withdraw, and evade such pin-downable measurements, and 'final answers'... It is as if this (psychological and spiritual) reality needs to withdraw and is saying sorry but you CANT quantify me; the laws are nore subtle and fluid than the left-side of the brain can know.(I'm sure people have had the experience, when there is a subtle, intuitive experiencing of reality, and when the theorizing brain tendency comes in, the expereince is killed, dead, not there any more (and now only a memory, or a theory!)

I think a lot of people would share my basic sensibility here- which is why I don't think it will ever become popular (although in the States, it does seem more popular than here in the UK)....

One of my problems being a person with a long-standing consistent- although casual awareness of it (having thoruoghly read Don Richard Riuso's book about 18 years ago), and- since that time- casual referrer to the ennegram, is that people I know and famous people I observe, seem to have more than one personality type very often: for example, someone i know is -certainly- very much a 4 (with a 5 wing) but she IS also -sometimes- a 1 with a 9 wing. Instead of saying, 'oh- but that's cos she's a healthy 4; or it is really aspects of 5 you are seeing, or whatever...(I know all your theories)- is missing the point I do think: and it is bending reality to suit the system...

Anthony Hopkins- to me comes cross as a 4-5 person, as well as an an 8-9 person... not that he is one and NOT the other ever. More supply-minded enneagram users have told me that 'yes- we all have these 9 temdencies wihtin us, and sometimes we may behave as a 9 when we are a 5' etc. But I think we ARE perhaps 2 kinds... This is my expereince and acknowledgemnt of reality, rather than an impulse to make the system more complicated!... I am certianly nmot trying to make another 'system'...

I KNOW that systems are desirable for the mind, very; but I think it does not quite work as much as its proponents think-.... just as these frankly incredibly irritating people (to me- who is, essentially, most of the time, a '4') who are "4's", on the internet, and who identify with the sterotype of being that way (and are incredibly self-indulgent paraodies of what a '4' is...- just go and look! I just think 'oh dear'- they are attached to their 'personality' so much, that it is unreal, and not healthy, not alive... '4''s- as much as the system is true- are different from one another if they are being themselves and living their individual life (somehthing that is supposed to be a value of this type!_)...

People who are not especially interested in the enneagram but who are slightly curious just feel very turned-off by such a scenario as those self-sterotypers, believe me. And i understand why...

I think there is some truth in the enneagram- which is an amazing thing, but like astrologers, or people who work with the 5 Chinese elements re human character, I think it is MORE FLUID -and not at all as 'tight' as people like Riso believe. It is therefore... useful- but only to a certain extent.

I don't know whether I am making sense to people reading this. This is certainly only my humble truth, but I feel I am very good at expereincing, intuitively, others' characters, and that my suggestion (e.g. that people have more than one personality type), is so...

Hello, This is my opinion.
I've come to the understanding that the Enneagram is a tool or a map, just like you said. I believe when we can identify the personality type that fits us, it will help us to become more conscious of our defenses so that we can come out from under them. We are born with an essence or a true nature, but we develop defenses which form a personality. I think the whole idea is for us to become conscious of our defenses in order to come out from under them.
I thought I was a four for a long time, but came to realize through feedback of other Enneagram people that I'm really an extrovert and others saw me as "spirited". I always heard stories about how I was a hyperactive kid.
Then for a while I thought I was a very unconsious one. (since I saw seven traits and four traits) Gradually I questioned that too because I'm in no way organized and I hate responsibility.
Gradually it became clear that I'm a seven who has been depressed a lot (like a four). Now it all makes sense. I was born a very spirited person, but began inhibiting myself severely because of the extreme criticism it brought upon me. I was depressed because I couldn't be myself and because I felt inferior to others in my family who were more stable. It's all so clear now and I generally feel happy and joyous because I understand myself and I have compassion for myself. Also, I see my defenses and I don't let myself act them out anymore.
The worst thing about the Enneagram is that if you're alone with it, it's easy to mistype yourself. I spent years working on the wrong issues and I thought it was a problem with the Enneagram. After finding where I belong on the circle things just make more sense in my life. Finding my type has helped more than the therapy I've had over the years, since I didn't see myself clearly and none of the therapists I went to caught on to the anxiety underlying my depression.