The Virtues of the Enneagram show us the path to Wholeness. They are the qualities we aspire to lean into while being present, shedding our neural fixations (Saboteurs), our Passions, and the rest of the stories and or coping mechanisms our Ego has conditioned us to live in this world. I learned the following information from Chris Heuertz’s book The Enneagram of Belonging. Enjoy the learning!

Here is the rundown Type by Type:

Type One: From Anger to Serenity

SERENITY IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS FREE OF ATTACHMENT TO SPECIFIC WAYS OF DOING THINGS - TO HAVING TO CONFORM TO THE RIGHT WAY.   

This higher Virtue encompasses our ability to be patient and relaxed knowing the sense of completeness and wholeness - a feeling that everything is as it should be and that nothing needs to be changed or perfected. When Ones can start to transcend the energy and emotion of anger in all its forms, they can relax into the flow. They can harmonize with the natural rhythms of life without having to impose any evaluative judgments about what should be happening or how life should be conforming to specific standards.  

Type Two: From Pride to Humility

HUMILITY IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS FREE OF THE ATTACHMENT TO BE BETTER THAN YOU REALLY ARE IN ORDER TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE VALUE. 

Humility allows you to rest in the knowledge that are “good enough” as you are - that you don’t need to be perfect or superior or recognized in a specific way to be worthy of love.  Humility means learning to love and accept yourself for exactly who you are no more and no less.  When Twos can transcend the prideful need to see themselves as somehow better than they are - as indispensable, without needs, able to turn themselves into whatever others desire most - they can relax into the freedom that humility brings:  to just be yourself, knowing that is good enough. 

Type Three:  From Vanity to Authenticity

AUTHENTICITY IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS GENUINE AND TRUE.  IT MEANS YOU ARE BEING TRUE TO YOUR PERSONALITY, CHARACTER AND SPIRIT. 

For Three’s, who pursue love through external validation know deep down inside their counterfeit currency of love’s substitutes.  For the Three to return to themselves, they must accept that they have always been loved. This is the most authentic and truthful way of being themselves.     

Type Four: From Envy to Equanimity/Emotional Balance

EQUANIMITY IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS BOTH ENGAGED WITH EMOTIONAL LIFE, ABOVE THE UPS AND DOWNS AND PUSHES AND PULLS OF BEING OVERLY CONSUMED WITH SPECIFIC EXPERIENCES.  

When Fours are in a place of equanimity, they can feel their feelings but not be consumed by their suffering.  They can let go of particular feelings without abandoning themselves.  They can focus on important emotions without losing themselves.  Equanimity is a way of viewing emotions from a healthy distance with the wisdom and detachment of the inner observer that is part of the higher self.  Equanimity is a balanced view of ourselves and others.

Type Five:  From Avarice to Non-Attachment

NON-ATTACHMENT IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS ORIENTED TOWARD LETTING GO OF THE NEED TO GRASP WHAT FEELS NECESSARY TO STAY SAFE AND OPENING TO A DEEPER EXPERIENCE OF THE NATURAL FLOW OF LIFE. 

For Fives, the virtue of non-attachment can inspire them to work toward releasing their need to control what happens and make sure the way is safe before moving forward.  Non-attachment requires Fives to explore the ways in which they hold on to and hoard time, space and energy and to challenge their beliefs in scarcity.  As fear types who cope by controlling precious resources, Five’s deeper anxiety manifests in the habit of holding on and holding back.   By facing and working through their fear of depletion, they can work toward the higher goal of seeing through their false expectation that life won’t support them.  This in turn allows them to release their attachments to the things they think they need to survive all alone in the world.  

Type Six: FROM COWARDICE TO COURAGE

COURAGE IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS AWAKE TO THE DANGERS INHERENT IN THE WORLD AND AT THE SAME TIME ABLE TO ACCESS A NATURAL CONFIDENCE IN MEETING THEM.  

This higher Virtue encompasses our ability to face our deepest fears and anxieties secure in the knowledge that we have what it takes to cope with them.  Courage also represents the inner support we provide ourselves such that we can let go of our defenses and grow beyond the narrow confining structure of our personalities.  Courage does not require thinking or vigilance or aggression; rather it comes from a deep source of inner knowing that we can take care of ourselves.  

Type Seven: FROM GLUTTONY TO SOBRIETY

SOBRIETY IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS FREE FROM THE PRESSURE OF INSATIABILITY OF THE DESIRE FOR MORE.  THE PERSONALITY IS STRUCTURED AROUND A NEED TO FILL UP AN INNER EMPTINESS TO EASE A SENSE OF BASIC ANXIETY OR INSECURITY BY HELPING US GET WHAT WE THINK WE NEED IN ORDER TO FEEL OK. 

Type Seven demonstrates a desire we all have to feel good and avoid feeling bad.  The search for pleasure typified by the Seven is a way for us to defend against the fear that we aren’t safe and secure enough; through following an impulse to get more and more of what we believe we need to feel good - food, sex, fun times, intellectual stimulation - we hope to find inner satisfaction.  The problem is, this satisfaction never comes.  The Type Seven dilemma illustrates how we seek and seek for what makes us feel good, but it never satisfies us because we can never get what we really need to feel content when our view of life is hemmed in by our limited view of the personality.  Through becoming sober we rise above the addiction to pleasure and the need to escape from pain.  

Type Eight: FROM LUST TO INNOCENCE

INNOCENCE IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS FREE FROM GUILT, PURE OF HEART AND NATURALLY CONNECTED TO THE FLOW OF OUR ANIMAL WISDOM AND NATURE AS A WHOLE.  

The higher virtue of innocence encompasses the ability to wake up to the animal or instinctual level of our functioning and to see and feel how it comes from a pure source in the natural order of things.   Innocence frees up the life energy that can become trapped in defending our egos through the push-pull around our instinctual movement.  Achieving a state of innocence means you are directly connected with your own life force on all levels - intellectual, emotional and physical so that you don’t have to take refuge in a show of power or strength to assert yourself.  

Type Nine: FROM SLOTH TO ACTION

RIGHT ACTION IS A WAY OF BEING THAT IS AWAKE, ENGAGED AND FULLY PRESENT TO OUR NATURAL IMPULSES TO KNOW AND MOVE TOWARD WHAT WE WANT AND NEED. 

This higher virtue encompasses both the ability to actively wake up by witnessing our inner life in an ongoing way and a purposeful focus on our most important desires and priorities.  Right action means you can continually remember yourself instead of habitually forgetting yourself and that you can wake yourself up and get yourself moving when you have fallen asleep.  It also means you can more regularly access you own center of gravity and act powerfully and decisively in the world