Enneagram Fives are the Observer, the Thinker. They are motivated by the need to know and understand everything, to be self-sufficient, and to avoid looking foolish. Enneagram fives, six, and sevens tend to live in their heads, whereas, in contrast, eights, nines, and ones primarily operate out of their body, while twos, threes, and fours from their heart. Fives tend to have a fear of the outer world so they withdraw, gather information, and minimize their need for other people. For them, the more knowledge they have the safer their world is. Knowledge becomes a comfort. The downside is they can overthink situations and it can lead to loneliness and isolation.
Two Enneagram Fives I Know
My experience of two fives I know well is that they don’t generally volunteer information; they are both brilliant but sometimes hesitate to offer their knowledge and insight out into the world. But when they do, they are bang on. Fives are often in scientific, technical, or other intellectually demanding fields. They have strong analytical skills and are good at problem-solving. Fives usually like to work alone and are independent thinkers, but are great to have on a team where there are problems to solve. They want to make the world a more enlightened place.
The Wings of Enneagram Fives
The wings are 4 and 6. Fives with a more developed four wing tend to be more creative and aware of their emotions. Those with a more developed 6 wing tend to be more loyal, anxious, cautious, and family orientated.
The movement for a five is to 8 and 7. The 8 energy helps them move toward action, to be more assertive doing whatever it takes to win when they have a justifiable cause to uphold. The move toward 7 helps them to be more spontaneous, fun-loving, and uninhibited.
Again using The Enneagram Made Easy –
Things an Enneagram Five would never dream of doing:
- Missing an opportunity to exhibit their extensive knowledge of an obscure area of their field to their colleagues
- Throwing a big party
- Volunteering to be the master of ceremonies at their next high school reunion
- Subscribing to the newspaper only for the society page
- Becoming a used-car salesman or selling vacuums door-to-door
- Referring to the plants in their garden by their everyday names instead of their Latin names
- Going away with a group where they didn’t get a minute to themselves for two weeks.
As I have said before, this is just a quick overview. If you want more information please check out my wife, Crystal’s website, Journey to Inner Wisdom. I know she is planning on doing some more online workshops on the Enneagram in the fall.
