Now Americans are rapidly waking up to the truth of their captivity to the BushCo fear, come along for a highlight of his paranoid psyche. There is a priceless map of it to be found in an advanced book about the enneagram, which does way more than superficially frame the nine corners of this psychological typology, by delving deeply into what makes each one tick.
Reading through Sandra Maitri's exposee of the ennea-type Six, in "The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram - Nine Faces of the Soul", I, well, gasp. Eery stuff! This is more than a picture: Bush' paranoia coming alive! Poor George revealed as a textbook case...
The premise of the entire book is that the personality as a structure has been patterned by one of nine deficient takes on reality, and genuine psycho-spiritual work is needed to dissolve the typical hold on the soul of the specific defensiveness put in place. (We won't be getting to that right now, George.) Ennea-type Six is patterned as
Ego-Cowardice.
I've hand-picked passages that seem most telling, and you Kossacks, who've been paying attention to one scandal and unheard-of outrage after another, are likely to have the bells ringing, loud! I've met Maitri and greatly respect her and her work and I am not sure if it is meant to be quoted in this context, but hey, there's been enough secrecy, and all of us (I'm writing as a European Kossack) will be paying the price for years to come for not cracking the B-code sooner.
Here goes.
Those of this ennea-type are characterized by fear. [...] They doubt their perceptions, question and second-guess themselves, are suspicious, lack certainty and confidence, and much of their psychic energy is directed toward coping with their anxiety. They are the paranoids of the enneagram, convinced, whether consciously or not, that others are out to get them, undermine them, or otherwise threaten them.
What's interesting about this particular type is that:
While the underlying dynamics are the same, there are two distinct styles of Sixes: those who are overtly fearful and those who are counterphobic, intent on proving that they are not afraid. While some Sixes may be phobic in some areas of their lives and counterphobic in others, one overriding style is usually predominant and apparent in their manner.
In phobic Sixes, their natural fear and insecurity are obvious. They tend to be furtive in manner, obsequious to authority figures or those they consider more powerful, have difficulty making decisions and taking decisive action, ask others for advice and guidance, and may be blindly loyal to a faith, cause, or leader. There is often a kind of stuttering quality to their actions - one foot forward and one foot back - and ofter to their speech pattern as well.
So clearly, George has a bit of the latter, and more than a bit of the former. But how do they relate?
[...] the phobic type: a Six who feels his fear acutely and becomes paralyzed by it, like a deer caught in the headlights.
The second type is counterphobic: a Six who tries to act as though he is not afraid. This type of Six actively seeks out risky situations to prove that he is not frightened or weak. This is the daredevil, tightrope walking between skyscrapers or placing his head in the mouth of a lion, scaling an impossible peak or hunting down a violent criminal, pumping and puffing his body up or making split-second decisions speculating with vast sums of money, flying an experimental fighter jet on a dangerous sortie or snow boarding off a cliff.
Right! George is a wannabe counterphobic! Thing is, he's too shit-scared for it.
Oh boy...:
Counterphobic Sixes can be megalomaniacal, obsessed with appearing heroic, grand, and omnipotent - the Napoleons and Hitlers of the world. Despite all of a counterphobic Six's attempt to prove he is not afraid - or perhaps because of them - his obsession with fear stands out as his motivating drive.
About that terror thang...
This state of apprehensive guardedness in anticipation of the next trauma, which a Six feels hopelessly unprepared for, drowns out everything else.
??? The psychological cradle of pre-emptive strike??
Subtle difference that has almost been written out of reality: fear = state of mind, fact = fact.
[...] fear is inextricably tied to the Six's defense mechanism of projection. It is defined as "a mental process whereby a personally unacceptable impulse or idea is attributed to the external world". {...} Because of this defense, it is often difficult for a Six to discern what is objectively going on in someone else, and what of his own unconscious is being experienced as belonging to another. Most often, aggressive and hostile feelings and impulses are projected by Sixes, and in turn fuel their fear of a malevolent world.
More specifically:
Projection leads us in turn to the subject of paranoia, central to the psychology of this ennea-type. [...] At the extreme, paranoia is a form of psychosis in which you believe that you are being persecuted, singled out for abuse, maligned, even poisoned by one person in particular, a group, or the world at large. [...] Not only does a Six's paranoid attitude lead to feeling victimed, persecuted, and bullied, but it also leads to treating others this way in the form of scapegoating. Particular individuals or groups of people may become seen by Sixes as the source of their problem, particularly their sense of weaknes and impotence.
Need we say more?? Well, yes:
[...] paranoid people will search relentlessly through the data available to them to confirm what they suspect, asserting and even believing that they are simply trying to get to the truth of the situation. They are very keen observers, but with the underlying agenda of searching for a clue that will confirm their suspicions. What is observed, then, is miscontrued to fit the picture that they already have about how things are.
Am I going bonkers or what? No, I know, someone is injecting these capitals into my thoughts! N! S! A!
Now, the Six's relationship to authority is a "particularly loaded area" for this ennea-type. Why, didn't we know it?
In relationship to authority figures, these two styles behave differently on the surface, and yet are really coming from the same place deeper down. Both have a hyperattunement to who has power, rank, authority, and clout and who doesn't - to who is the boss and who is the peon, in other words. [...] The phobic type is devoted, dutiful, and fawning in relation to whoever or whatever they consider this external authority. They are hero-worshippers and devoted followers. [...] they want someone to tell them what to do and what is right and wrong; they want a creed, cause, or faith they can believe in wholeheartedly and be loyal to, [...] a sense of living for something larger and grander than oneself [...].
Oh, to spread freedom and democracy around the world....
[...] This brings us to the counterphobic Six's relationship to authority. The counterphobic type is rebellious, defiant, and obsessed with remaining autonomous, to the point of not recognizing or acknowledging any external authority. [...] a counterphobic Six may try to portray himself as the authority, wanting others to follow and idealize him, as discussed earlier in our examples of Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Gotcha! The Dilemma: poor George is caught in his phobic constellation - while being (supposedly) the most powerful man in the world. He craves to worship power outside, but there's no-one out there, and oops, it's in his own hands, help!?! Is that a double-bind trap or what? No wonder we're in such a mess.
Hence...
Even the phobic type of Six, appearing so acquiescent and deferential on the surface, nonetheless has a hidden deviant tendency, which may be subtle or more overt. It can manifest as a passive aggressiveness - saying you are going to do something and then simply not doing it, for example.
Did I hear "signing statements"?
Winding up.
Poor George, lucky us:
The result of all this behavior - which at its heart is self-protective - is, ironically, to undercut the very ground a Six is standing on. It is a form of self-castration, which psychologically means rendering oneself impotent or depriving oneself of vitality.
Please, hurry!