Eights pursue the truth and justice, like to keep situations under control, want to make

important things happen, and try to hide their vulnerability.

Worldview of Eights The world is made up of good and evil, justice and injustice, and I
must confront and change all this.
Strengths |
direct
|
strategic
|
protective
|
big
action
Development | controlling | demanding | disdain weakness | intimidating

oriented

Center of Intelligence: Body Center

Body Center Styles | Three Enneagram styles formed as a response to anger.

Your Enneagram style may be in the Body Center, also called the Gut Center or the Instinctual
Center styles Eight, Nine, and One. There is anger in the emotional substructure of these
three styles. Eights tend to express their anger frequently and directly. Their anger, which
begins in the gut and moves rapidly upward and outward, can be stimulated by an injustice
done to someone, weakness in others, someone taking ineffective control of a situation, and
someone lying. Nines tend to avoid direct anger and conflict, preferring a feeling of rapport and
comfort with others. Their anger, which is so deeply buried that it has been called the anger
that went to sleep, surfaces when they feel either ignored or forced to do something, in which
case their anger may turn into passive-aggressive behavior. Ones anger is often manifested
as frequent irritations followed by flares of resentment. Ones also tend toward self-criticism,
which is anger turned inward. Enneagram Style Nine is the core style of the three Body Center
styles, with styles Eight and One being variations of Enneagram style Nine.

Core Beliefs

The world is divided into two kinds of people: the strong and the weak.
Bigger is better; almost any action is better than no action at all.
You can never get enough of a good thing.

Emotional Patterns

Deep, quick anger shows readily and propels them to take immediate action
Feel, but rarely show, fear and sadness

Behaviors
Like everything big, bold, and strategic Macromanage and micromanage Are
intense and direct Protect certain people and groups in pursuit of justice Can
intimidate others
As a Body Center style, Eights like action and assert control by taking charge of
situations with great speed and intensity. Because they are highly attuned to a
situations being out of control, their need to step in and take charge has an urgency
and immediacy that is palpable and dramatic. Eights do this under most
circumstances (unless they dont care about the situation), but they are particularly
driven to take control when they feel vulnerable and anxious.

Typing Questions for Eights

1. Do you have an extraordinarily strong and bold exterior, one that is sometimes
intimidating to others (intentionally or unintentionally) but that hides a less visible but
highly vulnerable interior?
2. Do you tend to be excessive in what you do for example, exercising two to three
hours a day for a week but then not exercising for a month, or deciding that if one
piece of chocolate cake is good, then eating the whole cake is even better?
3. Do you have immediate impulses to take strong and forceful action, particularly when
you are feeling anxious or vulnerable?

Eights search for control and justice and avoid feeling vulnerable or weak. Symbolized by the
mountain, Eights are solid and often immovable, strong, and difficult to penetrate.
Assertive, bold, and confident, Eights are highly independent, with a tendency to both protect
and control people and events around them and a deep commitment to truth, justice, and
equity or fairness. Most Eights are excessive in some way, particularly when they feel anxious
or vulnerable. Because they strongly prefer to not show this side of themselves to others,
perceiving such feelings as signaling weakness, Eights mask their tender side by engaging in
excessiveness in a variety of forms: over-work, too much or too little exercise, erratic or
unhealthy eating, and other forms of over-consumption, such as incessant shopping or the
purchasing of items often expensive ones that they dont really need.

Eights want to get their needs and desires met, want to make big things happen quickly, much
akin to moving mountains, and most have a big presence even when they are saying little.
Eights can also appear somewhat different from one another. Some Eights are quiet with a low
threshold for frustration and an ability to survive and gain control in almost any situation; other
Eights are social rebels and protective of others to an extreme; and some Eights are highly
emotional, extraordinarily passionate, and enjoy being more center stage.
The Eights interpersonal style is assertive, and they use voice modulation and non-verbal
behavior for effect and impact. For example, they may use a strident voice, direct eye contact,
and move closer to others as a way to take charge or make their point, or they may use a
softer voice tone, warm eye contact, and a smile to appear gracious, hospitable, or nonthreatening.
While we can all highly value truth-telling and pursue justice, want to make big things happen,
and have issues with not appearing weak, for Eights, the search for control and justice and the
avoidance of vulnerability is their primary, persistent, and driving motivation.

The Enneagram styles on both sides of your core Enneagram style can also influence your
personality
Wings are the Enneagram styles on each side of your core Enneagram style. These are
secondary styles of your core personality style, which means that you may also display some
of the characteristics of these Enneagram styles. Wings do not fundamentally change your
Enneagram style; they merely add additional qualities to your core personality. As can be seen
on the Enneagram symbol, Nine and Two are wings for Ones, One and Three are wings for
Twos, Two and Four are wings for Threes, and so forth.
You may have one wing, two wings, or no wings at all. It is also common to have had one wing
be more active when you were younger, and to have had another appear as you matured.
People of the same Enneagram style and identical wings may use their wing qualities
differently. However, the general wing descriptions for all nine Enneagram styles given here
may serve as guidelines to help you explore this aspect of the Enneagram and also help you to
identify your wing or wings.

Wings for Eights

Seven Wing | Eights with a Seven wing add a lightheartedness to the usually more serious
Eight outlook, are more high-spirited and independent, and tend to be far more adventurous,
willing to try new things in their personal and professional lives for the sake of experimentation
and enjoyment.
Nine Wing | Eights with a Nine wing are interpersonally warmer, more calm, and less reactive,
and they solicit and listen to others opinions because they are more consensually oriented.

The two styles with arrows that point toward and away from your Enneagram style can also
influence your personality
Arrow lines refer to the two styles on the Enneagram symbol that have arrows pointing away
from or toward your core Enneagram style, and you may show some characteristics of one or
both of these two additional styles. Access to your wings and arrow lines can be beneficial to
you, adding complexity, nuance, and flexibility to your personality, but they do not change your
fundamental style that is, your patterns of thinking and feeling and motivational structure
remain the same.
Arrow lines are best thought of as providing additional resources to our character structure
because it is possible to access the best of both styles; however, they are also referred to as
stress and security points because under stress, a person may move toward the arrow pointing
away from their core style, while when relaxed, the same individual may move in the direction
of the arrow that points to their own core style.
Arrow Lines for Eights
Arrow Line to Five | Eights with a link to Five often use the solitary qualities of Five as a way
to recharge themselves after particularly stressful or painful events or after expending their
excessive mental, emotional, and physical energy to make big things happen. Eights with an
extremely strong connection to Five are often more highly self-reflective than other Eights, and
they may engage in intellectual pursuits solely for the pleasure of learning.

Arrow Line from Two | Eights with a strong connection to Two are very warm, generous, and
openhearted. They are more gentle than Eights without this link, and they show a deeper level
of empathy for others.

There are 3 variations of each Enneagram style, which actually give us 27, not just 9, different
character structures
Enneagram subtypes are an additional element that may affect your personality character
structure. Subtypes are the way in which the particular emotional pattern for each Enneagram
style most frequently manifests in that persons behavior. There are three different subtypes for
each Enneagram style: one subtype manifests the style through a particular behavior related to
issues of self-preservation; another subtype focuses primarily on social relations, often
behavior in response to social groups; the third subtype for each style is more oriented to oneto-one relationships.
Each of the nine Enneagram personality styles comes in three distinct varieties, depending on
which of the three subtypes is dominant. The repeating emotional pattern (referred to as the
passion) of the Enneagram style combines with the dominant subtype to create a
fundamental, driving need (mostly unconscious) that fuels the behavior, feelings, and thoughts
of the personality, yielding 27 distinct character structures (or three versions of each style) that
further elaborate on or present different flavors of the nine Enneagram styles. For most people,
two of the three instincts may be active, with the third less so or dormant.

Three Subtypes for Enneagram Eights | the passion of lust.

As a way to pursue control and justice and to avoid and deny their anxiety and sadness or
feelings of vulnerability, Eights engage in a variety of self-satisfying behaviors and do these in
an excessive way (for example, taking big and immediate action, working superhuman hours,
eating too much food, exercising for three hours a day for a week and then not exercising for
two months, and more). There are three distinct ways in which Eights manifest these
characteristics.

Self-Preservation Subtype Eights focus their excessiveness and energy on getting what they
need for survival, and they become highly frustrated, intolerant, and angry when the fulfillment
of these needs is thwarted. Of the three Eight subtypes, the self-preservation subtype Eights
tend to speak the least and to approach situations particularly those they deem important to
their survival in a highly strategic way that allows them to get the upper hand.
Social Subtype Eights vigorously protect others from unjust and unfair authorities and
systems and challenge social norms. At the same time, they seek power, influence, and
pleasure. Wanting loyalty from others and being highly loyal themselves, they derive a feeling
of power from challenging others as well as from defending those under their protection, which
makes them feel less vulnerable.
One-to-One Subtype Eights are the most intense, rebellious, and emotional of the three Eight
subtypes. Provocative and passionate in a way that draws others toward them, these Eights
derive their power and influence from being at the center of things, from the strong and
energetic connections they develop, and from the fervent way in which they express their
positions and values.

Potency, resilience, moral power, firmness, and courage these are all concepts that align
with real strength. How can the Enneagram help each of us develop true strength, not physical
prowess or outer toughness?

Eights | Eights perceive themselves as strong, but they are actually only partially so. For
Eights, strength means hiding their vulnerabilities, often denying their vulnerability even to
themselves. They equate being vulnerable with being weak, and that does not align with their
sense of who they think they are. Like a giant oak tree, a small storm does not move them, but
a big storm, from which they can actually learn the most and develop a strength that is more
powerful than they can imagine, can knock them over, taking roots and all. Change your
paradigm of strength and experiment with feeling and sharing vulnerabilities to discover the
pure power and potency of deep strength.