Let us take a look at Enneagram Ones and how they may perceive Covid, in order that we may work together towards understanding, empathy, and reconciliation.
With the rise of vaccinations and infections of the particular Delta variant, things are getting more polarized and divisive. As it seems likely from past issues, convincing people to change their opinion any time soon is unlikely. The best thing we can do is work towards understanding, empathy, compassion, and healthy disagreement.
This is article 2/11. Read the introductory article Understanding Fear and Covid through the Enneagram here.
Disclaimer
The following article is an attempt, albeit a likely poor one, to understand both “sides” or perspectives on Covid and vaccines, specifically through the lens and perspective of the Enneagram One. This article is not in any way to encourage stereotyping or assumptions but rather to offer a different, objective perspective on why people may think differently than you. This article does assume, however, that the virus is very much real.
In addition, whenever thinking about how people think using the Enneagram, we must remember that every individual is a conglomerate of all nine types. Although we each have an unchangeable primary type, we have each type within us, to varying lesser degrees. Just because a person is not a particular type does not mean they might not think like that type. People are complicated. I write this article in response to my recent experience of the news and of social media. Would you please not interrupt more than what’s there?
In addition, although it would be easier to label people as pro-this or anti-that. The truth is, everyone is pro-something. It just all depends on the value or the priority of values. Unfortunately, this makes writing more complex and more complicated. However, we create a more inclusive and peaceful environment by using fewer labels, less, pro-this, and anti-that. I will admit that I will not be able to write 100% neutral or objective if that is even possible, but I will try.
Covid and Vaccinations
As we are now some 16 months into the global pandemic, at least in Canada and the US, the two countries I am most familiar with, there is a growing division and tension between the two sides. Because I do not want to encourage labels, let’s say some are very supportive of social distancing, masks, and vaccinations. Some are skeptical. And some are in support of other things, like personal freedoms and choice.
There are rarely ever actually two sides to things. There is usually instead a spectrum. Among every group, even Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives, there is a spectrum, a diversity of beliefs, views, and perspectives.
The Basics of the Enneagram One
The Enneagram One is often known as the Perfectionist or the Reformer. They often see things in black and white, right and wrong. As a result of this perspective on life, they develop a strong conscience and sense of morals. They believe that being and standing up for what is good and right leads to the good life, and doing the opposite leads to a bad one. As a result, what drives Enneagram Ones primarily is their conscience and sense of ethics.
When it comes to the pandemic, Ones likely will lean toward one side or the other. Because they see most things in black and white, there is less debate about a spectrum. For Ones, there is likely a clear “right and wrong.”
This, however, does not necessarily put them on one side more than the other.
The Enneagram can explain how they see the world, but not what they see.
Let me say that again; the Enneagram can explain or provide insight into HOW people see the world (black and white), but not WHAT they see (what is black and what is white).
All Ones, and those with a high one, are in some form or fashion, afraid of being bad or contributing to a bad world.
Enneagram Ones and Covid
For Enneagram Ones on the side in favor of social distancing, masks, vaccines, and various restrictions and mandates, they see all of this as necessary to being a good person and contributing to a better world.
Their thinking can go like this, “People are dying and getting sick. Businesses are hurting. Hospitals are being overrun. Let us do whatever we can to prevent these things from happening.”
On the other hand, for those known to be not in favor of the previously mentioned, I suspect that they do not want to be against anything, but instead, they want to be for something else. They do not want to stir up division but instead want to stand up for what they believe is most important.
They may think, “death and sickness are a part of life. What’s truly important is not life and health, but freedom. Let us do, therefore, whatever we can to prevent freedom from being taken away.”
Can you see how Enneagram Ones could be on both ends of the spectrum?
How they think is similar, but what they see, believe, and value is different. In another situation, they may all agree on the same thing. However, Covid is one of these situations that has brought values, face to face with each other and without very little room for disagreement.
The Slippery Slope of Covid
A common character trait for Enneagram Ones is what I call “slippery slope mentality.” Because of their black and white thinking, they often believe that allowing something small will inevitably snowball or go down a slippery slope and lead to very dangerous ends.
Ultimately, the One is asking, what may be the end result and what is most important to me? On the vaccine side, they may be thinking if we do not all get vaccinated, we may create social and economic instability here and in the world for years to come. Also, many people may get sick and/or will die. On the other side, they may be thinking that anything mandated and restrictive of freedoms could inevitably lead to a totalitarian regime or society in which individual choices are no longer permitted.
Conclusion: It’s Complicated
As I have said before, my intention is not to prove the “rightness” of one side of the spectrum or one viewpoint. I hope that wherever we are on the spectrum, whatever “side” we are on, we can hopefully understand where another person that differs from us is coming from.
Our society has a nasty problem with disagreement. If you read The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, one of the best books I’ve read (read the article written in 2015 in the Atlantic that started the book here), I think it’s convincing that we tend to demonize people.
We tend to think and say that if people aren’t with us, they’re against us. That they’re bad, evil people. That everything is a war of some value. We do not get along well with those that think differently than us. (And btw, I am no saint myself)
As I continue to reflect and write about every Enneagram type and its possible feelings and thoughts towards the pandemic, I hope we can all see that things are complicated. That the world is complicated. Life is complicated. That there are no simple, straight answers. That running a government is hard. And that we all have a story, a set of values, and our own fears.
