Fear and Desire

The Enneagram believes that we all have a principal fear which fuels a principal desire. For example, if our principal fear is of being unloveable then our principle desire will be to be loved (Type Two in the Enneagram). If our principal or overriding fear is that we have no worth, then our overriding desire will be to find value (Type Three). If we fear separation, fragmentation and conflict then our overriding desire will be to find wholeness and peace (Type Nine), if we fear being corrupt, wrong, bad, then our principal desire will be to be good, upstanding, beyond reproach (Type One). I think most of us, if we are honest, can relate to the principal fears of all the Types - for example most of us fear being vulnerable, weak and controlled by others (Type Eight) and we may fear that we have no identity or personal significance (Type Four). We may also fear that there is no solid ground beneath us (Type Six) as well as fearing being incompetent and useless (Type Five) and also fear being in pain or deprivation (Type Seven). However, we all have a fear that is dominant and this is due to a loss of contact with that particular part of our essential self. Our ego then steps in to try and rectify the situation which is why our ego is found in precisely those areas where we try to defend or promote ourselves. It is at those times that we are attempting to prove something to ourselves. This can be a useful route in to discovering one's Type. When we are trying to promote or defend ourselves we are expending effort and it is not comfortable. We are usually, frankly, a bit pissed off. At such times do you know what you are attempting to prove to yourself?