The Passion of the Five

The Passion of the Five is Avarice although in the Five it does not mean greed for material things which is how many of us think of Avarice. In fact Fives are usually quite unmaterialistic, being more concerned with knowledge, information, time and energy than anything else which comes from a feeling that they lack the inner resources necessary to cope in this world. As a result they are avid thinkers, pursuing ideas and amassing and hoarding knowledge and usually develop an expertise in something - all of which act as a kind of buffer to the external world allowing them to feel more secure and capable. They typically feel that too much interaction with others will interfere with this process and thus their ability to cope and so withdrawing into themselves and minimising their needs is a way of protecting themselves. Unfortunately the more time they spend caught up in their own thought processes the more they distance themselves from others. If they are left to their own devices they can inhabit an almost entirely cerebral universe and become very cut off physically and emotionally not only from other people but from themselves. This in turn creates an eccentricity and intensity that is off-putting to others and only serves to isolate them further. Ironically then, as we have seen with the other Types, their passion takes them further away from what they so desire. Having withdrawn completely into their own inner mental landscape and alienated themselves from society they actually become less able to cope with the real world, not more able to do so.