Enneagram -- SEVEN

"Seven" by Tom Chou
Adventurers.
Sevens hate boredom and love stimulating activity. Hence they are adventurous, and accumulate wider and wider experiences as they get older. They are naturally entertaining, with very quick, funny wits, lively stories, but sometimes a tendency towards sensationalism. Healthy sevens are exuberant and eternally youthful, while unhealthy sevens are childish in their need for instant gratification.

Adventurers tend to talk fast, move fast, and do several things at one time. When they talk to you, they are often scanning their surroundings, and appear to be half listening to you, and half wondering what else in the room they're missing out on. Adventurers often come across as very clever people, improvising solutions out of whatever is at hand, becoming the life of the party, then suddenly disappearing when it's time to clean up. Sevens are sometimes called generalists, because they may quickly master several areas of expertise, and cross-fertilize between them. Healthy sevens can be extremely productive while still having fun in their work. Less healthy sevens often seem to be in a desperate battle against boredom, leading to breakdowns if boredom should temporarily win out.

Famous sevens: John F. Kennedy, Howard Stern, Newt Gingrich, Shirley Temple.
Tom's site : http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~tchou


"Seven" by Tom Condom

People who look for multiple choices and positive futures. May be well-rounded, affirming and generous. When unhealthy they can be narcissistic, escapist and insatiable.

People with this style tend to suppress and escape their fears by willfully focusing on the positive and imagining future plans, options and possibilities. Sevens are natural "reframers" - they look on the bright side of things, make lemonade out of lemons, and keep happily active. The defensive point of this is to avoid inner pain and be harder to hit as a moving target.

Healthy Sevens are often considered ìrenaissanceì people and can be highly accomplished in many disparate realms of interest. Awakened people with this style are usually adventurous and multi-talented, with an authentic zest for living. Childlike but not childish, Sevens are great receivers. Most have a stimulating, positive outlook and can enthusiastically appreciate lifeís gifts, even the little ones. Many possess an endearing blend of charm and curiosity; they can be creative, outgoing, generous to friends, and progressively interested in new horizons. Sevens are usually highly resilient and bounce back well from loss and calamity.

At their healthiest, people with this style tend to look for long-range fulfillments and deeper satisfactions. To this end, they are able to accept the realistic necessity for both pain and commitment in their lives. The acceptance of lifeís painful dimension gives a Seven more depth and consequently enhances their joy. Many report that their willingness to make appropriate commitments gives their life an overall structure within which they can still find variety.

When more entranced, people with this style are prone to escapism, trying to avoid the pain in themselves and others. Commitment can become mistaken for confinement in the Sevenís mind. They may control and sublimate their fears by running away into appetites. These can be for food, drugs, ideas, activity, people, new experiences, etc. Entranced Sevens eat life but don't digest it. They search out the new, trying to maintain a high by flavoring reality with their imaginations and fantasies of what will be. They can be dilettantish, impulsive, undisciplined, impersonal, glib, narcissistic and acquisitive. Sevens may entertain many interests, but indiscriminately. When defensive, their knowledge is extensive but not deep, rather like a jack-of-all-trades.

Many entranced Sevens have problems with completion. The word "execution" sounds less like it means finishing what you start and more like a form of death. They tend to be strong on initiating action and weaker on follow-through. When defensive, they adopt whatís called an "as if frame," where the Seven makes up positive fantasies about the future and pretends they are reality, as if a wonderful adventure I'm planning is already happening.

Difficult present situations are sometimes avoided this way. A Seven can fantasize so much about a problem that they almost begin to believe they have solved it in reality. This eliminates the need to put themselves on the line, to struggle, to risk failure or have their actions judged. Most entranced Sevens have fears about their adequacy and tend to compare themselves with others. A Seven can feel inferior to someone they admire and then defensively act superior towards someone else to even the balance.

When Sevens are deeply entranced, the line between reality and fantasy loosens drastically. They often grow obsessed with grandiose visions and inflate themselves narcissistically. Very unhealthy Sevens may completely refuse responsibility and resist all realistic constraints on their behavior. They could act wild, impatient, chaotic, delusional, explosive. Tendencies toward addictions and manic-depressive cycles become quite strong. Appetites can't be permanently satisfied so the Seven plunges headlong into hedonism, seeking more to consume. Anyone who gets in the way of a manic Seven will be knocked down. All promises to others are broken. In extreme scenarios, unhealthy Sevens call legal forces down on themselves. The "world" has to restrain the antisocial behavior that's driven by a Seven's inner cravings.


FAMOUS SEVENS
Comedian Steve Allen, Comedian Tim Allen, Director Robert Altman, Desi Arnaz, Richard Attenborough, Denise Austin, Richard Avedon, Covert Bailey, Honoré Balzac, Humorist Dave Barry, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Chuck Berry, Poet Robert Bly, Sonny Bono, Comedienne Elayne Boosler, Musical comedian Victor Borge, Author Ray Bradbury, Terry Bradshaw, Kenneth Branagh, Richard Branson, Jimmy Buffett, Red Buttons, Michael Caine, Simon Callow, Mythologist Joseph Campbell, Pierre Cardin, King Juan Carlos of Spain,
Jim Carrey, James Carvelle, Sid Ceasar, Blaise Cendrars, Chevy Chase, Cher, Maurice Chevalier, Buffalo Bill Cody, Joan Collins, Director Francis Ford Coppola, Filmmaker Roger Corman, Dan Cortese, NBC's Katie Couric, Singer David Crosby, e.e. cummings, Tony Curtis, Roger Daltry, Philosopher Ram Dass, Dana Delaney, Gérard Depardieu, Diderot, QVC President Barry Diller, Mickey Dolenz, Hugh Downs, Gordon Elliott, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Federico Fellini, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson,
Physicist Richard Feynman, Eddie Fisher, Errol Flynn, Peter Fonda, Malcolm Forbes, George Foreman, Bob Fosse, Michael J. Fox, Author Robert Fulghum, David Frost, Clark Gable, Jerry Garcia, Ava Gardner, Carlos Casteneda's Don Genaro, John Gielgud, Dizzy Gillespie, Newt Gingrich, Jackie Gleason, Goethe, Ruth Gordon, Cary Grant, Andre Gregory, George Hamilton,
Tom Hanks, Richard Harris, Phil Hartman, Goldie Hawn, Marilu Henner, Gregory Hines, Abbie Hoffman, Pianist Vladimir Horowitz, Jean Houston, Ron Howard, Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard, Lauren Hutton, Clive James, Self-help author Gerald Jampolsky, Derek Jarman, Magic Johnson, Architect Phillip Johnson, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Actress Carol Kane, Michael Keaton, John F. Kennedy, "Galloping Gourmet" Graham Kerr, Ken Kesey, Val Kilmer, Comedian Alan King, Don King,
CNN's Larry King, Comedian Robert Klein, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lasorda, Director David Lean, Timothy Leary, Director Barry Levinson, Puppeteer Shari Lewis, Artist Roy Lichtenstein, Singer Meat Loaf, Football's John Madden, Director Louis Malle, Bobby McFerrin, Author Henry Miller, Yves Montand, Dudley Moore, Desmond Morris, Robert Morley, Eddie Murphy,
Jack Nicholson, Leslie Nielsen, Donald O'Connor, Peter O'Toole, Luciano Pavarotti, Author Joseph Chilton Pearce, Regis Philbin, Bronson Pinchot, Brad Pitt, George Plimpton, Vincent Price, Dennis Quaid, Anthony Quinn, Bonnie Raitt, Rajeneesh, Ron Reagan Jr., Basketball Coach Pat Reilly, Carl Reiner, Lee Remick, Little Richard, Filmmaker/Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, Jason Robards, Novelist Tom Robbins,

Seven With a 6 Wing
Healthy Sevens with a 6 wing are responsible, faithful, lovable, nervous and funny. They are generally more oriented to relationship and want to be accepted by other people. Can be steady, more willing to stick with commitments; the 6 wing brings a longer sense of time. Usually funny or enjoy a good laugh - an amazing number of comedians are Sevens with a 6 wing. More openly vulnerable, have an unguarded, tender sweetness. Some have trouble expressing anger even when they are justified. May evade or finesse authority but still aware of it like a 6. Canny and practical, they look for the deals and the loopholes. When more entranced, may have surprise episodes of sensitivity and insecurity. Their feelings can be easily hurt sometimes. Sensitive especially to comparisons. May avoid putting themselves to the test. Grow dependent and addicted to other people, afraid to be alone, suspicious and skittish. Can feel guilt easily, may project their conscience onto others and then act irresponsibly. Make themselves shallow, fall in and out of love easily. Sometimes breezily betray others by running away. Can be reckless, unstable, and self-destructive. When Sevens have a counterphobic 6 wing their idealism can motivate a sincere desire for social reform. May work hard for a cause. Can be antiauthority, passive/aggressive, flippant, defiant. Some report hating to be told what to do. Clashes with Ones likely. May call down trouble on themselves. Complain about the status quo. The realm of hippie rebellion.

Seven With an 8 Wing
When healthy, Sevens with an 8 wing are often generous, gregarious and expansive. Tend to be exceptionally loyal to their friends, especially when social subtype. Leap aggressively to the defense of those they care for. Might seem loud or boisterous although some are urbane and witty. Enjoy social celebrations, storytelling, jokes, food and travel. Generally have a strong self-confidence for worldly matters and getting what they want. Talent for making something out of nothing - entrepreneurial. Usually share what they have when healthy, want everyone to enjoy their sense of bounty and wide
range of interests. When more entranced, they may be demanding, displaying a selfish impatience and a self-justifying narcissism. May want what they want right now. Aggressive, hasty drive to acquire money and material options and recognition. Can demand that the people in their lives say only what the Seven wants to hear - sugarcoated truth. Lash out angrily if reality doesn't meet their expectations; sometimes vengeful. Often perfectionistic as parents (low side of 1). Moralize to others and then are themselves irresponsible. Amnesia for promises made in an expansive moment. Particular difficulty with sexual fidelity.


Instinctual Variants by Thomas Condon - The Changeworks

Self-Preservation
Self-preservation Sevens are a little confusing since they tend to be highly social. Characterized by a drive towards family and shared group experiences. Enjoy operating within their real or chosen family, checking in with a group of like-minded people. Chronic sharing on a circuit. People in the group are the source of interesting information and stimulation. Don't feel burdened or trapped by duties like a social Seven. Loyal to family, often have a 6 wing. Defend their circle and castle. Barricade, find safety in numbers. This subtype goes with the image of the "party animal."

Intimate
Intimate Sevens tend to garnish and embellish reality with fantasy. Intimate relationships are often thought of as shared experimental adventures, and the Seven perceives their partner through a veil of imagination. May romanticize others as a way to avoid the limits and boredom of mundane life with the same old someone. Can be more involved with their fantasy of the partner than with the real person. Tentative, distractible, impersonal, may have a wandering eye. Some have great difficulty with commitment and seem fickle as they move on to the next fantasy projected onto the next new person. Don Juan scenario. More generally, intimate Sevens have a tendency to be suggestible. They may especially seek the new with the fascinated enthusiasm of a faddist, stepping into future fantasies to avoid the present.

Social
Social Sevens often feel a tension between duty to others and the desire to escape. Tend to feel responsible for the people around them and experience that as a confining burden. They then react against the weight of obligation, seeking variety and craving change. When entranced, can be highly irresponsible. When awakened, they make peace with commitment and sacrifice and are often very stable and generous. Often an idealism, sometimes a stronger connection to 1. Serving something beyond themselves, dutiful. Can be from a large family where they had lots of responsibility, eldest child. With an 8 wing they tend to fight the sense of burden harder.

Quotes :

"Nothing is wonderful when you get used to it." - E.W. Howe

"Enthusiasm is that temper of the mind in which the imagination has got the better of the judgment." - William Warburton

"Be careful what you dream: soon your dreams will be dreaming you." - Willie Nelson

"If we wish not to go backwards, we must run." - Pelagius

"I don't believe in aging. I believe in forever altering one's aspect to the sun." - Virginia Wolff

"When I haven't any blue, I use red." - Picasso

"Anyone who lives within his means suffers from a lack of imagination." - Lionel Stander

"Gluttony is mankind's exclusive prerogative." - Brillat-Savarin

"Almost any event will put on a new face when received with cheerful acceptance and no questions asked." - Henry S. Haskins

"Digestion is the great secret of life." - Sydney Smith

"Keep belly lightly loaded, if mind would wisdom see;For bodies crammed to bursting, make empty souls to be." - Shaikh Saadi

"The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." - A Child's Garden of Verses

"What do you suppose will satisfy the soul, except to walk free and own no superior?" - Walt Whitman

"Me this uncharted freedom tires;
I feel the weight of chance desires;
My hopes no more much change their name,
I long for a repose that ever is the same." - Wordsworth
Tom's site :http://www.thechangeworks.com/

"Seven" by MaryBast

The Futurist

Described by others in the organization as "fun to be around," Carol Burkhart was highly energetic, enthusiastic, and optimistic. She had a particular ability to get others excited about the organization's mission. She talked about herself pretty openly, and was easy to be around, though she often did most of the talking (she told great stories)! Able to invoke an upbeat environment that was focused on possibilities, she processed things quickly and moved on them.

Her inherent optimism, however, could sometimes keep her from being as effective as possible. Her subordinates found her impatient with details. She explained that this occurred when people come to her with problems but no solutions. "Who wants to hear the bad news?" she said.

Her boss was concerned that his mentoring of her had been a mistake, because she golfed a lot with customers and he'd been asked by his own boss if he thought Carol was "serious enough to be a heavy hitter." Furthermore, she missed an error in her area's year-end report that made them under-budget significantly for the coming year -- it was going to endanger her boss's credibility with the Board.

In her development work, Carol learned solution- focused problem solving to help her solve problems with subordinates in an acceptably positive way. Beyond that, her understanding of the Enneagram enlightened her about her "addiction" to pleasant options. Consequently, she noticed a lessening of her drive to "escape" from the nitty-gritty details a manager has to face.


Typical Comments:

"I always see the bright side of things."

"I've found that if you understand a few basic principles, you can run just about anything."

"I'm always the one to figure out what we'll do for fun."

"I had a great childhood!"

Description:

Charming and easy to talk to, highly evolved Futurists are the organization's cheerleaders because of their natural optimism. They focus on long-term perspective and possibilities. Equality is important to them, so Sevens sometimes have to work around organizational constraints.

Less developed leaders of this type can seem egotistical because they love to tell anecdotes and may forget to invite others to talk. They're sometimes perceived as lacking analytical ability because of oversimplifying or skating over the surface. The Seven's driving force is gluttony, a seeking of pleasure in order to avoid pain; consequently they are overfocused on enthusiasm (the "bad" news is that they only want to hear the good news) and uneasy activity.

Developmental skills include contingency planning for prob- lems, eliciting and accepting feedback, using negative reframing to counter their optimism, and -- particularly -- disciplining themselves to follow through on their own development (it's hard work)! A key development need is renunciation or temperance, seeking moderation and letting go of materialism.



EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
for Carol Burkhart--Type Seven

Note to the Reader: What follows is a composite development plan created for a typical Type Seven executive. While "Carol" is unique in many ways, she also clearly illustrates how some Seven dynamics play out in the workplace. As you read through this plan, begin to formulate what you would suggest as developmental actions for Carol (and for Sevens in general). Then compare your ideas against her actual development work.

I. KEY STRENGTHS

As we've discussed, Carol, the reactions to my interviews for your development plan were very positive. You are liked and respected by many people, who describe you as "truly passionate" about the business. Two key leadership attributes are your applied intelligence and entrepreneurship. You stay on top of trends, come up quickly with "great" ideas, and have given the people in your business unit a lot in which to take pride. You are particularly innovative around organizational changes that could have a positive impact on the company ("Totally out of the box and very, very on-target"). Members of your staff respect your confidence in them, and this has been rewarded by top-notch performance: "Our bottom line is better this year than ever before, we're making millions more money, we're way ahead of schedule, and there are good lines of communication."

Probably your second highest area of notable characteristics has to do with your high energy, enthusiasm, optimism, and wonderful sense of humor. You are fun to be around, rarely negative, and a good, caring communicator with people. At times you visibly exude joy, and you have the ability to evoke enthusiasm in others. Interpersonally, you have a quality that I rarely encounter in business settings -- your affection for others and your ability to draw affection from them in return. One person captured this quality with the following comment: "Everybody loves Carol -- she will talk to anybody (in fact seeks that out); she is never rushed, and she puts you at ease." Your problem solving approach is enhanced by your influence network: "If you go to her with a problem and she can solve it here, she will, but she's got a wide enough range of people she knows that she can get things done." You also express yourself extremely well, field questions well, and you are good at presenting the essence of things to upper management.

As a manager you are good at determining peoples' strengths and where they should be placed. In judging capabilities, you search for people who take things on and get them done. Your innovations necessitated an adjustment for subordinates with a more traditional style/experience, and I think it is a credit to your democratic leadership style that their resistance dissipated within a few months ("Our structure drives us to be a team," said one of these people). People on your staff never have to guess where they stand with you. You have also demonstrated the ability to coax out more innovative thinking: "She'll suggest something to you, plant the seed, stimulate your thinking by asking 'How about....?'" "She asks, 'If this were your business, how would you do it?'" You include them in meetings "on equal terms," and listen to their opinions. You support them and don't seem threatened by their doing something that brings them credit. It was also noted that you will stand up for them, even if "rocking the boat" higher up in the system becomes necessary. Your approach to mistakes is to look for root causes vs. finger-pointing, but you give clear, constructive feedback when necessary. You think in terms of development and career paths, asking where they want to go, what they want to learn, and how they want to develop.


II. DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Leadership Style

Most people think the world of you as a manager. You interact with your people, tell them where they need to improve, and at the same time appreciate their ideas and accomplishments. Instead of focusing on what's wrong, you highlight what's important -- with an emphasis on the desired results -- and then encourage them to figure out how to get it done ("They're building a process focus, being inventive, working across the boxes"). You make people responsible and accountable, giving them lots of flexibility and freedom. You are not afraid to have them take chances, yet they know that problems are to be resolved: "She looks at the big picture, is happy if you have a solution." "You can run your show as long as everything's going right." "If there's a problem and it's rational and logical, she'll accept it." Overall, your team members really appreciate the confidence in them that you display ("Her greatest strength is that she gives you the ability to do what you can do without constant direction").

On the other hand, some have been struggling. You sometimes put things together prematurely, without bringing them along to the same point. They may be above their level of ability to get results, or they may be used to their boss "holding their hands." The comment was made that you don't like to "baby" people. This affects two areas of supervision:

(1) Your wish for people to be responsible and "stand on their own two feet" shows up in how you respond when they bring you problems. You seem to relate better to people who are upbeat and outgoing like you, and who focus on the positive. You are quite impatient with those who bring a problem without a solution. Several said that your response is to ask, "Well, what are you going to do about it?!"

(2) At times you're very busy, and "read" people as being fully capable of getting on with things. You may not realize -- with your quick intellect -- when you are moving too fast for some people. You tend to go over things at a very fast pace and "at a very high level." One person said "She's not a minutia person, doesn't need to understand the details because she gets the essence of it, which is all she cares about."

Interpersonal Style

Your interpersonal style is personal, informal, honest, and direct; you would much rather get things out in the open and deal with them. You are skilled in identifying common goals and objectives, and manifest the philosophy that there doesn't have to be a loser. Consequently, you have the capability to negotiate almost any difficulty when you choose. Paradoxically, you were also described as a threat to peers ("They either like her or don't like her"). A rather blunt reference was made to your "shithouse" politics -- meaning that you can precipitate problems by "gossiping about them" instead of solving them. As we discussed, your impatience with what you consider the "agonizing details" shows: you sometimes make acute observations in meetings that are not welcome, or you make witty, acerbic asides. You are very smart, and have a lot to say about the company and how it is run. Your comments might be right on the mark, but they make it clear that your peers don't "get it." ("She gets to the bottom line ahead of everybody, figures it out, and that may not endear her to all of her colleagues").

Finally, your engaging interpersonal openness and affection that draw most people to you can also have a "light-weight" quality. This is exacerbated somewhat by your informality about work hours, which flies in the face of a culture where people typically work from 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM. There is no question that you put in whatever time is required to make things happen: "If everything's going a mile a minute she's in there; if things back off we'll have a relaxed atmosphere -- vs. working for her predecessor, who was as serious as a heart attack every second." But for people who are more traditional or feel threatened by your wit and acuity, this will be interpreted as "not wanting to work that hard."
MaryBast's site : http://ww4.choice.net/~marybast/index.htm
"Seven" by Don Riso

The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Accomplished, Excessive, and Manic

Basic Fear: Of being deprived and in pain
Basic Desire: To be satisfied and content to have their needs fulfilled
The Seven with a Six-Wing: "The Entertainer"
The Seven with an Eight-Wing: "The Realist"
Potential Neuroses: Histrionic, Borderline, Antisocial, and Manic-Depressive Personality Disorders

Key Motivations: Want to maintain their freedom and happiness, to avoid missing out on worthwhile experiences, to keep themselves excited and occupied, to avoid and discharge pain.

Healthy
Highly responsive, excitable, enthusiastic about sensation and experience. Most extroverted type: stimuli bring immediate responses they find everything invigorating. Lively, vivacious, eager, spontaneous, resilient, cheerful. Easily become accomplished achievers, generalists who do many different things well: multi-talented. Practical, productive, usually prolific, cross-fertilizing areas of interest. At Their Best: Assimilate experiences in depth, making them deeply grateful and appreciative for what they have. Become awed by the simple wonders of life: joyous and ecstatic. Intimations of spiritual reality, of the boundless goodness of life.

Average
As restlessness increases, want to have more options and choices available to them. Become adventurous and "worldly wise," but less focused, constantly seeking new things and experiences: the sophisticate, connoisseur, and consumer. Money, variety, keeping up with the latest trends important. Unable to discriminate what they really need, become hyperactive, unable to say "no" to themselves, throwing self into constant activity. Uninhibited, doing and saying whatever comes to mind: storytelling, flamboyant exaggerations, witty wise-cracking, performing. Fear being bored: in perpetual motion, but do too many things—many ideas but little follow through. Get into conspicuous consumption and all forms of excess. Self-centered, materialistic, and greedy, never feeling that they have enough. Demanding and pushy, yet unsatisfied and jaded. Addictive, hardened, and insensitive.

Unhealthy
Desperate to quell their anxieties, can be impulsive and infantile: do not know when to stop. Addictions and excess take their toll: debauched, depraved, dissipated escapists, offensive and abusive. In flight from self, acting out impulses rather than dealing with anxiety or frustrations: go out of control, into erratic mood swings, and compulsive actions (manias). Finally, their energy and health is completely spent: become claustrophobic and panic-stricken. Often give up on themselves and life: deep depression and despair, self-destructive overdoses, impulsive suicide.
Don Riso's site : http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

"Seven" by C.Thomson

Cheerful and Optimistic

Sevens are often characterized as Peter Pan, eternal youth. They are cheerful, optimistic, high energy, multi interest people.

It is a short step from these accurate descriptions to think that Sevens are always happy. They often appear to be, but if you look for happiness as the chief characterization , you will miss much of the dynamics.

Sevens purchase happiness at the price of the whole truth. Like all the numbers, sevens skew their world-view. They don't see the whole truth. The seven world is a scary one, but they don't experience much fear. What they do experience is a compulsion to try to be happy. When you have a compulsion, it's because there is a need, a lack, and sevens work very hard at being happy, so it is clear they don't have it.

But they say they do. They tend to live in the future (when they are sure their current plans will bring them happiness). "Right now things are a little tense, but it will get better." Of course, none of these plans are certain, so they have backup plans.


Sevens are head types, so they use their head to create happiness. Their chief "head - defense" is rationalization. If an event occurs in their life, others might call it bad, but they sort of readjust their way of looking at it until they can see the bright side. Once they see the bright side (and every cloud has a silver lining), then their spirits brighten accordingly.

When sevens become clinically ill, their favored pathology is manic-depressive. And many sevens could be observed to be perpetually in the manic state. You can study manic-depressive in the move, Mr. Jones, starring Richard Gere as the manic-depressive Mr. Jones. And he is sevenish, but other numbers can also be manic depressive (threes, twos and occasional eights).

To see a seven pathology captured, watch the German film (about two years old but available in most video chains) called The Wonderful Horrible life of Leni Riefenstahl. She was the German filmmaker who glorified the Third Reich in several wonderful films, one called The Triumph of the Will that is still taught in graduate film courses and the other on the 1946 Olympics that anticipated much of contemporary video coverage.

First you see the seven's indominate energy. She climbed mountains, she studied endlessly, she traveled, she danced and she made friends in high places. The mountain climbing and the dancing are telltale signs of the seven's search for expansive experiences. They feel inwardly trapped - this is their polarization. They feel confined, trapped, even suffocated at times, so they love heights, movement and high energy activities. Leni displays her love for all three.

Many sevens are highly creative and Leni is a superb example. She is especially innovative. Sevens are susceptible to the lure of novelty. When they are talented, it is creative. When they are not, it is monotonous change, which for a seven is not an oxymoron. All change and no stability is monotonous. It feels like traveling and spending all your time in airports. They're in different cities, but they're all alike.

Leni is still scuba diving at 90 and developing new film techniques. Many sevens live long lives. Their enthusiasm, their low-stress coping style of looking at the high side of things and their optimistic outlook tend to be easy on the body, so they live long. When you see old folks skydiving or climbing mountains, you'll usually find a high percentage of sevens.

Let's look at Leni's dark side. She was the most successful propagandist Hitler had. But when she tells it, she had no political interests, she was only interested in the art, editing Hitler was like editing any speaker and her chief concerns were merely technical. The interviewer lets her keep rationalizing and then juxtaposes what happened. They don't fit. Leni's version is a blindness that ignores all the consequences of her actions, it presupposes a naivete utterly impossible in such an intelligent woman, and it is clearly a reinterpretation. Her interpretation goes against everyone else's and she knows they see it differently, but she just can't see it their way. She defends her innocence against miles of film evidence and you can see that on one level she believes it. You can also see that she is blind and her blindness enables her to misrepresent what the reality is. She epitomizes Shakespeare's observation that "There are none so blind as those who will not see."

The film is long - a double video- and the last lines are her defending herself out of a position of innocence. She has had to contradict dozens of coworkers, historians, and the filmic evidence. But she wriggles around until she can get the right angle from which to look at it (her camera work is a lovely metaphor for her ability to see things as she wants to see them. Her ability to make Olympic divers appear to be birds, to make the athletes into Gods and Hitler into an attractive, magnetic demigod is precisely her pathology. When she tells her life story, she does the same thing: she is an artist, her only interests are esthetic and everybody else is wrong. Her filmic genius is part of the secondary gain of the pathology.

She vividly acts out both in life and on film what sevens do: they reframe reality until they see things the way they want to. Then life is good. So when outsiders see sevens, they are impressed with how much sevens enjoy life. But like Leni, they enjoy life at the expense of reality.

I referred to their polarization. Polarization is accomplished by dissociation, cutting oneself off from and denying those parts of our lives and experiences that we don't wish to include. Sevens dissociate from negative experiences. This works well in the short run because they experience mostly good things. But in reality, pain is on our side. Leprosy is an inability to experience pain, especially in the extremities. It can be dangerous, even fatal.

On some level, sevens know that. They are unable to learn much or profit much from painful experiences, so they don't mature. It is no accident that Newt Gingrich, a seven with an eight wing, was pictured in diapers in a New York newspapers. Sevens often appear immature. Pain matures us, protects us and educates us about reality. Sevens probably more than any other number prompts people to say to them as you'll feel like saying to Leni Riefenstahl, "You just don't get it, do you?!" It's scary not to get it, so sevens live in a frightening world from which they choose not to learn how to face the painful, scary parts. It's more fun to stay a child.

Resources:
Most sevens hate to read but should read the passion narratives of Christ. The notion of deliberative redemptive pain breaks the seven's trance somewhat.

Many sevens can profit from body work to help them get grounded. They tend to be fast and light, which makes good dancing, but they need to be in touch with the earth. Lifting weights or working with intractable material like stone or earth can be beneficial.

The Enneagram Spectrum by Jerry Wagner has a good description of sevens.

Hugh Hefner's film biography reveals his sevenness thoroughly. And Robin Williams is a wonderful seven until you get tired.

Questions:
1) How many unhappy childhood experiences can you remember?

2) How excited would you get about spelunking? (Cave exploring).

3) How many hobbies do you have? How accomplished are you at any of them requiring discipline?

4) Sometimes sevens can be mean if it is done with humor. Can you find examples in your life or in the life of sevens you know? (Many public humorists are sevens).
Clarence Thomson's site :http://www.enneagramcentral.com/

"Seven" by J.Wagner

The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Accomplished, Excessive, and Manic

Basic Fear: Of being deprived and in pain
Basic Desire: To be satisfied and content to have their needs fulfilled
The Seven with a Six-Wing: "The Entertainer"
The Seven with an Eight-Wing: "The Realist"
Potential Neuroses: Histrionic, Borderline, Antisocial, and Manic-Depressive Personality Disorders

Key Motivations: Want to maintain their freedom and happiness, to avoid missing out on worthwhile experiences, to keep themselves excited and occupied, to avoid and discharge pain.

Healthy
Highly responsive, excitable, enthusiastic about sensation and experience. Most extroverted type: stimuli bring immediate responses they find everything invigorating. Lively, vivacious, eager, spontaneous, resilient, cheerful. Easily become accomplished achievers, generalists who do many different things well: multi-talented. Practical, productive, usually prolific, cross-fertilizing areas of interest. At Their Best: Assimilate experiences in depth, making them deeply grateful and appreciative for what they have. Become awed by the simple wonders of life: joyous and ecstatic. Intimations of spiritual reality, of the boundless goodness of life.

Average
As restlessness increases, want to have more options and choices available to them. Become adventurous and "worldly wise," but less focused, constantly seeking new things and experiences: the sophisticate, connoisseur, and consumer. Money, variety, keeping up with the latest trends important. Unable to discriminate what they really need, become hyperactive, unable to say "no" to themselves, throwing self into constant activity. Uninhibited, doing and saying whatever comes to mind: storytelling, flamboyant exaggerations, witty wise-cracking, performing. Fear being bored: in perpetual motion, but do too many things—many ideas but little follow through. Get into conspicuous consumption and all forms of excess. Self-centered, materialistic, and greedy, never feeling that they have enough. Demanding and pushy, yet unsatisfied and jaded. Addictive, hardened, and insensitive.

Unhealthy
Desperate to quell their anxieties, can be impulsive and infantile: do not know when to stop. Addictions and excess take their toll: debauched, depraved, dissipated escapists, offensive and abusive. In flight from self, acting out impulses rather than dealing with anxiety or frustrations: go out of control, into erratic mood swings, and compulsive actions (manias). Finally, their energy and health is completely spent: become claustrophobic and panic-stricken. Often give up on themselves and life: deep depression and despair, self-destructive overdoses, impulsive suicide.
Jerome Wagner's site : http://www.enneagramspectrum.com/