Type 7 -- Enneagram
Type 7 — The Enthusiast
Healthy Sevens know that often “less is more.” They are aware of the energy they have invested in manufacturing happiness and they know that joy is a gift or grace that can only be received. They have embraced a full range of human emotion and they are growing in their ability to accept life as it is rather than as they want it to be. They are able to incorporate pain and disappointment into the whole of their lives, rather than merely avoiding it. When Enthusiasts are in a healthy space, they are not only fun and adventurous but also spiritually grounded, practical and resilient.
Average Sevens reframe almost everything that is sad, limiting or could be perceived as failure, changing the narrative so that even the most negative events are recast in an affirming way. They find most of their happiness in anticipation and much of their sadness in the reality that their expectations are seldom realized. These Sevens entertain to feel safe and to claim their place in a group. Though they are very popular, they find commitment to be a challenge and have great trouble finishing projects, often jumping from one thing to the next.
Unhealthy Sevens see themselves and their environment as inadequate, feeling sorry for themselves and often believing they’ve been dealt an unfair hand. They try to avoid pain at any cost, which leads to irresponsible behavior and seeking instant gratification. These Sevens are often reckless, risking more than they can stand to lose, and are more prone to addiction than any other number.
Deadly Sin of a 7: Gluttony — but not about devouring food as much as it their sin struggle is with their compulsive need to devour positive experiences, stimulating ideas, and fine material things in order to fend off suffering, hurtful memories, and a feeling of chronic deprivation.
Sevens crave stimulation. Ask one how much is enough and they’ll say, “Just a little more.”
According to the Enneagram, the opposite of gluttony is sobriety. For Sevens, sobriety doesn’t mean giving up drinking but rather slowing down, living in the present moment, exercising self-restraint, reining in their restless “monkey minds” and getting down to the business of ordinary life. You know, all the stuff regular civilians like us have to do.
It’s hard to get your head around it, but Sevens are every bit as fearful as Fives and Sixes. Where they differ is in the way they defend themselves against it—Fives ward off fear with knowledge, Sixes with pessimism and Sevens with inexhaustible optimism.
Sevens are vulnerable to addiction.
Not all Sevens become addicts, but their impulsivity and difficulty with delaying gratification, combined with their desire to escape afflictive emotions at all costs, make them more addiction-prone than any other number on the Enneagram. Why suffer a flood of awful and frightening emotions when half a bottle of wine, a few hours on a porn site, a handful of oxycontin, a blackjack game, a quart of ice cream or a shopping binge offers an easy, fast-acting source of pain relief?
Spiritual Journey of a 7:
But here’s a hard truth: pain is unavoidable. On the road to spiritual transformation, Sevens have to learn how to embrace and steward their suffering rather than run from it.
Sevens’ strategies for avoiding pain create more suffering for them. Until they learn this Sevens are like addicts who will have to keep upping the dosage of fascinating ideas, novel experiences and self-generated pleasant feelings to repress the ones they want to keep outside their conscious awareness. It’s time for Sevens to stop consuming and start contributing. True happiness and satisfaction can’t be taken by force or manufactured whenever we need them; they are the result of living a focused and productive life that gives something back to the world.
The healing message Sevens need to hear and believe is God will take care of you. I know, easier said than done. It will take courage, determination, honesty, the help of a counselor or a spiritual director, and understanding friends to help Sevens confront painful memories and to encourage them to stay with afflictive feelings as they arise in the present moment.
Our Model 7: Esau
This morning we come to our model 7 (I’ll take a pause/long beat):
Esau
Some things I’m guessing about Esau:
The Birthright:
29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.