Awareness of the Soul's Shape

Each individual soul has a unique shape, though some may be similar to others, and these tend to cluster into "types". This is the basis for theories of type such as the primitive Four Temperaments (which dates back to classical times and is still popular, in a number of forms, today). I myself find the Four Temperaments too crude, though some developments of it are interesting in different ways. The most sophisticated and effective theory of type I know of is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (a variation of which, the Kiersey-Bates, is also widely used). I have a digression on the theory behind this typing system. I have also recently been looking at the Enneagram, a nine-type theory rather than a four-type or multiple-of-four type, based on a geometrical figure which is attributed to Sufi mystics in the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, but may be older.

As I write I have just finished reading Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery, by Don Richard Riso, one of the main "developers" of the Enneagram into a theory of psychological type. I find his ideas interesting, particularly that each basic type has a "direction of integration" towards the strengths of one of the other types (and a "direction of disintegration" towards the weaknesses of a third type). He also has an interesting scheme of nine "levels" of what he calls a "continuum of traits" within each personality type, which he presents in order from most healthy to least healthy. The idea is that after becoming fully healthy in your own basic type (and possibly the adjacent type, your "wing"), you move in your "direction of integration" around the Enneagram diagram. This process can continue until you have gone all the way around the diagram (which takes three or six steps, depending on your basic type). The direction of disintegration moves in the other direction around the diagram; Riso's theory states that because this is such a serious psychological disintegration, only one such step will ever, in practice, be taken.

These ideas of development are appealing and potentially useful, though I remain a little skeptical of the degree to which Riso develops his theories. For example, he attempts to take in Freudian and Jungian typologies as well, among others, including trying to fit Jung's eight types to his nine - which forces him to say that Jung missed one out. (If you understand Jung's typology at all you will see that there is a good reason for having eight: there are four functions which can be expressed in either an introverted or extraverted way.) My introspective application of his theories to myself and some of my friends also raised some questions, and the tests I took online (links below) gave slightly inconsistent results. I have a digression on my doubts.

Finding Your Own Soul's Shape

There are a number of Internet sites which offer tests of varying sophistication which can help you begin to discover your soul's shape. Here are a few:

The Myers-Briggs or Kiersey-Bates typology (based on insights of Carl Jung in his book Psychological Types):
http://www.keirsey.com
http://www.oocities.org/WestHollywood/3973/persnlty.htm

The Enneagram:
Enneagram Personality Dynamics
Personality Online personality tests (also includes Myers-Briggs and several less well-known typologies).

See also my bibliography entries for Eric Berne, Thomas Harris and Daniel Goleman, who are not theorists of type as such, but offer insight into the shape and development of the soul.

Personality and Character

Wise writers on the theory of type always emphasise that one's type is an indication of one's preferred behaviour, not a prediction of one's inevitable behaviour. I therefore make the distinction between personality (or type) and character. I see character as being what people do with their personalities, as wisdom is what they do with their knowledge.

There are no "good" or "bad" personalities; they all have weaknesses and they all have strengths, though for a given situation - for example, a particular type of work or social situation - some will be better (more effective) than others. But there is such a thing as good and bad character, and to me it has a lot to do with how much you allow your weaknesses to be expressed, failing to develop in your areas of weakness; and how much you allow your strengths to remain unexpressed, failing to develop in your areas of strength.

Shaping and Reshaping the Soul

One of the means of reshaping the soul is to develop the weaker aspects of it - the Journey into Shadow.

One of the ends of reshaping the soul is what I call "self-marriage", on which I have an extended digression.

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