Enneagram Type Eight

The Aliveness Seeker

We call 8s The Aliveness Seeker because their primary motivations are to feel fully alive; to be powerful, independent, and in control of their situation; and to avoid being in power down positions where they can be violated or taken advantage of.

When 8s are connected to Essential Aliveness, they feel the primal vitality of reality surging through them, making all aspects of their experience vibrant, immediate, and vivacious. They feel charged with unshakeable life force, believe in themselves utterly, and experience an inner strength that does not need to prove itself. In this grounded place, 8s are vigorous, galvanizing, forbearing, big hearted, magnanimous, and innocent. 

Healthy 8s have mojo, dynamism, and charisma that comes from direct contact with their gut. To Healthy 8s, the world is like a playground that is meant for them. They are passionate people who enjoy challenging themselves by taking on projects and standing for what believe in. No other type is as comfortable with the use of power as is type 8, and Healthy 8s aren’t afraid to throw their weight around for the greater good. Actually, they rather enjoy it. But Healthy 8s do not need to willfully overpower others. They attune to their environments and use precisely the amount of force required to get the job done. 

Because Healthy 8s trust their own strength, they are willing to let their guard down and be affected by their environment. When 8s embrace their sensitivity, they realize how touched they are by life, and their huge, tender hearts beam. From this place, Healthy 8s are truly generous and have a powerful inclination to make a large and positive impact in the world. They use their strength to galvanize others, and they often awaken capacities in others that they didn’t see in themselves.

When 8s lose touch with Essential Aliveness, it can feel to them as if their life-force is being constrained, thwarted, or dimmed, making them vulnerable. It feels as if they could be violated or taken advantage of at any moment, so fixated 8s resolve to keep their guard up and to be strong and tough to survive.

8s view the world through a lens of leverage and power dynamics. There are those with power and those without, those who can protect themselves and whose who can and will be taken advantage of. To ensure that nothing can get to them, and to make sure they can live life on their own terms, Fixated 8s become preoccupied with being someone with power and leverage over others, or at least someone independent enough for no one to have power over them. The classic framing is that 8s work to set up their lives so that they can impact their environment without being impacted by it. Fixated 8s want to stay in control of their own life and destiny, so they harden and push their way through the world, “making it happen” themselves. They begin to think of themselves as doers and straight talkers who tell it like it is and expect others to do the same. They have no patience for coddling or fluff, and the “tougher” Fixated 8s become, the more it repulses them when they see weakness in others. (“If you can’t stand on your own two feet, you’re not worth my time.”)

The more Fixated 8s fear being taken advantage of by others, they more they hunker down, barricade themselves emotionally, and attempt to remain in control of their situation. They may try to amass wealth, resources, status, social capital, or other means of leverage to ensure that they can remain independent, have influence over others, and keep threats at arms’ length. This could mean starting a business or simply cultivating a demeanor that effectively communicates “don’t mess with me.” Because of their forcefulness and resourcefulness, Fixated 8s are often successful in these pursuits, and they can develop a grandiose self-image: kings and queens of their domain who have the right to force their agenda, boss people around, or if push comes to shove, deliver direct blows. 8s deep in fixation dominate others by intimidating them, demanding loyalty, and punishing those who step out of line. Secretly, Fixated 8s are scared of betrayal, but unfortunately the more inexorable they become, the more they provoke it. 

Fixated 8s can cause a lot of ruckus, and it is important to remember that their hardness masks their grief at the loss of Essential Aliveness. To Fixated 8s, it is as if the carefree innocence of their childhood was taken from them too soon. Their forceful nature arises from the urge to defend their right to be here fully. But instead of calmly trusting their own strength, Fixated 8s use it to intensify their experience to “make themselves” feel alive, stay in control, prevent being taken advantage of.

What 8s really want is to feel solid and fully alive, and to move freely in the world without being encumbered or controlled. The trouble for Fixated 8s is that in order to protect their aliveness, they have buried the very thing that connects them to it — their sensitivity. 8s’ ability to tackle life’s challenges with confidence and gusto is an inspiring superpower, but the more they harden, repress their vulnerability, and push against the world, the more numb they become.

As 8s deepen themselves through inner work, they can cultivate enough stillness to recontact Essential Aliveness, which grounds them in the humble awareness that the same inextinguishable life-force infuses everything, from caterpillars and blades of grass to themselves. From this place, Healthy 8s drop the need to protect their aliveness by staying in control and keeping the world at arm’s length, and they recover their virtue of Innocence — radical openness and willingness to be affected by life. Healthy 8s get that to be alive is to be vulnerable, and they abide in the knowing that their sensitivity is not a liability but a gift that allows them to be touched by the world they care about.