TYPE 8: THE CHALLENGER
In One Sentence I’m all about strength and showing who’s in charge to reassure myself that I don’t have a weak bone in my body, but I can’t admit to myself how scared I really am of my buried weakness, and so I show up larger than life in nearly all situations hoping to leverage my power for the people I love
Essence Qualities Fortitude, Aliveness, Majesty
Basic Fear being shut down and violated
Basic Desire to feel strong, alive, and forceful
Famous 8s
Aretha Franklin, Chelsea Handler, Daniel Craig, Donald Trump, Ernest Hemingway, Fidel Castro, Frank Sinatra, GI Gurdjieff, Harriet Tubman, Howard Stern, Marlon Brando, Martin Luther King Jr, Maximus in Gladiator, Oliver Stone, Queen Latifah, Rosanne Barr, Rupert Murdoch, Russell Crowe, Saddam Hussein, Sean Connery, Teddy Roosevelt, Vladimir Putin, Winston Churchill
Levels of Consciousness
Creative: magnanimous, strong
Controlling: armored, bossy
Destructive: raging, predatory
Shock point fear (the fear that causes the slip from Creative to Controlling consciousness)
I do not have enough personal power or resources to meet the challenges that I have taken on
Examples of shock point fears
I’m determined to win the arm-wrestling tournament for a boost of confidence. I better have what it takes…
I strut around like a king to make people fear me because to be feared is a good thing when I’m feeling a trace of fear. But instead of everyone being frightened, many are just annoyed…
I do the death-defying, like motorcycling off clifftops to rise above the petty worries in life, but somehow they’re still there
I verbally beat the crap out of people to show I’m big and you have to deal with me, but at some point, there’s always someone who can deal with me (and every once in a while, they even melt my heart)
Why I get provoked Challenging my strength, power, or authority by not making me feel in control, not doing what I say, or reminding me of my vulnerability even if only by showing me your own vulnerability
How I cope with anger I become The Grenade*. I indiscriminately take everything and everyone down with a little blast of unabashed, unadulterated rage, peppered with gestures and cutting words, often curses, that provide me with a big release, but provide you with the important info of who’s the real boss and who’s really nothing
My Emotions are anger
How was your day, Type 8?
“It was good. Why are you asking me?”
Behavioral pattern Go Getter. I have to show how powerful I am so I try to constantly move mountains, no matter how crazy it drives me or others when I expend that amount of forceful energy
8 with 7 Wing I’m the hardest charging go-getter who can take heat like no one else and upset others quickly with my intense energy, hardly able to turn off my own heat, but I care more about respect than I do success, and when I’m truly secure, or at least secure that people turn to me as the boss, I’ll lay down my life for what I believe in
8 with 9 Wing I fight hard and undertake massive endeavors to feel my dominance over my environment, but then I go into hibernation for recharge till the next tussle, and have a very easy-going side to me that I like and which gives me more patience to deal with the details in life
A Personal Meditation for Growth My generous spirit moves people deeply when I am confident enough to let my guard down
*credit to our teachers at the Enneagram Institute for this reference
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