The Great Moral Issue of Our Time: The Enneagram and Type Seven in Politics
We are a nation of addicts, here in the U.S. We have a psychological dependency on a multiplicity of products and services, ranging from social media feeds and French fries to fast fashion and fentanyl. This is not just a social problem; it’s a political problem. It’s the dirty secret behind our political conflicts and it represents the great moral issue of our time. We are desperately trying to avoid facing it. This is the Enneagram type Seven trance that we are collectively experiencing. And this essay is meant to help us understand what we’re doing so that we can more effectively set out on the path to sobriety and find the real happiness that we’ve been looking for in all the wrong places.
Seven Trance Among Leaders
Our leaders demonstrate the Seven trance when they promote the fantasy of endless consumption, building their hopes for the future on the idea that technology or redistribution of wealth will save us and pretending that no tightening of belts will be needed. Leaders demonstrate the Seven trance when they justify their own and others’ excesses, for example, saying that individual consumer choices don’t matter as long as regulation remains too lax. And they demonstrate a Seven trance when they deny, ignore, or pretend there can be no possible solution to the problems caused by reckless consumption of resources and exploitation of people, animals, and ecosystems.
Seven Trance at the Systemic Level
At the level of government, our economic system rewards businesses that get consumers addicted to their products. And our government is very lax about holding businesses accountable for exploitative practices (this is related to Enneatype Three trance, as we shall explore in a future essay). We have insufficient regulations against companies exposing people, animals, or the environment to harm. Action is not being taken because people are addicted to the products. For example, we would rather maintain our dependence on cheap clothing than ban plastic textiles, even though we know we are releasing microplastics into the environment. We continue to allow abuses of workers overseas because we don’t want to stop the flow of goods into our country. We are addicted to many products supplied by corporations which hold powerful sway in our political system, including tech companies, news outlets, Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, the sugar lobby, and so on. All of these are happy to keep us distracted from the great moral issue of our time, which is the carnage caused by our addictions.
At the level of culture, the Seven trance is evident in the normalization of endless consumption. Our culture encourages us to put the consumption of goods and services at the center of our lives. Our culture pretends that this is what makes life worth living: being entertained by the latest gadgets and shows and games; obsessing over food, indulging our craving for culinary adventure or comfort; “improving” ourselves or spending money on a hobby whose ultimate goal is the relief of boredom. This is not to say that any of those things is bad or cannot serve a higher purpose. Only that we depend on them as addictions, as a way of distracting ourselves from our real problems.
Among spiritual leaders, the Seven trance manifests in an overemphasis on happiness as a goal and a glossing over of the painful work and the awakening to responsibility that true fulfillment requires. Spiritual leaders exhibiting a Seven trance may speak of finding one’s bliss in a way that ends up encouraging grasping after pleasures and keeps those with excess resources cognizant primarily of themselves rather than aware of others who need assistance.
The Societal Wake-Up Call of Type Seven
Subjectively, as the Seven trance deepens in society, it brings a pervasive feeling of dissatisfaction. Individuals feel it, but it’s not merely an individual problem or tendency. It is a collective tendency. Most people are affected significantly, a few are overtaken by it, a few manage to sublimate it, but there is, prevalent in society, a chronic feeling of wanting more, and a collective searching out of new entertainment and fresh indulgences to assuage the pain of felt deprivation. This feeling of unending craving is a wake-up call.
Objectively, it is a wake-up call when people complain that the indulgences are becoming decadent and excessive. It is a wake-up call when the contrast is made between the luxuries indulged by the ultra-wealthy and the struggle of low-wage workers to find housing; or first-world people lusting after a new smartphone as the slaves mining the cobalt for these devices languish in horrific poverty. It is a wakeup call when people point out that the consequences of our lifestyle are being swept under the rug. Those who are advocating for workers’ rights, animal rights, and environmental causes are calling us to wake up from the Seven trance.
How Leaders Can Turn the Tide
In the energy of every type, there is the perfect solution to the problems caused by its own distortion. The Seven trance is broken when people recognize that they are failing to make themselves happy and that they have a huge mess of problems they’ve been distracting themselves from. As a person begins to emerge from the Seven trance, they may ask themselves what they really want, what really makes them happy. And they may discover that true happiness is found in appreciating the present moment. Instead of obsessing over “what’s next,” they savor what they have now.
As anxious pleasure seeking gives way to contentment, the essence of Seven begins to express itself in energized problem-solving. The enthusiasm that Sevens brought to their distractions can now become focused on the difficult aspects of the situation at hand. As Seven moves toward integration at Five, an innovative problem-solving approach emerges.
Leaders model the essence of Seven by acknowledging the true costs of the modern lifestyle, demonstrating that appreciation of simple joys feeds the practices of restraint and conservation, and leading the way in creating and/or adopting intelligent solutions to our complex problems.
Emerging Essence of Seven at the Systemic Level
At the level of government, the emergence of the Seven essence would mean enacting measures to cut back on excessive consumption and exploitation. This could mean increased regulation either phasing out certain business practices entirely (ban on single use plastics, or synthetic fibers for example) or requiring businesses to compensate in some way for harm being done (as with carbon offsets). As an aside, I am generally in favor of smaller government. But there are a lot of extreme abuses of the environment and of workers’ rights that no one really wants to allow but which nonetheless persist primarily because first world nations are reluctant to disrupt the flow of products and services that they are accustomed to.
At the level of culture, the sublimated energy of Seven is expressed in a normalization of contentment with a simple life. It is a cultural expectation that consumers will make responsible purchasing choices and that citizens will support (by voice and vote) government officials who enact problem-solving strategies to address exploitative business practices.
Spiritual leaders demonstrate the emerging essence of Seven when they teach and show that self-denial is a path to greater happiness. They show the benefit of choosing voluntarily to experience deprivation. This could mean ancient practices of fasting or a vow of poverty or the mental deprivation of some meditation practices. It could mean a more modern practice of limiting exposure to electronic media (“fasting” from Facebook, for example) or wearing homemade clothing in renunciation of the exploitative fashion market. Spiritual leaders who successfully sublimate Seven energy demonstrate that this kind of renunciation brings the greatest joy and the gift of mental focus.
Suggestions for Waking Up
As a leader (and you are called to be a leader to some, even if it’s just a few people who know you personally), you can listen for the wake-up call of type Seven. Notice when you feel dissatisfaction and craving. Practice stopping yourself when you want to reach for your smartphone for a little hit of dopamine or when you want to buy something shiny and new or eat something decadent. You don’t necessarily have to tell yourself “no,” but take a moment to recognize what is really happening. Are you in a Seven trance? Ask yourself “Can I be happy with what I have right now?” Maybe you will choose to buy that shiny new something or read some fresh tweets or eat something delicious — but if you do, see if you can be very present to it and enjoy it. Make the most of it. Find the satisfaction that there is in being totally present to the goodness of what is happening right now.
And as a follower (because we are all followers and there are people around us doing good work), we can pay attention to those who are living the way we know more people ought to live. We can be inspired by those who choose a simpler life, those who make sacrifices because they want to be responsible consumers. And we can support those who are coming up with innovative solutions and those who are sounding an alarm and those who are demonstrating how to find genuine happiness.
This article is part of a series on the Enneagram and politics. An introduction to the series can be found here.
