Anatomy of a Type 5: Making Sense of an Overwhelming World
Type Fives are introverted intellectuals and investigators. They have a thirst for knowledge that is unmatched by any other Enneagram type. Today I’m continuing the exploration of the Enneagram with my type 5 friends, Carolyn Weyel and Holly Pennington. Carolyn is an advisor at her local community college and Holly is a fellow writer/blogger. Today, they bravely open up to us their internal world to give us a glimpse of what being a Five is like.
If you’re new around here and/or new to the Enneagram, check out the overview of the Enneagram here. You’ll also find links for other Enneagram Types.
A quick note: The books I reference below include affiliate links. If you purchase a product through my links, I will receive a small percentage of the profit at no extra cost to you. For more details, click here.
Let’s dig in.
Defining Characteristics of a Type Five
Fives are the great thinkers and innovators of the world. They often become great scholars or inventors and challenge the status quo. They dive deep into whatever topics interest them until they become an expert in their field.
More comfortable in their heads than in the real world, Fives like to stand at a distance, preferring to observe more than participate. With their huge capacity for information, they rely on the knowledge they collect to help them feel secure in an anxiety-provoking world. Fives find solace in their books and studies and their detached observation of people. They are afraid of being seen as incompetent or incapable and so they have a voracious appetite for learning everything they can about a subject so they can offer it to the world. According to Richard Rohr,
Many Fives go through life and gather what they can get – in the hope of filling up their inner vacuum. In this way Fives become receptive and responsive.
Fives not only have an appetite for gaining more knowledge, they also clutch tightly to their time, space, money, energy, and resources, afraid of being depleted by a demanding world.
When they are healthy and growing, Fives’ new insights, innovations, and ability to challenge conventional ideas make the world a better place to live.
Core Desire: To be capable and competent
Basic Fear: Of being helpless or incompetent
Driving Motivation: Anxiety about their inability to function competently drives their thirst for information, knowledge and understanding. If they can just gather enough information, then they will be okay. According to the Enneagram Institute,
…more than any other type, Fives want to find out why things are the way they are. They want to understand how the world works… They are always searching, asking questions, and delving into things in depth. They do not accept received opinions and doctrines, feeling a strong need to test the truth of most assumptions for themselves.
Main struggles: Hording knowledge & resources, feeling deficient, getting lost in their heads
Key traits: Fives are curious, intellectual types. They tend to be collectors of information as well as things. Often, they are introverted and detached.
Avoids: Feeling empty or deficient
Gifts to the world: When Fives surface for air, they offer new insights and innovations to the world. According to the Enneagram Institute, at their best, Fives are “visionary pioneers, often ahead of their time, and able to see the world in an entirely new way.”
Invitation to growth: Fives need the courage to get their hands dirty. Rohr has this to say to Fives:
Christianity can’t be translated into reality by sitting alone in your room with your books… In Christ the untouchable God has been made flesh, the God who heals human beings precisely by touching them.
According to the Enneagram Institute:
Thus, the challenge to Fives is to understand that they can pursue whatever questions or problems spark their imaginations and maintain relationships, take proper care of themselves, and do all of the things that are the hallmarks of a healthy life. [emphasis, mine]
From the Source: Being a Type 5
To better understand the inner life of a Type Five, I asked my friends, Carolyn and Holly to share their experience as a Five and how they are using the Enneagram as a tool for growth in their lives.
Describe how being a type 5 is for you.
Carolyn:
For me, being a Five means I am most often living in my head. I am always thinking things through, seeking out more information on a topic, and often tempted to try to solve problems on my own, in a very logical way. My instinct is to sit back and observe others– not from a place of judgement (which is often assumed of a Five) but from a place of wanting to understand all perspectives and gain new insights.
A Five’s deepest desire is to be capable and competent, and I have spent much of my life trying to be exactly that. When I am first presented with a problem, my instinct is always to start with research. I enjoy knowledge and learning, and want to be seen as intelligent and insightful above all else.
I have a Six wing, which means I also have a desire for connection with people. When I am in an emotionally healthy place, I want to be with people, even though social situations are usually draining for me. I am often the quiet one in the group, observing everyone else. I find it easy to understand a variety of perspectives and to know there is always more than one way to look at any situation.
Holly:
Fives are in the head triad of the Enneagram, called observers or investigators. I relate to both of these names. As an observer, I take in the world from the outskirts. I try to make sense of it in my head before I feel it or experience it with my senses. As an investigator, I have a compulsive need to answer the question, “Why?” about matters both large and small. My mind is always working and I often feel like my brain is tired. I have a tendency to exhaust myself with ideas and information.
Because of this, connecting with others can be difficult for me. They may experience me as aloof, distanced, unhappy or even arrogant, while I feel like I am simply trying to make sense of an overwhelming world. The flip side of this is that I can feel like a failure in my attempts to intentionally connect with others. My natural tendency is to connect head-to-head rather than heart-to-heart; I have to be intentional about bringing my whole, integrated self to relationships, and pay attention to how others experience me instead of being overcome by my own mental activity.
How did you come to know about the Enneagram & how did you know you were a type 5?
Carolyn:
Several years ago, one of the pastors from our church began writing his own book on the Enneagram called, Soul Architecture. He encouraged both my husband and I to take the test online and then read the chapters he had written about our numbers. When we did that, I discovered I was a five and immediately agreed with it after reading through the description.
Holly:
I ran across the Enneagram many times on blogs and podcasts before I got over my skepticism and started learning about it. I began with an online test, which made me want to learn more, but was not helpful in determining my type. Then, as a typical 5 would do (even though I didn’t know I was a 5 at the time!) I started reading and listening to everything I could about the Enneagram. I dove into books and videos by Ian Cron, Richard Rohr, and Beatrice Chestnut, and listened to podcasts such as The Road Back to You and Typology. I also read and reread The Enneagram Institute’s description of healthy and unhealthy levels of each type.
I knew I was a Five because it was the one I didn’t want to be! Now that I have listened to quite a few Enneagram instructors and enthusiasts, I know feeling a resistance to your true type is very common. In my first exposures to the Enneagram, I hoped I was a 4. I saw myself as a creative and believed there was a deeply feeling and sensitive part of me buried underneath all my thinking. As it turns out, I am a 5 with a 4 wing, so I wasn’t as far off as it seemed at first. What helped me feel most sure of my type was listening to Typology podcasts in which Ian Cron interviewed other Fives and understanding the stress and growth arrows. When I was first learning about the Enneagram, I remember a specific moment in which I felt stressed and was in tune with the 7 qualities I was exhibiting – I felt uncharacteristically scattered and impulsive. 5’s go to 7 in stress, so this was a key moment in solidifying that I was a 5.
What bothers you most about being a type 5?
Carolyn:
I have read that Fives are the most introverted of all the numbers, and while I certainly don’t mind being an introvert, it does make life harder at times. When things are stressful or not going well, my instinct is to withdraw and hide. (I can often tell how I’m doing just by whether or not I want to stop and chat with the other moms at school pick up!) I know that I often do research and seek more knowledge as a means of control, and a way to deal with fear. Instead, I am learning how to see my identity as a gift from God, and seeking Him
through prayer before diving into any more research on a topic that is causing me stress.
Holly:
My need for time alone. I often wish for a greater capacity for social interactions, and that I wouldn’t need to retreat to recharge myself after spending time with people. Of course, some people are exhausting to be around, but I can feel depleted after spending time with my most favorite people in the world. I wish that weren’t the case. As a Christian, this can cause me great distress because Jesus can be understood as someone whose capacity for people was limitless. Verses like “Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed” (Luke 5:16) bring me great solace!
What do you enjoy most about being a type 5?
Holly:
My need for time alone. I absolutely love my writing, reading and reflecting time. A few years ago, I began a meditation practice. Through this, I am learning how to let go of thoughts, connect with my heart and be present. This is essential to becoming a healthy 5, and I love spending my time in silent meditation. Spiritual practices like solitude, stillness and meditation come naturally to me because of my 5 wiring, and I feel grateful for this!
Carolyn:
For several years, I worked as an instructor at our local community college, and my boss there once paid me one of the best compliments I could receive as a Five. She said something along the lines of, “Carolyn doesn’t say a lot in meetings but when she does, you better listen, because it will probably be insightful and something you never thought of before.” To me, that’s one of the best things about being a Five: the ability to offer new insights to the people around me. I also know that’s when I’m using my Five-ness to the best of my ability– when I am able to take what has been swirling in my mind and offer it to others.
How do you see your Five-ness affecting your closest relationships? Marriage? Kids? Friendships, etc.
Carolyn:
I have been married for 17 years, and my husband and I figured out long ago that I need to be “interviewed” when we are having a conversation. For some people, you can ask, “How was your day?” and they will tell you all about it with that one little prompt. But I need interview questions: “How was your meeting with your boss today?” “How did you feel about the kids’ teacher conferences?” “How are you doing right now?” I am glad to share with those around me, but first I need to know that you genuinely want to know. If I am going to share all that has been thought of in my head, I need to feel safe to do so.
Holly:
Throughout the many different stages of my life, I have always had a “best” friend. It feels like a necessity for me, maybe even to an unhealthy degree. I have also always been a part of many different, unrelated social groups. For example, I am currently involved in a book club, writing group, community group, and a women’s group, none of which overlap. Because I am most comfortable disclosing myself in small doses, separate social groups feel safe – maybe too safe – to me. God is currently opening up my heart and mind about how I relate to different types of friends, and showing me that I protect myself by holding back certain parts of myself. He is challenging me to open more of myself to more people, and I credit the Enneagram as an important tool God has used to communicate this to me.
My husband is a 4. He operates from the heart triad so, like most couples, we either compliment each other well or butt heads because we approach problems and stress so differently. Studying the Enneagram together has helped us understand our differences better. As a mom who is a 5, I must be intentional about my connection time with my daughters at home. It is easy for me to retreat into my solitary activities or even just into my head in the presence of the emotion and energy of children, but I desperately want to be a mom who is present and connected.
In what ways has the Enneagram been a useful tool for growth in your life?
Carolyn:
As a Christian, I believe two of the most important questions we need to answer in life are (1) who is God, and (2) who am I? The Enneagram has helped me to better answer that second question, and to see the person that God created me to be. It has helped me understand my identity in Christ, as well as the tools my “flesh” often uses to try to control and calm my fears. I have been better able to identify when I am headed down the road of stress and anxiety versus the path of connection and action. Fives also tend to be disconnected from their feelings (since they are in their heads so much), and the Enneagram has helped me become more aware of what I’m feeling, why I’m feeling it, and how to better connect my head and my heart.
Holly:
For me, the Enneagram has been like a fast-track to self-understanding and acceptance. Because I have felt misunderstood and separate from others so often throughout my life, being able to relate to my true self through the lens of the Enneagram has provided reconciliation of these feelings. I see myself more clearly and understand why I naturally operate the way I do. I am regularly in touch with my “signature sin” (avarice) and choose specific personal and spiritual growth practices to help me become the healthiest 5 I can be. For example, although I started meditating before learning about the Enneagram, my meditation practice became even more important to me after understanding my need, as a 5, to detach from my thoughts and connect with my heart to be fully present to my life.
Thanks to Carolyn and Holly for giving us a glimpse of what it’s like to be a Type 5.
Not a Type 5? Explore Types One, Two, Three, Four, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine.
A bit about my contributors:
Carolyn Weyel is a wife and mother of two, living on the beautiful central coast of California. She has a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Education, which she has used working at her local community college for 15+ years. She is a beloved child of God, and she is learning more every day about what that means and how it affects her life.
Holly Pennington is a woman in constant pursuit of a life that reflects her true identity in God. Her husband and two beautiful daughters are her inspiration. Deep conversations, meditation, endless cups of tea, books, writing and prayer are her path. Over at www.dreadlocksandgoldilocks.com, she writes about faith, freedom and vulnerability. You can also find her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Add a comment