The Real Face of Five

Uncovering one of the Enneagram's least understood types

In the Enneagram world, 4s have been heralded as the most misunderstood and mystified type out of all nine types. If you run into any fervent debate in the enneagram world, chances are that it has to do with the discourse around 4 or perhaps 6 (and usually has to do with comparing 4 and 6 together). However, there is one type that people seem to overlook, which is, in my opinion, even more, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and mistyped than 4: the 5. With Oscar Ichazo’s type descriptions being more publicly disseminated in recent years, it seems crucial to revisit type 5 as a personality structure and archetype.

Modern Enneagram, which takes most of its knowledge from Claudio Naranjo, posits the 5 as the most remote and intellectually focused of the nine types. The contemporary 5 fears having their energy depleted by others and thus respond by hoarding knowledge and information about the world around them. Generally speaking, the average Enneagram enthusiast would interpret the 5 as a remote, bookish professor archetype that doesn’t want anything to do with people or social affairs.

These commonly ascribed traits are not untrue of 5s, and many 5s relate to these personality descriptions. However, with Ichazo’s knowledge becoming more public, it's clear that many Enneagram teachers and enthusiasts are missing a whole other side of 5. In fact, Ichazo’s description of 5 seems so disparate compared to Naranjo’s description of 5 that it may completely surprise people and question what really constitutes a 5.