THE MYERS-BRIGGS,ENNEAGRAM,ANDSPIRITUALITY - By ROBERTJ.THESING - Christian spiritual journey insights

Sep 17, 2026

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Explores the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Enneagram as widely used frameworks among people involved in spiritual guidance, noting that popularization has produced divergent understandings and applications. Traces the origins and basic nature of both systems, explaining MBTI’s four preference areas and developmental sequencing. Describes the Enneagram’s historical roots, including transmission through Middle and Near Eastern traditions and its later introduction by figures such as Gurdjieff and Ichazo, then considers authentic contributions to the Christian spiritual journey.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Personality types and four preference areas

Developmental sequence and testing considerations

The Enneagram

Historical roots and transmission

THE MYERS-BRIGGS,ENNEAGRAM,ANDSPIRITUALITY By ROBERTJ.THESING H YES,IT WILL PROBABLY HELP YOu in assigning me aretreat director to know that I am an ENFP and‘4'on the Enneagram.'This kind of statement,utterlyincomprehensible twenty years ago,is now one of themost common self-descriptions retreatants offer before coming fora personally-directed retreat.It is but one example of the enormouspopularity and popularization of the Myers-Briggs and the Enneag-ram among people doing the work of spiritual guidance.Butwith this growing popularization have also arisen more divergentunderstandings and more varied applications of these two systems.In this article I will attempt to call us back to fundamentals byasking about the origins and nature of the Myers-Briggs andEnneagram.From this perspective,questions about their currentusage and varieties of interpretation can more profitably be raised.Likewise,from this basis and from my own experience as a spiritualdirector,I hope to suggest some ways that I see the Enneagram andMyers-Briggs authentically contributing to the Christian spiritualjourney. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI)¹is an instrumentdesigned by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katherine C.Briggs toidentify different personality types on the basis of habitual prefer-ences in four areas.Building on the theory of Carl Jung,²theMBTI measures a person's basic ‘attitude’toward the world(extraversion or introversion)and how one normally'functions'inperceiving(sensation or intuition)and judging(thinking or feeling).To briefly summarize what most readers will already know,extrav-ersion(E)is an orientation of interest and psychic energy thatmoves outward to the world of people and material objects,whileintroversion (I)is an orientation that moves toward the inner world read more at www.theway.org.uk of ideas and reflection.Jung speculates that while an extravert tendsto typify humanity's ‘prolific'mode of adaptation,the introvertdemonstrates a certain ‘self-preservation'of the species.³ Considering next the functions,the MBTI measures first one'spreferred mode of perception.In sensation(S)perception orthe gathering of information comes through the five senses withimmediacy and ‘hands on'concreteness;while intuition(N)collectsdata through more unconscious processes that see the world interms of possibilities and interrelationships.Turning then to thejudging function,the MBTI assesses one's preference for thinking(T)as the mode of appraising data and coming to decisions byobjective,logical processes,versus feeling(F)which is more subjec-tive and value-based in its ordering and decision-making. Fourthly,the MBTI measures whether the individual generallyprefers the perceiving(P)process of observing and gatheringinformation or the judging (J)process of coming to conclusionsand moving to action.Joining this final preference to the others,the MBTI identifies and describes sixteen different personalitytypes. As a tool for psychological assessment,the MBTI is well-grounded in both theory and empirical research.Building on Jung'stheory,it clearly defines the attitudes and functions being identifiedand measured.An individual’s profile from the survey(e.g.,ENFP:extraverted-intuitive-feeler-perceiver)describes one's conscious,preferred style of activity.It is important to remember,however,that such a profile describes one's preferences or habitual modes ofoperating in each category;the alternative options are also availableto the individual to greater or lesser degrees.Secondly,thesepreferred functions are major components of the conscious person-ality,of what contemporary psychology refers to as the ‘ego’.Aswe willdiscuss later,when dealing with spirituality the unconsciousparts of personality are also extremely significant,and so theattitudes and functions that are not part of one's MBTI profile canbe just as important to consider when one attends to one's relation-ship to God in prayer and life. A di

FAQs

What are the four areas the MBTI measures?

The MBTI identifies habitual preferences across attitude toward the world (extraversion or introversion), perception (sensation or intuition), judging (thinking or feeling), and an overall preference for perceiving or judging (P or J).

Why does the MBTI require more than test scores to determine a type?

The text explains that MBTI preferences develop over time and are influenced by environmental factors, so a personal interview that considers life history is a necessary supplement to inventory data.

What is the Enneagram symbol and where does it come from?

The Enneagram’s nine-pointed symbol has been used for centuries in certain Middle and Near Eastern spiritual traditions to understand cosmic and human functioning, though its roots and origins are not clearly known.

Sep 17, 2026

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