Relation

Order to follow when writing descriptions:
1. Bodily association and meaning
2. Perception
3. Living question
4. Logic
5. Ego
6. Existential attitude
7. Domains
8. Psychic poison
9. Fixated points

Center of Emotions

The Relation Instinct derives from the circulatory system, and is responsible for how an individual interacts with other people according to what social persona they choose to play. This instinct is all about how an individual relates to other people including how they are perceived, whether or not they are lovable, and what image they convey to others. Emotions are the measure of how well one does in their relationships, which produces a spectrum of judgment based on love or hate.

"Who am I with?"

This ego will constantly ask "Who am I with?" and expresses concern with how we are perceived and how we perceive others; it is a people-oriented ego. The instinctual basis of this ego is that humans cannot survive without other people. For example, human babies are altricial, meaning helpless without the care of a parent, and are naturally social creatures. To survive, man had to identify which creatures were his friends and which were his enemies.^[1] The answer to the question "who am I with?" produces the feelings of love and hate, which support the rejection or acceptance of a friend or a foe.

Analogical Reasoning

Before Ichazo's revision, the relation instinct was assigned to analytical reasoning. This is because in order to relate to others one must understand them through analysis, deducing what the other person is, who they are, and their intentions.^[1] After the revision, Ichazo assigned analogical reasoning to this instinct. Analogical reasoning is the process of drawing comparisons between two similar or unrelated things and discovering new information based on this analysis. The world of metaphor and art belong to this corner, having at its base an emotional core. Thus the relation instinct answers "who am I with?" by making comparisons and metaphors, such as comparing oneself to others.^[3]

Image Ego

From the relation instinct comes the Image Ego. This ego is responsible for our relationships with friends, family, co-workers, and the organisations under whom we work. The main strategy of the image ego is to over-engineer their social relations by wearing a persona or falsified image, which they believe will elevate their social standing, offer certain privileges, deter a group that does not want to be associated with, or affirm a certain ethical identity. They are so preoccupied with how they are perceived that they will defend this image more than anything else.^[1]

Existential Attitude

WIP

The Existential Attitude of this instinct is the horror of enslavement, which turns into a permeant sense of hatred or anxiety. At higher levels this becomes a search for "the good life."

Domains

WIP

Psychic Poison

This ego will become infected with the psychic poison of hatred, which may be interpreted as a sort of self-hatred for not being up to the standard of the perfect image. This poison then transforms into three separate poisons.

1. Envy: Ego-flattery/Over-independent (point 2)
2. Hatred: Ego-go/Over-efficient (point 3)
3. Jealousy: Ego-melancholy/Over-reasoner (point 4)

Fixated Points

References

1. Ichazo, O. (1976). The human process for enlightenment and freedom, The Arica School, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w6Zs6WYimJud29sl2kzjjO2k-v5x4rk0/view

2. Ichazo, O. (2023). The enneagrams of the divine forms perfect, eternal, unchanging truths (transcribed by American Pragmatist), The Arica School, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GzIWVuKR6rpLgznI8T8RfU-BkBWHWcufQZF4oBKUioE/edit?tab=t.0 

3. Ichazo, O. (2024). The enneagrams of the fixations: The original teachings, The Arica School, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Puteue12lR_8YWmNfpOFrhutLtnUbbZEvAPM5za2T10/edit?tab=t.0