↬ enneagram type 6 - the loyalist

• loyalists are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.
• they will “go down with the ship” and hang on to relationships of all kinds far longer than most other types. sixes are also loyal to ideas, systems, and beliefs—even to the belief that all ideas or authorities should be questioned or defied. indeed, not all Sixes go along with the “status quo”: their beliefs may be rebellious and anti-authoritarian, even revolutionary. in any case, they will typically fight for their beliefs more fiercely than they will fight for themselves, and they will defend their community or family more tenaciously than they will defend themselves.
  • the reason sixes are so loyal to others is that they do not want to be abandoned and left without support — their basic fear. thus, the central issue for type six is a failure of self-confidence. sixes come to believe that they do not possess the internal resources to handle life’s challenges and vagaries alone, and so increasingly rely on structures, allies, beliefs, and supports outside themselves for guidance to survive. if suitable structures do not exist, they will help create and maintain them.
  • ↬ sixes are the primary type in the thinking center, meaning that they have the most trouble contacting their own inner guidance. as a result, they do not have confidence in their own minds and judgments.
  • ↬ they think—and worry — a lot! they also tend to fear making important decisions, although at the same time, they resist having anyone else make decisions for them. they want to avoid being controlled, but are also afraid of taking responsibility in a way that might put them “in the line of fire.”

sixes are always aware of their anxieties and are always looking for ways to construct “social security” bulwarks against them. if sixes feel that they have sufficient back up, they can move forward with some degree of confidence. But if that crumbles, they become anxious and self-doubting, reawakening their Basic Fear. without essential inner guidance and the deep sense of support, sixes are constantly struggling to find firm ground.