Basic desire: Enneagram glossary definition

A good want that can tighten

Every basic desire is something reasonable. Wanting love, competence, safety or peace is not a flaw. Enneagram teachers say the trouble comes when one desire becomes the single filter for life and the person tries to secure it by personality habits alone. A Two who wants to be loved can start giving in order to be loved. A Five who wants to be capable can retreat into study and never act. The desire stays the same; the strategy becomes rigid.

• Type 1 wants to be good and in integrity, and can turn that into constant correction.
• Type 2 wants to be loved, and can turn that into earning love through service.
• Type 3 wants to be valuable, and can turn that into performing value.
• Type 4 wants a true identity, and can turn that into defining itself by what is missing.
• Type 5 wants competence, and can turn that into endless preparation.
• Type 6 wants security, and can turn that into constant scanning for threats.
• Type 7 wants satisfaction, and can turn that into chasing the next experience.
• Type 8 wants to protect itself, and can turn that into controlling everything.
• Type 9 wants peace, and can turn that into avoiding every disturbance.

Where the term comes from

How it is used

People use basic desire mostly to check a type that is already on the table. Asking "What do I want most when nothing is at stake?" can be easier than asking "What am I afraid of?" Coaches also use it to find a way through a stuck pattern: if the desire is legitimate, how could you meet it in a freer way? A Seven might find satisfaction by staying with one good thing rather than collecting many.

An example

A Nine who wants peace at home avoids telling her partner that she hates their weekend routine. For months the house is calm, but she feels flatter and more distant. When she finally speaks up, there is a short argument and then, unexpectedly, more real peace than before. Tradition would say she found her basic desire by giving up the strategy that was supposed to protect it.

Research status

Related terms: core motivation, core fear, virtue and levels of health.

• Core motivation: Enneagram glossary definitionEnneagram core motivation, defined: the underlying drive that tradition says defines each type, why it matters more than behavior, and the evidence.
• Core fear: Enneagram glossary definitionEnneagram core fear, defined: the deep worry each type is said to organize itself around, the nine core fears, how they show up, and the research status.
• Virtue: the Enneagram term and the nine virtuesEnneagram virtue, defined: the healthy quality said to replace each type's passion, from serenity to action, where it comes from, and research status.
• Levels of health: Enneagram glossary definitionLevels of health in the Enneagram: the idea that each type ranges from healthy to unhealthy expression, how teachers describe it, and the research status.