Mage

## Life Task

Gaining knowledge of life by stepping into action from being an observer, taking in exactly what is needed and letting the rest go.

*"I need to understand the world."* - Mage Principle

## **Description**

Like all enneaclasses, the name "Mage" is not referring to any classes from media that utilize the same name. Rather, it was the name selected to better convey specific information about other gamers and to gamify the powerful notions found in the **Enneagram.**Every person has access to all the classes but primarily settles on one which frames the personality. Accessing other classes' potentials and maximizing the capacity of the primary class takes a large degree of work and effort, and this work could be viewed as lessons an entity must overcome to become unified.

Mages defend themselves against a world they experience as intrusive by retreating into the safety of their minds. Mages tend, therefore, to approach reality at some distance and to adopt a stance at some remove from the main action.

Mages feel comfortable and at home in the realm of thought. They have busy minds, are endlessly curious, observant, perceptive and frequently intellectually provocative. Most Mages have at least a few intellectual interests, areas of expertise, which they cultivate with a true passion.

It is not uncommon therefore for Mages to be intellectuals in the standard sense of the term, and many famous thinkers have naturally been Mages. But not all Mages earn a living directly utilizing their minds; some Mages prefer to keep their theorizing to their private lives, while making a living doing something that requires little intellectual energy.

Such Mages can be recognized by their need for privacy, their focus on competency, and their attitude of restrained indifference to authorities and to the rules and procedures of the workplace. Mages also generally display an idiosyncratic view of the world.

Others in the Mage’s life often recognize, if only on an intuitive level, that some part of the Mage is not quite present. It is that part which Mages reserve for themselves and perhaps share with a very few others. For most Mages, a great deal is kept in reserve.

While it is true that not all Mages are “intellectuals,” all of them share certain basic markers. In particular, all Mages utilize or over-utilize their intellects as their chief means of negotiating life. The general formula for understanding the Mage class individuals is to recognize that their intellects take the lead, emotion interfuses with thought, and the instincts remain generally underdeveloped.

Mages are frequently uncomfortable in the social realm. Part of this stems from the Mage’s eccentricity, which in turn stems from the fact that Mages spend so much time in the realm of thought. Mages trust their own minds and feel little need to adjust their beliefs to accommodate the opinions of the majority.

Mages often have little capacity for small talk and find most social interactions draining. When required to socialize with those they find uninteresting (almost everyone, that is) Mages frequently find a way to slip out the side door when no one is looking. Mages can, therefore, become socially isolated and sometimes suffer from loneliness.

Mages tend to be sensitive; they don’t feel adequately defended against the world. They tend to have permeable ego boundaries and often sense the unspoken thoughts and unexpressed feelings of those in their environments. These tend to feel invasive to Mages, who characteristically withdraw in order to protect their boundaries.

To compensate for their sensitivity, Mages sometimes adopt an attitude of careless indifference or intellectual arrogance, which generally has the unfortunate consequence of creating further distance between themselves and others.

Mages can turn out to be surprisingly supportive as friends and passionate as lovers. Those Mages who are interested in forming relationships want to relate to the person behind the mask, and generally find dealing with “mask people” to be quite tedious. Mages tend to be non-judgmental of those they love, and can accept others as they are, without glossing over their imperfections.

## **Class Identification Questions**

Every entity falls primarily within one of the enneaclasses, originally. While it can be difficult to elucidate which correlates with any individual, these nine questions (for each class) were designed to analyze certain aspects of the personality so that one can come to an understanding of their class.

1. Do you relish and even require extended periods of time alone to ponder and sort out the important issues of life?
2. Do you have an unquenchable thirst for new experiences, new adventures, or new knowledge, and are you quickly bored by repetition?
3. Do you usually have a point of view different from everyone else's and find yourself amazed at the lack of rational thinking behind others' conclusions?
4. Do you enjoy talking about and planning a project for months, even years, but find your enthusiasm slipping away at the prospect of beginning the hard work of actually doing it?
5. In personal relationships, do you often feel frustrated and pull back because others misread your intentions?
6. Are you generally impatient with group decisions, becoming restless and irritated as others ramble on and on about unrelated, unimportant issues?
7. Do you tend to see the absurdity of life and enjoy throwing people off guard by pointing out the ridiculous with wit and humor?
8. Do you place great value on individualism, personal freedom, and space and become quickly interested by anything new, unexpected, or unexplored?
9. Are the social interactions of your life initiated primarily by others, even when you want to be included or want some form of communication?

## **Preoccupations**

Preoccupation relates to the matter of being preoccupied or engrossed with something, so what you might find here are areas of examination with which this class might find themselves involved.

* Maintaining noninvolvement; withdraw and tighten the belt as a first line of defense.
* Fear point. Afraid to feel. Overvaluing of self-control. Detaching attention from feelings.
* Delayed emotions. Feelings withheld while others are present. Emotion comes later, when safely alone.
* Restricting and minimizing personal needs as a way of non-involvement. Sectioning off emotionally charged experiences into predetermined time units; setting boundaries.
* Interest in using analytical knowledge as a substitute for emotional experience.
* "Outside observer" point of view leading some to feel isolated from the events of one's own life and others to a point of view detached from the biases of personal fear or desire.
* Compartmentalizing. Commitments in life are kept separate from one another. One box per commitment. Time Limit for each box.
* An interest in special knowledge and analytic systems that can explain the way that people work. Want a map to explain emotions.

## **Special Abilities**

Each enneaclass has several unique traits which may be cultivated in such a ways as to give advantages when dealing with situations that are characteristic of that class. Those of the Mage can be roughly summarized to:

* standing back and viewing life objectively
* coming to a thorough understanding; perceiving causes and effects
* my sense of integrity: doing what I think is right and not being influenced by social pressure
* not being caught up in material possessions and status
* being calm in a crisis

## **Weaknesses**

Each enneaclass also has several areas of weakness where they generally do not thrive unless work has been done towards alleviating these shortcomings. While the following examples are general statements, it is expected that most Mages dealt with or are dealing with issues of this nature:

* being slow to put my knowledge and insights out in the world
* feeling bad when I act defensive or like a know-it-all
* being pressured to be with people when I don't want to be
* watching others with better social skills, but less intelligence or technical skill, do better professionally

## **Class** **Synergy**

Some enneaclasses naturally work better together than others, which leads to many moments of understanding and misunderstanding. Many potential adverse situations can be overcome by understanding those around oneself and learning how to best optimize those others, which quite frequently results in some synergistic outcomes.

* Has a sense of limited energy reserves. Does not want time and energy to be used for other people's agendas.
* Works hard for the rewards of privacy and the freedom to pursue personal interests. Works to buy autonomy.
* Needs predictability. Wants to foresee in order to be prepared.
* Attention gravitates to others in the environment. Feels their intrusion. Often finds it hard to concentrate in the presence of others.
* Freezes when unexpectedly questioned or when a spontaneous reaction is called for. Needs to withdraw in order to figure things out.
* Values unemotional decision making. The use of feelings as a rudder for decisions appears to be a loss of control. Can usually see through the flattery and charismatic leadership.

## **Charm Guide**

Relationships among gamers of various enneaclasses are often tenuous due to a lack of understanding. This may not be of consequence in regards to relationships that are superficial or purely of a business nature, but these relationships only compose a small subset. It can be beneficial to learn what makes each class comfortable and respected in order to forge more meaningful and deeper connections. For the Mage class, some of the techniques towards achieving this end are as follows:

* Be independent, not clingy.
* Speak in a straightforward and brief manner.
* I need time alone to process my feelings and thoughts.
* Remember that If I seem aloof, distant, or arrogant, it may be that I am feeling uncomfortable.
* If I become irritated when I have to repeat things, it may be because it was such an effort to get my thoughts out in the first place.
* Don't come on like a bulldozer.
* Help me to avoid my pet peeves: big parties, other people's loud music, overdone emotions, and intrusions on my privacy.

## **Class Specialization**

Human evolution requires three basic survival behaviors, referred to in the Enneagram as the instinctual specializations: the self-preservation specialization, the social or group specialization, and the one-to-one or intimate specialization. Because these are survival behaviors, each Enneaclass includes all three subtypes. Although you manifest all three to some degree, you usually express one of these three subtypes more than the other two. Both environmental circumstances and your Enneaclasses's structure influence their expression, especially the core emotion associated with your adaptive strategy and what you put your energy into.

**Self-Preservation Instinctual Specialization**. Your attention and energy go to issues related to personal survival, such as safety, security, comfort, protection, and adequate basic resources of food, shelter, and warmth.

***Social Instinctual Specialization.***Your attention and energy go to issues related to your community and group membership, such as role, status, social acceptance, belonging, participation, and fellowship.

***One-to-One Instinctual Specialization.*** Your attention and energy go to issues related to connection in vital relationships, such as bonding with special others, sexual intimacy, attractiveness, closeness, union, and merging.

 Arcanist | Social | This spec. has a hunger for knowledge and mastery of the sacred symbols and language of the group or society (totems). Yet at the same time, this spec. can become trapped in the role of observer or learned teacher by over-emphasizing analysis and interpretation, which can get in the way of participating with others.