Enneatype 8: Understanding Lust

Intro

Most people try to understand Lust through very general, broad and tangible examples, doing drugs, fighting, being violent, speeding, being reckless and a maniac, to understand the passion of Lust one needs to understand it with more nuance so then you can truly see how it might manifest in one's life, in the smallest things they do.

The word often used and associated with Lust is intensity, it's a buzzword but it is very true, excess is also a common one, Naranjo described it in a more "grounded" way like this:

An almost invisible line separates the virtue of enthusiasm from the passion of lust. In an instant, the blood fills with adrenaline and, as if it were a stimulating drug, this person seeks more and more. It’s the same good, vital energy that grows and, without borders or limits, transforms into an overwhelming, dominant force that overflows its surroundings and often runs over others — and oneself. That happens in romantic and friendly relationships, at work, in everything.

Lust is an all encompassing vital energy of an individual, I really like the word vitality here, now, unlike just normal enthusiasm, this form of force/energy dominates others, knows no limits, it overwhelms others even if this is not the conscious desire, it does not care for other people's autonomy or desires, it just takes, this is not an intellectual mindset of the person as they might genuinely believe that people's autonomy should be protected but rather it is an IMPULSE, an emotional compulsive driving factor.

But to really understand Lust you have to understand why this thing exists, why does a person need this much excessive intensity?

The Origin Of All: Desensitiviation

The basis of everything with the Enneatype 8 is a process of hardening, creating a sense of insensitivity within the individual and by consequence making one insensitive to others.

Due to the circumstances of ones childhood, the E8 goes through process of creating insensitivity within themselves but also by consequence making them insensitive to others, pain, emotional suffering, fear, shame, guilt, need and sensitivity are all things that you harden to as these things don't help you, in fact, they are the thing that causes you the most hard in this world.

You can compare this to the process of hardening that happens when you do pull ups every day, initially, you develop bruises on your hands, it hurts and if you over do it, you might even bleed but over time, when you do this for a long time, your hands will be tough, strong and resilient, you will be able to do many many pull ups without even feeling single tinge of pain and while this seems like exactly what you NEED, after all your desire is to get good at pull ups, to be able to do them but all of this comes at the cost of sensitivity, sensitivity to touch, you lose gentleness, now, you might not feel the gentle touch of another, your skin might feel hard and rough, you cannot feel the fragility of a flower the same way you might otherwise, everything is a double edged sword.

Same way as your body adapting to your need to perform the pull up, the mind and body of an E8 adapts to SURVIVE, one cannot be weak, you have seen what happens to weakness don't you?

Now, since the person becomes insensitive to INTERNAL SELF, it also creates a blind spot, it neglects the internal world and focuses on the external, all of this creates a deeply ingrained sense of emptiness, like a desert, this might not be felt but it is experienced, extreme boredom, need for stimulation, action, impulsivity and reckless behaviors.

Your insensitivity has numbed all stimuli that everyone else experiences in a normal fashion, a discussion or argument with a loved one might create a sense of instability in the other person, it might cause them distress, stress their body and mind, they might feel that what is happening is overwhelming but to you as E8, you don't even recognize as what is happening as an argument, this is normal interaction for you, when you eat food, you want it to feel something, to burn your mouth, to have many calories and many tastes, to be satisfied you need to eat a lot of it, if it feels like nothing then why engage in it? This becomes the way of life , not necessarily as an active life philosophy but as a clear orientation towards life and everything in it. You need more of life, of action, of pain, of intensity to feel like you exist, like you are alive because if that threshold is not met then everything is just bland.

Enthusiasm, Intensity and Energy

Lust is a life force, energy that consumes everything in it's path, overwhelms and dominates, it takes and it affects the persons whole state of being, you might talk loudly even without meaning, you might enjoy highly charged arguments, debates or good old arguments that get you going, you might be incredibly impatient ant quick to act even in a reckless fashion, if you love someone, it cannot be done half way, if you wish to dedicate yourself to an ideal, to an idea, you cannot be reasonable and balanced about it, it's either THIS thing or nothing at all, if you wish to work on something you love, maybe a project then it is not enough to work on it sometimes, you pour your energy and life into it to the point of not sleeping, if you wish to compete in sports, it is not enough to win against an opponent, you need to crush them and dominate them, you need to ensure that they will never play again, if you wish to impose justice, it is not enough to let it go, to let bygones be bygones, to be "fair" and not be excessive, you need to humiliate the other, harm them, dominate them, if wish to indulge in food, it's not enough for it to just be tasty, it has be intense, it has to stand out, to be spicy, to be heavy and to be satisfying.

There is no half way in anything, you're either on or off, you're either all the way in or not at all, it's not about taking a tiny piece of something but rather about taking it all, this is intensity, often, the E8 hears often in their life "You're too much" , "You're overwhelming", this energy is not a positive thing but rather a double edged sword, many people who believe they are too much and identify as E8 falsely might believe they do relate to it because after all, everyone around them tells them that they are overwhelming, hell, in fact I know a couple of people I'd label that myself.

Surely you know histrionic people who overwhelm others with their emotionality or even just neediness, the Lust does not operate this way, the specific core of this passion is related to the exact process of hardening as it is the foundation for all that is to come. It's excess has serious drawbacks that go past being "annoying" or "hard to deal with", it transforms into a force that is never satisfied, that creates conflict, that dominates others acts in a tyrannical fashion, an energy that consumes everyone and spits them all out, one that can be violent and insensitive.

Lust reinforces one's own defenses and their sense of power, the more the person is involved in it, the better they feel, the more powerful they feel, they more insensitive and hard they are, the more invulnerable they become, a tragic cycle that knows no limit.