Simple.

Our enneagram style is the way we simplified life as a child so we could cope. One can't pay attention to everything or make sense of everything, so we simplify. If I see the way to make it upstream through childhood is by being good, I am a One. But if my method is to take care of others, then I become a Two. Every style relies on a specialty - a small set of coping skills regardless of the situation.

The egotistical life is one that is simplified. Simplification is so attractive and destructive. Look at the magazines selling it. The US today is vilifying Muslims. If we wipe out them, then we'll "take our country back." One solution fits all problems. Fundamentalism is the simplification of religion as egotism is the simplification of personal reality.

One reads a lot about "the simple life," but if your life is simple, you're neurotic. If you've ever tried to discuss religion with a fundamentalist or politics with a true believer, sooner or later you'll hear the tell-tale phrase: "Well, all I know is..." at which point I usually say, "Yes, that is true and that is the problem." That doesn't simplify our discussion but it does shorten it.