We want to tell you a bit about this Journal - what our purpose was in putting it up, and how we expect that it might be used. But first we want to mention that we are really eager to hear what you have to say - not only about the site, but also about your experience with the Enneagram and the MBTI. So please leave a message before you go. Even if just to say hello.

You might consider telling us who you are, and why you decided to visit. Let us know what experience of the Enneagram and the MBTI you have had. We are expecting that most visitors here will have extensive experience with at least one of the systems, and many will be quite familiar with both. But it is also okay if you aren't.

Do you have views on the subject of the relationship between the two systems that you wish to share with others? Have you conducted studies on this subject, or published on the topic?

Have you had experience with other personality systems? There is Jung's system itself, of course, out of which the MBTI grew. And there are numerous modifications that contemporary Jungians have made to his thoughts on personality - the Singer-Loomis model, for instance, is one Jungian alternative to the MBTI. David Kiersey's work offers another interesting approach, as does Carol Pearson's.

Yes, there are plenty of personality typing systems that are non-Jungian in nature, and some that precede Jung's work. We are familiar, for example, with a Buddhist system that distinguishes personality type according to the original pre-Jungian version of the 'mandala' teachings in Tibetan Buddhism. And there is Gurdieff's work, of course, and Wilhelm Reich's, and Theodore Adorno's, to mention but a few early alternative personality theories.

More recently, Dawna Markova has invented an interesting system of her own. There is also much recent research in personality that comes out of experimental psychology, with which you may be familiar.

We find, generally speaking, that persons who are interested in one personality system often also become familiar with other systems, and want to discuss their relative merits with other individuals who have similar interests. They want to know what their similarities and differences are, and which system is best suited to which particular practical application.

These, indeed, were the kinds of concerns that first motivated us to investigate the relationship between the Enneagram and the MBTI. And it is also what inspired us to create this journal - a desire to sort things out, and to explore the intriguing areas into which such an investigation naturally leads one.

In creating this journal, our personal interests are simple, but twofold:

• to provide an open forum in which ideas on the relationship between the Enneagram and MBTI (and other personality systems as well) can be shared and debated, in a respectful, creative, and collaborative environment; and,
• to personally participate in the discussion that such a forum generates.

We have used the MBTI, the Enneagram, and other systems in our Organizational Development consulting work, and in related one-on-one counseling that we have done with individuals.

We shared some of our ideas on the subject of the Enneagram and the MBTI in a collection of papers that we presented on a web site called 'the Enneagram and the MBTI: Papers on the Relationship Between the Two Systems'. We authored most of the papers in that collection, but also included the work of a few other authors whose insights made a particularly strong impression on us: Walter Geldart, Larry Gabbard, and Michael Huber.

There were many others doing significant work in this area, from whom we did not solicit papers to include in that limited collection. So when Walter Geldart encouraged us to extend the horizons of our original project by creating an electronic periodical that would provide an easily accessible and open forum on the subject, we were intrigued by the idea, and excited about the opportunity it would give us to invite further participation.

With your help we hope to create a 'learning' environment that is as genuine and open as possible - one in which creative persons who individually have much to offer on this subject can gather in a climate that is truly conducive to collaborative discovery.

It is our personal philosophy that in group endeavors of this sort the 'whole' (whether it is comprised of two people or two thousand) is, indeed, greater than the sum of its 'parts'. This fact in no way detracts from the worth of the contributions made by individuals, however. Nor should it impact negatively upon the freedom of the individual to follow her/his heart in choosing the path to follow.

In our work with organizations we have come to regard it as a necessity to respect all personality types, especially the undervalued types - the ones that are tacitly considered 'inferior' in our culture.

There are significant personality biases in our culture - although there appear to be taboos against discussing this fact openly, especially in MBTI and Enneagram circles (as curious a state of affairs as this at first may seem).

The personality biases in our culture are reflected, we believe, in the type of organizations that our culture supports. Unfortunately, this translates into a profusion of non-democratic forms of social organization - bureaucracies that tend to stifle the creativity of the individual and make productive interpersonal partnerships difficult to sustain.

We hope that the way this site will be organized will reflect our interest in honoring the more participatory 'organic adaptive' types of social organization that are associated with the undervalued personality types (the 'NF' group, using Myers and Briggs' terminology).

We also hope that the journal will differ from the collection of papers offered on our other site in not primarily featuring our own work. We strive to make it an open forum for serious contributions from others who have something to say on the topic of the relationship between the Enneagram and the MBTI, and other systems.

So please accept our sincere welcome, and feel encouraged to submit articles, leave a message, make suggestions, use your imagination. Although we do not discourage highly theoretical debate, or the gathering and sorting out of detailed empirical fact, we are equally interested in conversations that seek to build relationship or brainstorm possibilities.

This is not the kind of place where you need to fear that you will not be accepted if you don't conform to the prevailing view coming from this or that camp, or if you don't hold the same point of view as somebody else. So check things out, enjoy yourself, and come back to visit us and to participate in what is going on here as frequently as you like.

Here's hoping to
see you again soon,

John and Pat