The important, existential threat for someone with a Royal Purple orientation is being judged as someone who is trivial, unimportant, or unoriginal [Enneagram 4]. To be ignored or taken lightly is the ultimate curse for someone deeply involved in the work of reform in an organization or society. An extraverted Royal Purple might declare to others in their community or society: “I would rather you fight against me than not even notice that I exist.” For the introverted Royal Purple, a slightly different declaration might be delivered: “I am being thoughtful and respectful of your opinions and rights, so why don’t you be thoughtful and respectful of my opinions and rights? Why don’t you listen to me!” For both the introverted and extraverted Royal Purples, they would rather be arrested than remain invisible. They would rather be beaten on their head than passed by and dismissed as someone who is irrelevant.
Blended Fantasies
In our earlier essay, we brought in three of the principal characters who were featured in each of two fanciful narratives of the past century. These were The Wizard of Oz and Star Trek. The three characters in the Wizard of Oz represented the three primary perspectives and practices of this essay: the Scarecrow (Golden Yellow), the Tin Man (Azure Blue), and the Cowardly Lion (Ruby Red).
The same three perspectives and practices were represented in the three principal characters in Star Trek: Captain Kirk (Ruby Red), Doctor McCoy (Azure Blue), and Mr. Spock (Golden Yellow). What we purposefully failed to do was to introduce the other major characters in both narratives. These are the ones that represented blended orientations and were key to keeping everything working in their world of Fantasy.
Wizard of Oz
The two major characters not mentioned in the previous essay were the principal protagonist, Dorothy, and her companion, Toto (the dog). Dorothy was inevitably aligning with one or other of the three perspectives and practices during her journey to Oz. At times, she was smart, at times compassionate, and at times quite brave. These all tended to be extraverted displays. Dorothy, in general and as a young maturing girl, was full of extraversion. She looked for external solutions to her problem of finding her way home. It is only quite late in the story of Dorothy’s journey to Oz that Dorothy discovers an internal (introverted) solution to her problem: her home has always been there. She just needs to appreciate what she has in Kansas.
And then there is Toto. This beloved dog was always at Dorothy’s side. He played a central role in unmasking both the Lion’s fake ferocity and the Wizard’s fake power. Furthermore, Toto was leading Dorothy’s three companions to the castle where the Wicked Witch was keeping her captive and threatening her life. This would seem to be an example of quiet and effective extraversion being played out in many different ways. While we don’t know much about Toto’s internal life as a dog, we can appreciate his agility in serving several different functions, and his “smarts” in knowing which function is needed at a specific time and location. We can also appreciate his “smarts” in detecting “fakes.” This would be a nice capacity for all of us to have in our fake-filled mid-21st-century society.
