Creation history

10. — The names of the types in the Mandala of Characters.

Very long time I have been thinking about the names of the 12 main types which I distinguished in the Mandala of Characters. Earlier, I came up with the idea of using Roman numerals to designate the types of characters. I did it in this way, unlike the enneagram, where are used Arabic numerals.

The solution, however, seemed impractical to me. It is because probably it can confuse people who know the Enneagram. That is, it can be difficult for them to orientate where particular types are in the Mandala of Characters?

Another solution was to give individual types some names, also like in the Enneagram. For example, among others, in the Enneagram type 1 is named—The Perfectionist, type 2—The Giver, etc.

The idea of giving the names the individual types seemed to be the best solution. But then a long time I could not decide what names to choose? So, I had a big dilemma, how to find proper names that would reflect the spirit of particular types in the Mandala of Characters? Mainly, I wanted to find the names that will be both ambiguous and symbolic. In my opinion, the symbolism and ambiguity of names or concepts give the most possibilities for various associations. And it can be a great inspiration while discovering the secrets of particular types of characters.

In the end, I chose a solution that was actually the simplest. That is, it is based on this, what was already present in the Mandala of Characters. So, I decided to return to the sources and use the foundation on which I built the entire Mandala of Characters. This foundation is, of course, the Ancient System of Elements and Temperaments.

In this case, let’s go back to the scheme of the Ancient System.

From concepts that we can see in this scheme, to create names of the types in the Mandala of Characters, I decided to use the Elements and features of these Elements.

In the following diagram, I left only the names of the Elements (Fire, Water, Air, and Earth) and their features (hot, moist or wet, cool or cold, and dry). Besides, I put the 9 types of Enneagram which are marked with Arabic numerals. Also, I placed 12 types of the Mandala of Characters marked with Roman numerals.

So, I came to the conclusion that to create names of particular types the best is a simple idea. This idea is to use the Elements and their features that occur in the Ancient System. Then, the name of the particular type of character I created from the Element and the feature which are closest to the given type. Thanks to this, I got the names of types that we can see in the diagram below.

In the above diagram in the speech balloons, I put the names of the types. The names which I finally chose. These names I created from the names of ancient Elements and their features. It means, given type is named from the closest Element. Or from the closest Element and its feature.

For example, type “I” is in the area of the Element of Air, and the closest feature is Moist (or Wet). So, together it gives us— “Moist Air”. Analogically, I created the names of other types.

As we can see above two words are describing the feature between Elements of Air and Water. That is, “Moist” and “Wet”. Here I used the feature—“Moist” to create the name of type “I” which I named—“Moist Air”. And, I used the feature—“Wet” to create the name of type “II”, which I named—“Wet Water”.

Also, two words are describing the feature between Elements of “Water” and “Earth”. That is, “Cool” and “Cold”. Here I used the word “Cool” to create names of both types which are the closest to this place. These types are “IV” and “V” which I called “Cool Water” and “Cool Earth”. I think the word “cool” is more useful for describing these types. Besides, I think, word “cool” suits them better than the word “cold”.

So, in total, the individual types in the Mandala of Characters are as follows:

• I — Moist Air
• II — Wet Water
• III — Water
• IV — Cool Water
• V — Cool Earth
• VI — Earth
• VII — Dry Earth
• VIII — Dry Fire
• IX — Fire
• X — Hot Fire
• XI — Hot Air
• XII — Air

Below, I present the similarity of the above types to the types that we have in Ancient System, Enneagram, and Jung’s typology.

So, this is the way that I created the names of the types in the Mandala of Characters. Personally, over time I like these names more and more. The most I like this that they are very symbolic and ambiguous. Besides, the concepts of the Elements and their Features that I have been taken from the Ancient System to create type names are not new. They are very old. And also, these concepts are very well-known, and they are deeply rooted and widely used in culture, art, science, etc. They also exist in the human psyche, because they are symbols that occur in dreams.

So, it turned out that these names for individual types simply match well to the Mandala of Characters.