This text is very difficult to get through though it's hard to pinpoint exactly what in the writing I'm struggling with. The copy of the book I downloaded doesn't have a copyright page and for some reason Amazon will only give a publication date of 2024? So maybe it's undated on purpose 🙄 but I am going to assume it is from the 60s.
So far I have only been able to understand:
The ego self, and the "fixations" themselves refer to the false self, and identification with defensive distortions that get in the way of self transcendence. Transcending the self is a psychological concept/theory unto itself, and in practical terms it essentially means secondary cognition. Secondary cognition would be the final outcome of mentalization, reflective functioning (RF), and metacognition. "Primary cognition" is not a term, but if it were, it would refer to primary process thinking which would be the most immature ego. In actual theory, primary process thinking is studied, and it is basically the unintegrated contents of the base primal mind, generally sex and aggression contents. Studies show that even by fourth grade, girls have better integrated primary process thinking than boys. Unintegrated primary process thinking is the source of a lot of psychopathology. We are supposed to integrate aggression first then sexuality/eroticism, and then we can progress to normal dependency. So yes, this is another thing the infant is supposed to be doing shortly after he is born.
He points out that it is possible for a person to identify with the ego instead of the self, which is also just another way of saying ego syntonic (which I prefer to call systonic, tbh, system instead of synthesis but that's not important) with the false self. He calls this the "ego personality." He is describing psych concepts even if he is calling them other things.
He says the ego is under constant pressure to open up the unconscious, and personality traits are strategies to do this. He says the enneagram is meant to accomplish this using only "the mind" which I am not sure what that means, because he subscribes to the law of 3 that the psyche is the mind, body, and soul. I do enjoy that whenever this was written he complains that Freudian and Jungian psychology has become obsolete and specifically calls out the bullshittedness of behaviorism, LOL. Nice.
The enneagram is something he calls "protoanalysis" which would be equivalent to discovering Jung's "shadow self," I think. Whatever it means, he calls it barriers to accessing the "higher self," which again I am taking to mean the transcendent self.
So currently I am at the "9 constituents" which I am not sure what that means yet - I am only like 5-7 pages in by the way. The content is very dense; The first "constituent" is the the constituent of awareness which = consciousness.
https://preview.redd.it/kd4ay1uq0z3d1.png?width=1842&format=png&auto=webp&s=7dfd0caa68e730231a8c3c4a4b5a69ce5f24c837
I have not grasped the frame of this just yet and will need to continue to think more about what he is saying. But so far it means instincts and attending - what our instincts draw our attention to most, I believe, for now.
The conservation instinct is concerned with feelings and sensations, which is interesting. I don't know that that is what draws my attention even though it could? And also my instinctual variant is sexual, which would be the relation instinct. I think this makes sense from the frame that I have moved past my feelings as a general way of functioning, even if it is my base instinct of understanding, and attend to relational dynamics....?
The relational instinct is of emotions; so he distinguishes between feeling and emotions, which most likely means feelings refer to physiology. In my theory it's physiology/somatic sensations, emotions, thoughts, and this appears aligned with exactly that. It is the topography of the brain: brain stem, limbic system, cerebral cortex.
The last instinct is social adaptation, and thoughts.
Feelings are concerned with like/dislike.
Emotions are concerned with love/hate
Adaptation is concerned with right/wrong. So whatever your number is, it's saying that's your primary preoccupation, and he says we have figured all this out by age five or six. Which again confirms to me the enneagram concerns the early development of the first few years of life, attachment and ego development and narcissism. But I am wondering if down the line the layers will have different ages.
He describes a "trifix" fixation. These are fixations that produce "the restricted ego," which I am guessing refers to personality disorders and psychological rigidity. He calls them distortions and dysfunctional beliefs, e.g. maladaptive schemas, cognitive biases and shortcuts that paper over reality and funnel reality through their biases.
He says the trifix refers to 3 imbalanced domains that seek to try to fulfill the instincts that they belong to. That's where I left off; I don't know what how the "trifix" works. This writing is confusing/difficult as hell, but I also haven't finished this section yet. I am literally only on page 13 of the pdf, which is only page 5 of the book. Lol. SO SO SO DENSE.

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Went for like 4 things.... Left with way more haha

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you may have seen or heard about this before but let me tell you why its awesome!
SECTION 1: CONNECTIONS (this was made by u/Nevin3Tears who made the connections so all due credit goes to him)
Full Connections List:
Both are badass, alien-killing science fiction protagonists who were originally every-men forced into situations that were out of their control (Black Mesa Incident and Ishimura Outbreak respectively).
They were both from games that were heavily innovative for their respective genre. Half-Life was the first FPS game to build an immersive setting rather than just be a shooting gallery like it's predecessors (Doom and Quake), Dead Space pushed for procedural enemy placement and the removal of a HUD in contrast to it's predecessors. (Resident Evil)
Both worked for scientifically revolutionary corporations who studied alien technology (Black Mesa studied Xen and the Concordance Extraction Corporation studied the 3A Marker) that were sabotaged from within by enigmatic groups (The G-Man's employers and Unitologists) that manipulated the head of the facility where the incident occurred (Administrator Wallace Breen of Black Mesa and Captain Benjamin Mathius of the USG Ishimura) to go forward with the plans of said groups.
Both companies had dissenters who realized the danger of the what the company was doing early on (Eli Vance and Terrence Kyne), both had previous relationships with the saboteurs (The G-Man and Eli Vance spoke immediately before the incident occurred, Terrence Kyne worked with Challus Mercer reluctantly before the outbreak occurred), and both work with the protagonists to fix the mistakes they indirectly caused and are killed in the process (Eli is killed by an Advisor in Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Terrence Kyne is killed by Kendra Daniels in Dead Space 1)
Both are highly intelligent in their respective field (Gordon Freeman is a Theoretical Physicist who graduated from MIT with a PhD in said field, Isaac Clarke graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering with an unknown Alumni). Despite this, however, they're both overqualified for the positions they're in (Gordon Freeman is reduced to pushing buttons and pushing a cart into a port, Isaac is reduced to hacking doors and producing damage reports).
They are betrayed by female members of their team who are double agents of an enemy faction within the game (Judith Mossman is a double agent for the Combine, Kendra Daniels is a double agent for EarthGov). However, both of these women had ultimately noble goals that makes the player sympathize with them (Mossman was working with the Combine to ensure Eli's safety, Daniels worked with EarthGov to ensure that the Marker would be kept secure and contained from Unitologists).
Both were considered high-priority targets for a military coverup operation (The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit of the USMC considered Freeman their #1 target for the vast majority of the Black Mesa Incident due to killing huge swathes of their troops, The EarthGov security force also considered Clarke an extremely high-priority target due to his objective of destroying the Marker which was considered threatening by director Tiedemann). However, against all odds, they manage to overcome this despite being massively outnumbered and outgunned, eventually forcing both groups into retreat and disarray.
After making their way into the alien-world where their respective incidents originated (Xen and Aegis IIV), they end up stopping the situation by destroying the being that led the invasion in the first place (The Nihilanth led the assault on Earth by commanding the Xenian military force (Vortigaunts, Alien Grunts, etc.) throughout the Incident, The Hivemind on Aegis IIV commanded the Necromorph horde during their assault on the USG Ishimura). After these beings were defeated, the entire invasion force fell apart (literally in the Necromorph's case) as no reinforcements could be delivered.
After the end of their first game, both are placed into long periods of stasis against their will (The G-Man recruited Gordon for his employers due to his aptitude during the incident, Isaac was caught stranded in Space and was forcibly placed in stasis for 3 years due to his growing instability).
After being awakened, both find themselves in large, futuristic cities (City 17 and Titan Station) governed by tyrannical rulers (Wallace Breen and Hans Tiedemann). Both end up ultimately killing these said tyrants at the end of their second game, unintentionally destroying their cities as well (The death of Hans Tiedemann ultimately resulted in the complete destruction of Titan Station, The death of Wallace Breen resulted in the destruction of City 17 due to the citadel core imploding).
Around the start of their second game, both of them meet likable female characters who eventually become their closest companion throughout the rest of the series (Alyx Vance and Ellie Langford are both considered the deuratagonists of their respective series).
Both are haunted by enigmatic reminders of their decisions throughout their second games (The G-Man is constantly watching Gordon throughout the entirety of Half-Life 2, appearing in locations that are impossible for the player to reach conventionally. He serves as a reminder of Gordon's decision to accept his offer at the end of the first game. On the other hand, Isaac is consistently haunted by Nicole's hallucination throughout the entire game, serving as a reminder of his decision to blame Nicole for the death of his parents), however, both eventually break free of this by the start of the next game (The Vortigaunts cut off Gordon's link to the G-Man at the start of HL2: Episode One, and Isaac destroying the Marker at the end of Dead Space 2 ends his hallucinations of Nicole).
Both of their most iconic weapons were not originally designed for combat in the slightest (The Crowbar is a simple repair tool, the Plasma Cutter is a basic mining tool), however, they became combat-efficient due to the innovative thinking of their wielders.
Both have Gravity-manipulation tools that were originally designed for heavy lifting (The Gravity Gun and Kinesis) but became combat-efficient, again, due to to the intuition and creative thinking of their wearers.
Both of them received critically acclaimed remakes in the past few years that are often cited among the best remakes ever made (Black Mesa was released in 2020, Dead Space was released in 2023).
Both of them have an infamous history with the number 3. Dead Space 3 is a mess that killed the franchise until the remake came out, and Half-Life 3 is one of the most hyped up and memed games of all time because of how many people want it. Basically, EA can count to 3, but they can't pronounce it right, Valve can't count to 3 at all.
SECTION 2: fight potential
So now the connections are done we get to the next section which is the fight potential and dynamic which is what i’ll be explaining
Both gordon and isaac obviously have guns to use against each other but we need to go more in depth
For starters why would both fight each other? well it's pretty simple in the events of dead space 2 isaac suffered from hallucinations from the events of the first game and with gordon being silent it's easy to assume isaac would deem him a threat and try to attack him
The fight could start with both of them using their simpler weapons such as gordons mp7 and isaacs plasma cutter as the battle would be each of them trying to reach each other and you could easily have both of them use there other weapons for gordon you could have him use the crossbow and for isaac you could have him use the pulse rifle and before any of them reaches the other they get knocked out as we get to the next escalation
The next stage of the fight can be them waking up as they are overrun by either necromorphs or headcrab zombies as they stop fighting each other and fight the hoard which the commissioned track by brandon yates shows as a general idea around 2:05 https://youtu.be/DX48ImC1lXY?si=jJaI8j6tl7rgGuXO
You can have both use there more closer ranged guns such as the SPAS-12 for gordon and the handheld ore cutter line gun for isaac as they kill the undead horde you can even have a scene where one of them runs out of ammo and the other person throws one at them. Eventually after the battle is over both turn the guns on each other as they resume the gun fight with both using their more explosive weapons such as the rpg and supercollider contact beam until they get sucked out of space. With this you could have a reference to the zero g sections in dead space where both of them are fighting in space maybe have isaac try to strangle gordon but he retaliates by using his crowbar against him which leads them to land on a station
Which leads to the final stage where with both of them exhausted and out of options they start using their biggest weapons……..gravity!
Both start using the area around them with gordon using his gravity gun and isaac his kinesis as they throw projectiles at the other person gravely injuring each other in the process as they find the final projectile each uses there weapon however a tug of war ensures as they try desperately to hold on against the other. There are 2 ways this ends either 1 gordon wins the tug of war as he launches it against isaac impaling him as he looks up at gordon who beats him with a crowbar ie hunt down the freeman style while if isaac wins he launches the kinesis at gordon impaling him as he looks up at isaac who stomps on him ie what he does in the games
I hope this short visualisation helps show how their arsenals can bounce off of each other and better yet you even have more shit both can use against the other that i didn't such as isaacs stasis and gordons tau cannon.
SECTION 3: DEBATE
Surprisingly this matchup is very debatable with both having advantages and disadvantages against the other such as gordon having the advantage of having multiple ways to bypass isaacs armour and being able to hard counter with his gravity gun however he has less diversity in terms of abilities and is far weaker and less durable than isaac and isaac having the advantage of having a bigger and more versatile arsenal then gordon and being much stronger and more durable in general compared to him however he is less skilled and agile compared to gordon and gordon's HEV suits shield has the better defensive options
Like before i hope this short description helped give you the idea on the debate and if you want to know more then i would heavily suggest checking out this blog which describes it in much better detail than i could
https://www.reddit.com/DeathBattleMatchups/comments/1czug0g4_death_battle_fan_blogspredictions_gordon/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
SECTION 4: MUSIC POTENTIAL
While both half life and dead space are different in terms of music you still have ways to make the music potential work as shown with these 2 here
https://youtu.be/z3qEUkrJ6lE?si=rBlqoay7YX7zHVdo
https://youtu.be/Nz6_Zprm9AI?si=zVXvEtn1WW-3D58d
Having the music start with a slow atmospheric beginning reminisce of the dead space games https://youtu.be/Q2suSUMgROY?si=nHMo4zmg0Wwo5LHd but as it goes on it slowly turns to a more action heavy soundtrack akin to the half life https://youtu.be/7eXuoJD0cTc?si=R1YMMoRmgkovOc-F
An even better example is the commissioned track made by Brandon himself!
https://youtu.be/DX48ImC1lXY?si=QKnAY4XF4X5fHYJV
The track starts off slow but more tension builds up as it goes on until in 2:05 where it becomes action heavy until it goes goes back to the tension before hand as it builds up with big thuds until the final thud where the track ends
As said before hand i hope i helped explain how both dead space and half life music can work for a good escalation of a track and please do check out marked for life and give it a listen
SECTION 5: INTERACTION POTENTIAL
Now this is sort of a weakness of the matchup as Gordon doesn't talk however there are ways to make this work through other methods
Such as using Gordon's facial expressions to visualise what he feels/says without saying a word as his actions speak louder than his words both in the story and in the game. you can easily make this work with his models and especially his newer one from half life alyx
With Isaac he does talk however you can also use body language to also visualise what he feels/says without saying a word this should be very easy to do and you can also use facial expressions thanks to his newer model from the dead space 1 remake!
So overall while interaction potential is a bit iffy you can certainly make it work through other methods which wouldn't be out of character for either to use
SECTION 6: CLOSING/FINAL THOUGHTS
For a legacy match up that's over 10 years old (no seriously the matchups first ever mention was all the way back in fucking 2012 https://www.reddit.com/DeathBattleMatchups/comments/1c2oljw/the_first_ever_mention_of_gordon_freeman_vs_isaac/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button like goddamn)
It actually holds up surprisingly well with good connections and fight dynamic to back it up showing how it managed to hold the test of time
To sum up what I said, the connections show the similarities of both characters as ordinary men thrusted into terrifying situations which changed them both. a fight dynamic showing how both of them can bounce off of each other. A debate showing both of their advantages and disadvantages and the win cons. The music potential of both series and how it can mix well together. And finally interaction potential which while a weak point is definitely salvageable and can work if we use other methods.
So overall I wanted to continue and finish this post since I really like this match up and I think it deserves more love and again HUGE thank you to Nevin who wrote the connections for this mu and allowed me to make the rest of it and anyways thank you for anyone who read to this point and hopefully it will become an amazing episode.....if that ever comes out that is.