Note: The messages during the next two weeks will be longer than usual to allow a thorough (though still brief!) overview of the Enneagram. To explore this theme in more depth, see the resources listed following each meditation. Everything I am writing here, including the description of each Enneagram number, is a broad generalization using different common traits. The important thing is to get to the energy behind the traits. Not every trait will apply to each person, so forgive the generalizations you will read throughout this series.
The Enneagram is a very ancient tool (recognized by some members of all three monotheistic religions) whose Christian origins can be traced to the Desert Fathers and Mothers of the fourth century. I first learned it in 1973 when it was taught to me by my spiritual director, Jesuit Fr. Jim OBrien. The Enneagram is used for the discernment of spirits, to help us recognize our False Self, and to lead us to encounter our True Self in God. The Enneagram was originally intended to help spiritual directors train and refine the gift of reading energies, or "the reading of souls," and support the transforming of people into who they are in God. By forcing us to face our own darkness, the Enneagram leads us to address that same darkness as it shows itself in culture, oppression, injustice, and human degradation.
No one willingly does evil. Each of us has put together a construct by which we explain why what we do is necessary and good. That is why it is so important to "discern the spirits" (1 Corinthians 12:10). We need support in unmasking our False Self and distancing ourselves from our illusions. With the self - knowledge that the Enneagram gives us, we are not dealing only with the acknowledgement of sin. (Note: In the Enneagram tradition, "sin" is simply that which doesnt work, i.e. self - defeating behavior.) We are also letting go of what only seems good in order to discover what in us is really good: our soul, our True Self.
We overcome our evil not by a frontal and heroic attack, but by recognizing it, naming it, and letting it go. The Enneagram works by insight. Once we see our False Self for what it is, we are no longer attached to it, and it no longer blocks us from realizing our inherent union with God. The Enneagram helps us see our own compulsive blindness and how we are acting at cross - purposes with our best interest. Realizing that, we can eventually flow with our gift and integrate our sin, our shadow, our failure, the "stone" which we rejected. We finally see that I am what I am, good and bad put together into one self; and Gods mercy is so great and God's love is so total that God uses even my sin in my favor! God is using all of me to bring me to God. That is the Good News!
The purpose of the Enneagram is not self - improvement, which would be our egos goal. Rather, it is the transformation of consciousness so that we can realize our essence, our True Self. Personality development and character building will happen on the side as a corollary, but this is not its primary goal. The primary goal of any spiritual tool is union with God/Truth, and then we get united with ourselves in the process!
The Enneagram reveals that we are often destroyed by our gift! We overidentify with our strengths and they become their own set of blinders. This allows real misperception, and allows our own "root sin" to remain mostly hidden from us. We cannot see the air we are breathing all the time. Our "sins" are the other side of our gift. They are, in fact, the way we get our energy. They "work" for us (at least we think they do). The Enneagram uncovers this false energy source for us and enables us to look our real dilemma in the eye. It confronts us with the compulsions and laws under which we live — usually without awareness — and it invites us to go beyond them and take steps into a real domain of freedom—freedom from our foundational addiction to our self.
People who know the Enneagram in a superficial way, or who are just beginning to work with it, may think it puts people into boxes. But in fact, one of the great graces is that they find themselves coming out of their own self - created box because they recognize their box is far too limiting. Also, as they continue to work with the Enneagram, they will see its brilliance and that there is always another level of discovery - and then another level that comes as a surprise and usually a humiliation too. That tells them they are in the realm of soul and mystery, if mystery means something that is eternally knowable and soul is their very connection to God.
The Enneagram, like the Spirit of Truth itself, will always set us free, but first it will make us miserable! Working with the Enneagram is intentionally humiliating. We need to feel, acknowledge, and see how exaggerated, excessive, and absurd our false energy source really is. If we own and take responsibility for our darkness, if we feel how it has wounded us and others, how it has allowed us not to love and not to be loved—if we do that, I promise that we will become alert to the other side, to our greater gifts, and even the actual depth of our gift. Our gift is amazingly our sin sublimated and transformed by grace. What a surprise this is for most people!
Overview of Enneagram Triads and Types Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Enneagram defines its nine human types on the basis of nine "traps," "passions," or "sins." These sins can be understood as emergency solutions that were used in early childhood development as a way of coming to terms with ones environment. They were necessary for survival. But the older we get, the more clearly they reveal themselves as much of our problem. We are addicted to one early set of glasses and also blinders!
The nine sins of the Enneagram eventually were reduced by Pope Gregory the Great to the "seven deadly sins": pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, lust, and lack of moderation (or gluttony) — plus the two "sins" of deceit and fear. It is worth noting that we in the Western tradition have never unmasked and named these last two as sins as such, even though the Bible says, "Do not be afraid" 365 times, I am told. Yet they are the most pervasive sins of our society, which are all the more dangerous because we dont see them.
The nine Enneagram types are arranged clockwise on the circumference of a circle for teaching purposes. They are then clustered together in three groups of three, or triads.
The Eight, Nine, and One are called the gut people. Their center of gravity lies in the belly, where the "raw material" of their existence is located. They often experience life as too much, somewhat like a full body blow to which they develop a characteristic defense: Eights hit back, Nines back off, and Ones try to fix it.
Two, Three, and Four are the heart people, or the social types. Although this is considered the feeling triad, they actually have no direct access to their own feelings. They experience themselves in reaction to the feelings of others! They unceasingly develop activities to secure the devotion or attention of others. Twos pose as lovable and helpful, Threes play whatever role "goes over" best publicly, and Fours put in an appearance as someone special and authentic (to themselves).
Five, Six, and Seven are the head people, or the self - preserving types. They are all plagued by fear and anxiety, which they cope with differently. Fives try to master it by gaining more and correct knowledge. Phobic Sixes link up with an authority or group for security. Counter - phobic Sixes may take foolish risks or make pre - emptive strikes to overcome their fears. Sevens deny and avoid pain and create fun and fantasy. All three are clever ways of largely living in your head.
While we do have a little of each type inside us, we all have one preferred stance, one Enneagram type, which we cannot change entirely, but which we can move toward redemption, transformation, the True Self. The Wing Theory illustrates that each type is balanced by developing the numbers on either side of it. For instance, the Four is balanced by developing both their Three and Five "wings."
The Arrow Theory helps us know what maturity might look like and warns us if we are not doing well. The Direction of Integration is where the ray leaving your number is pointing (see the diagram above). Thus, when the Five is doing well, they resemble a healthy Eight and apply their solid research to bringing peace and justice to the world. The Direction of Disintegration would be found on this diagram by reversing the line which is pointing to your number. When the Five, for example, is not doing well, they take on the characteristics of an immature Seven and develop abstruse theories about everything.
The Soul Child Theory fits hand in glove with the Arrow Theory because the number we resemble when integrated is the same as our original or Soul Child number. In other words, as we mature, we return to our primal knowing of who we really are, i.e. our True Self. Thus, our "original sin" could be viewed as our particular Enneagram compulsion. It is the way we originally separated from our Truth.
The whole Enneagram diagram is called "the face of God." If you could look out at reality from nine pairs of eyes and honor all of them, you would look at reality through the eyes of God — eyes filled with compassion for yourself and everyone else!
(Throughout the remainder of this week and all of next week we will look at each of the nine numbers more closely. Although the best way to learn this oral tradition is listening to a true teacher or spiritual director or audio teaching—so you can pick up the precise "energy" of your type—I hope this brief introduction will inspire you to go further with the Enneagram. Additional resources, including a list of tests, are available from the International Enneagram Association.)
I like to start by describing the One, because it is my Enneagram number; and if youll allow me to first make fun of myself, then hopefully you'll allow me to do it with your number later.
The One is the reformist compulsion of the gut triad. Ones need to be perfect, and for a One this means feeling that they are right and good. Ones are idealists, motivated and driven by the longing for a true, just, and moral world. Somewhere in their childhood, they experienced the world as beautiful and perfect. And its no wonder, because their "Soul Child," or original dream of life, is the joyful Seven. I remember moments that were so wonderful, so serene, so whole, with no need to eliminate anything. (Did you notice my happy, smiling seven - year - old self on the banner?) God was in it and I was in it and life all made sense. Then somewhere later on I realized, "Darn it, it isn't a perfect world!" So I moved to the impossible conviction: "I'm going to find a way to make it perfect." And that became my entrapped Enneagram One position. It's the original, positive soul experience that all the types are trying to recreate, but their new agenda becomes an entrapped "false self."
Ones are often good teachers and reformers. They can spur others to work and mature and grow. The demanding, critical voices within them make it hard for Ones to live with imperfection — especially their own. "Anger" is their root sin, although they seldom get directly angry. It is more a low - level resentment because the world is not the way they know it should be! They repress their anger because they see it as something imperfect in themselves. At the same time, it energizes them to work really hard for their ideals and principles. Talk about an inner conflict! Ones are driven toward righteousness, arrogance, and perfectionism. They unfortunately believe in meritocracy: you get what you deserve, so youd better be good and work hard. There is no free lunch! That is why the concept of grace is so foundationally important for me; it alone breaks down all this silly merit - badge thinking.
In order to discover their gift, which is cheerful tranquility or serenity, Ones must first realize that they are not that good. They may have to "sin boldly" to see this, or at least recognize that every good thing they have ever done has also involved self - interest. Then they can experience unearned grace, which finally allows them to be at peace and happy... even with imperfection.
Twos repress consciousness of their own needs and pretend they dont have any needs at all. "My only need is to meet your need." But be forewarned: finally, one day they realize, "No one's giving back to me!" Then they get into the blame game and can become downright cruel. It's almost the flip side of what they want themselves to be. But it can also be the beginning of their conversion into who they really are.
If they allow grace, Twos may cry for days as they realize their hidden self-interest... that all along they have been giving in order to get something back. Such humiliation leads to their emerging virtue, which is humility. I think we see it in Pope Francis.
A mature, healthy Enneagram Two returns to being the genuinely loving and beloved person that they once knew themselves to be. They have found their identity as the Love they already are, and they are now able to love themselves and others with Gods love. They no longer need to be continually reinforced from the outside.
The Three is the pure compulsion of the heart space, because even their wings (Two and Four) are heart based. Threes are the most disconnected from their own feelings and the most in tune to the feelings of a group or audience. The very young Three knew, like a healthy Six, that all things are passing and their only real security is in God. But gradually, through the encouragement of others for their many natural talents and good looks, and the praise of others for their accomplishments and wins, reliance on God is replaced by reliance on their own competence and effectiveness.
Threes have a strong need to succeed, and they often do. Their self - esteem comes from competence in the outer world. They thrive on praise, recognition, and admiration. They can play whatever role any group expects of them. Their root sin is "deceit" (embroidering the truth so it will sell!), and first of all they deceive themselves. They are so wrapped up detecting the feelings of others in order to embody the expectations and values of whatever group they are in, that they are totally out of touch with their own true motivations and needs for affirmation.
Threes create a superficial image that looks good, can be sold, and will win. Most Threes seem optimistic, youthful, intelligent, dynamic, efficient, and highly productive. But often there is a terrible, deep fear in Threes that they would not be loved if they were not successful.
Threes find their way to their virtue of truthfulness only when they take the painful path of self - knowledge and look their life - lies in the face. Their conversion is often precipitated by a major failure. Their "fall from grace" in others eyes is actually a letting go into God's grace and unconditional love. They return to their Soul Child and find their true identity and strength grounded in the Lord (Isaiah 40:31) like a healthy Six would do. Mature Threes are able to use their tremendous gifts and energy to help other people competently and effectively, and to motivate them to discover their own potential. Much would not happen in the world if we did not have Threes. America is an Enneagram Three country, and many of our recent presidents and nominees for the presidency are Threes. They fit into the American self - image of "can do," and they look good while doing it.
Remember: The Enneagram (Part 1)
The Enneagram helps us let go of what only seems good in order to discover what in us is really good: our soul, our True Self. (Sunday)
Our gift is amazingly our sin sublimated and transformed by grace. (Monday) The whole Enneagram diagram is called "the face of God." If you could look out at reality from nine pairs of eyes and honor all of them, you would look at reality through the compassionate eyes of God. (Tuesday) In order to discover their gift, which is cheerful tranquility or serenity, Ones must first realize that they are not that good. (Wednesday)
"Others must and will love me!" Twos demand, instead of resting in the love that they already are. (Thursday)
Threes find their way to their virtue of truthfulness only when they take the painful path of self - knowledge and look their life - lies in the face. (Friday)
Everything I am writing here, including the description of each Enneagram number, is a broad generalization using different common traits. The important thing is to get to the energy behind the traits. Not every trait will apply to each person, so forgive the generalizations you will read throughout this series.
Four is the conflicted number of the heart triad (Two, Three, and Four). Their Soul Child is the One. They try desperately to create an outer world of beauty and symmetry because they originally knew themselves to be an essential part of a perfect and whole world (Ones have the need to be perfect). Perhaps due to painful experiences of loss in childhood, the life of Fours is shaped by longing. They look forward to the day when the great love will come (back), and they are convinced this great love will redeem them.
Fours may blame themselves for experiencing rejection or privation, and so they consider themselves "bad." Fours trapped in themselves may repeatedly produce situations in which they are rejected or abandoned. Fours have to be depressed or suffer from time to time in order to be happy. The greater the pain and depression, the more creative Fours can become.
The root sin of Fours is envy. They immediately see who has more style, class, taste, or talent than they. Inside a Four is a child struggling with feelings of inferiority: "I dont deserve to be loved. I need to make an impression so that I'm not overlooked and abandoned again." Fours strive to be aesthetically attractive, to be exceptional, to be creative, or to appear eccentric. They long to be authentic, but seldom allow themselves to fully enjoy it when it happens. "I will be special" is the mantra of the Four. Their whole life is a search for authenticity. Children, nature, and everything that radiates originality awaken in them the longing for simplicity and naturalness that they lost at some point.
Fours have lived through all the emotional spaces and experiences from agony to ecstasy. They know all the nuances of feeling and understand the human soul better than anyone else. A purified Four can deal sensitively with real life—and not just with imaginary dramas. Working for peace and justice is good for Fours. In this they have to deal with the dirt of the world, which cannot be aesthetically transfigured. Such social commitment also helps them return to their One Soul Child.
Fours put their gifts to work to awaken a sense of beauty and harmony in their surroundings. They are highly sensitive and almost always artistically gifted. They are capable of transforming the negative and experiences of loss into something beautiful and universally valid, be it a poem, a song, a work of art, or an action of civil disobedience.
The gift of redeemed Fours is equanimity or emotional balance. If they can admit that they live in God and God in them, their soul will come to the deep authenticity and balance that they have longed for. They will finally know their True Self.
The Five appears to be the headiest of all the head types (Five, Six, and Seven). Their primal experience as an Eight Soul Child was of the absolute order of God and the genius of controlling all the parts in one working universe. Fives go inside the mind to find the power that they were denied, or denied themselves, in the external world.
The sin of the Five is avarice (or greed), and they are avaricious for knowledge, thoughts, ideas, silence, and space. To them, knowledge is power and they can never know enough to fill the emptiness they feel inside. Fives always need yet another course, another book, another silent retreat. They are always observing, often from a safe back corner. Fives spend most of their lives behind a one - way mirror through which they can look out, but wont let you look back at them.
Fives try not to be drawn into the whirlpool of feelings and events but instead develop their own kind of "objectivity." Its important to them to remain calm—at least externally—and to keep their emotions under control. In reality, most Fives have an intense emotional life. But at the moment something happens, it's as if their emotions are blocked and always come limping behind. At first Fives register something with eyes, ears, and brain; they can stand alongside the event with seeming objectivity. As soon as they are alone, they begin to evaluate it, once again from the head. That's how they gradually get in touch with their emotions, if they do at all.
Detachment can be seen as the virtue of the Five. Fives can be outstanding listeners and counselors. Their ability to withdraw themselves emotionally can help those seeking advice to appraise their own situation more clearly. But detachment can also be seen as the Fives greatest weakness. Among the life tasks of Fives is learning commitment and action. Fives have to fall in love passionately. "Learning to love" is one of their great challenges because it crashes up against their wish for distance. Fives who won't allow themselves to "lose their heads" in love are incomplete. Without it, they remain emotionally stingy all of their lives.
Meditation and prayer are for Fives crucially important sources of power. Fives need to cultivate their inner world in order to find the courage to devote themselves to the outer world. The latter becomes possible only when the inner world is experienced as less threatening, when Fives have found repose and security in God and hence in themselves. Meditating on the Incarnation, that is, the commitment and passion of Christ, his readiness to get his hands dirty and heal human beings by touching them, can reconnect the Five with their Soul Child, the Eight.
Redeemed Fives link their knowledge to a search for wisdom and strive for a sympathetic knowledge of the heart. They have a quiet inner power and are tenderly emotional, loving, polite, hospitable, and gentle — while also protecting strong personal boundaries.
Six is the central stress point of the head triad. Their Soul Child was the Nine; their primal knowing was true and perfect presence. But somehow the world became a scary place for Sixes. They once held an image of an utterly reconciled and peaceful world, a benevolent universe; but instead of trusting it from Another, they try to manufacture it themselves by laws, authority, and structures of certitude. The root sin of the Six is fear, a sort of primal anxiety. Their core need is for security.
Todays ever - changing world seems to be producing more and more Sixes, as evidenced by the rise of fundamentalism in all three monotheistic religions. Growing up in a world where everything is in flux and there is little stability, the psyche needs something solid, authoritative, certain, and clear. Joining with "infallible" or fundamentalist groups can give Sixes the illusion of security.
There are two types of Sixes: phobic and counter - phobic. Most Sixes are phobic. To overcome their fear, these Sixes align themselves with a strong leader, institution, or government. They need an outer authority to protect them and tell them what to do because they constantly doubt themselves. Phobic Sixes are naturally humble, teachable, reliable, and loyal. Once they decide to trust you, youve got a friend for life—even when others turn against you. Phobic Sixes are by nature careful, hesitant, and mistrustful. They have a hard time trusting themselves and their "instinct." They continually sense danger. In their most immature forms, they are victims of paranoia. Every new situation is so threatening for them that the memory of earlier victories is useless.
Counter - phobic Sixes are a different breed altogether. They may seek out risky situations because they prefer taking the bull by the horns to continually torturing themselves with their anxieties. They disguise the fear that is the actual driving force of their actions and compensate for it with a put - on hardness, strength, and daredevil behavior. The counter - phobic Six is a classic scapegoater. To control their constant anxiety, they focus the danger and evil in one particular race, nation, religion, or gender.
Phobic Sixes are also prone to scapegoating because their primary defense mechanism is projection. The pessimism and mistrust that they harbor against themselves leads to imagining their own negative motives present in others as well; they project hostility, hatred, and negative thoughts onto other people. Instead of facing their own darkness, they see it, attack it, and kill it "over there." The Enneagrams teachings could have far reaching political implications if it can expose the demonic power of fear (and of the root sins of all the other types as well).
The quickest conversion experience for the Six is an authentic God experience. (Actually, the same is true for all nine Enneagram types.) The experience of unconditional love is the one thing that, in the long run, can be stronger than fear: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). Perhaps the tragedy that Sixes have feared may be just what they need—so that they fall into the hands of the Living God and know very practically that God is always holding them, believing in them, and loving them—from within!
Now the Six can move from relying on outer authority to knowing and trusting their Inner Authority. They move from needing certitude and answers to having faith, which demands not knowing and not being certain, but rather being able to hold some anxiety and ambiguity. They have returned to the Ground of their Being and to their primal knowing: It is all okay already! "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). Hence, the virtue of the Six is courage. Redeemed Sixes know how to combine holding on to sound traditions with the readiness to take new paths.
Rest: Heart Attention
Evagrius Ponticus, the Syrian deacon (d. 399) who first wrote about eight of the sins that eventually became the Enneagram, saw them as ways in which our heart - presence is "suffocated." Enneagram teacher G. I. Gurdjieff (1866 - 1949) saw each type as a way of "self - forgetting," how we turn away from True Self. My fellow teacher in the Living School, Robert Sardello, offers a simple practice for attending to heart, which helps us remember True Self and return to full presence and authentic life.
"First, we learn to enter the heart. It is best to initiate this learning when calmness rules. Then, with practice—sometimes taking years to develop, sometimes occurring right away—we can find our way into heart - presence even in the midst of greatest turbulence. It is simple. We enter the Silence by simply going to a quiet place and sitting, eyes closed, until we feel the embrace of the Silence. It is an 'inner region, one to which we have to yield in order to experience. The practice of Silence is also ongoing, nothing to be mastered, for She is endless.
"When we have, at least, entered the Silence, we place our attention at the center of the heart. Heart - attention differs, radically, from thinking about the heart. Try this: look at your foot and pay attention to your foot; it appears to be 'over there; you are really thinking about your foot. Then, instead, place your attention within your foot. Notice that this is suddenly something like, 'Hmmm, the whole world now unfolds from this place of my foot.' Wherever attention is, there you are.
"What is heart interiority? Become a researcher into your own heart. Just observe, notice, sense the qualities. It is as if you are within a vast, spherical space. Within this space, you cannot find a boundary, an ending. The feeling is one of intimate infinity and infinite intimacy, both at once. There is warmth, all warmth. You feel encompassed, held, embraced; you find that you are within heart rather than heart being 'inside you. It is deep, and when there, you do not want to leave. . . .
"When we find, say, that we have fallen into anger, or any of the other transgressions, particularly when we struggle, over and over, with the recurring occurrence, we approach courage by going into Silence and then entering the heart. From within the center of the heart, the place of inviolability, the 'not I but Christ in me (Galatians 2:20) feels the heart's ardor, that is the strong, strong, strong love of the heart. When that warmth is felt, we can let it resonate through the body until perfect calm comes. We feel the inherent, always present, blessing return. It never went away; we went away from it."
Adapted from "Transgression and the Return of the Mystical Heart" by Robert Sardello, in Oneing, "Transgression", Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 80 - 81
Gateway to Silence: I want to see all—my sin and my gift.
Sevens once lived in a world of "enoughness," an inner world of satisfaction and essence like the Fives. Sevens usually admit to an early kind of fantasy world where all was explained and had meaning and grounding. When this security was threatened, perhaps by traumatic childhood experiences, they decided on a one - sided response: "I will make it all positive and no negative." They once knew God as total foundation and reality as utterly satisfying, but now they insist on enjoying it in an incomplete way. They will not accept that Gods character includes and incorporates the negative.
The need in the Seven is to avoid pain. They are masters of denial: "I will not admit, own, or participate in the dark side of anything. I will keep smiling, and I will make the best of it." Sevens radiate joy and optimism. The Seven is the "eternal child." But the merriment of the unredeemed Seven is the result of their fear of facing pain and a tool of their instinct for self - preservation. Sevens love infinite horizons and keeping their options open. They unconsciously avoid committing themselves too deeply to someone or something, because in depth, they always see pain lurking. Besides, in commitment, their own limits might become visible—and that too would be painful.
Sevens love adventures and travel, because here and now is always boring, painful, and insufficient. Unfortunately, when they get there, its always a disappointment, too. So they have to up the ante and plan something even more exciting. But none of it truly makes them happy down deep. So they may move toward addiction. Their root sin is gluttony; their motto is, "More is always better!"
The beginning of conversion for the Seven may be something dark or painful that they initially refuse to deal with. Usually, it means the facing of pain that they cannot avoid, such as the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or the failure of health. Then they may finally recognize that much of their life has been characterized by running from pain. At that point they begin to grow up. Like St. Francis, who was a Seven, they actually learn to dive right into it instead of running from it.
The invitation to Sevens is cooperation with God. Unredeemed Sevens think that they are the fashioners of their own happiness, and so they continually plan new ways of optimizing their lives. When they cooperate with God, they confront the reality of the world, which is always a combination of joy and pain, and they accept both sides of life. They go Gods way, which leads through death to resurrection. They are capable of bringing joy and hope where grief reigns. It is the step from idealism to a wide - awake realism.
The gift of redeemed Sevens is sober and deeply grounded joy in the face of and despite all the difficulties of life. Healthy Sevens find a deep self - acceptance when they discover they are accepted by God and by significant others, not only for their radiant side, but for their entire being.
The Eight belongs to the gut triad. Their Soul Child is needy and vulnerable—a little Two. The Eights primal knowing was that God was warmth, food, protection, empathy, relationship, and total understanding of how needy we all are. Early on they discovered that the strong rule and the weak are repressed, so they decided to be strong and powerful, taking on God's work themselves and trying to protect the vulnerable and defenseless.
Immature Eights deny their own inner vulnerability. "I will never cry. I will make others cry," they say. They are perceived as the most negative type and can be cruel, rude, and unkind. But dont be put off by that; just remember there's a vulnerable, tender little child inside of all that bluster. Eights are so much softer and kinder than they appear! They have a passion for the poor, the weak, and the oppressed, and like Mother Teresa, a mature Eight, take on the best qualities of their Soul Child, the Two.
The core need of the Eight is the need to be against. Eights oppose you and like it when you fight back. This is their indirect form of intimacy. They think that because they like a good fight, you would, too. The aggression of Eights comes from the gut and is directed against everything they perceive as hypocrisy and injustice. Revenge and retaliation are how immature Eights try to get the scales of justice back in balance. For them, "Whoever isnt for me is against me," and the world is divided into friend and foe. The worldwide phenomenon of terrorism comes out of the energy of "retaliative justice," or vengeance, which is often the way of the immature Eight.
It is very important for an Eight to look powerful and to be in control. They have a hard time admitting mistakes, because that could look like weakness. Because Eights know their own strengths and immediately see the weaknesses of others, they elevate themselves above other people. When youre really poor, helpless, and weak, the Eight's protective instinct is aroused, and they will do anything to assist you. But as soon as you express in any way that you have power, Eights will prove that they have more power than you. You will seldom win a dispute with an Eight.
The root sin of the Eight is lust, but closer to the German word lust, which really means passion. Only the encounter with truth can set them free. Eights, who demand honesty from the people around them and who immediately unmask dishonest behavior, must learn to demand this of themselves as well. They must recognize and acknowledge the innocent, vulnerable, and distressed child in their own soul.
A redeemed Eight, who has accepted his or her own weakness, will find that the positive side of lust is the gift of passion, passion in the double sense of a powerful love of life and the readiness to suffer for justice. Redeemed Eights, like Martin Luther King, Jr., can be larger than life and can protect others with their power and vitality instead of dominating them. More than any other type, well - developed Eights have the gift of leading other people to their real potential. They are "tiger mothers" and "tiger fathers" for those in need.
The Nines once knew that it was all about love and everything was connected, operative, and effective. Their Soul Child had the optimism and motivation of the Three—that all could be worked out and fixed because God is Love. It is an effective and workable universe. When it appears this isnt true, they give up; they stop trying to find any other pattern. "If love does not work, then it is basically an incoherent universe and I want out, or at least I refuse to cooperate."
Nines are in the center of the gut triad. Their response to the shock wave of perception is "Everything is just too much. Im not going to feel it. I'm just checking out." Their sin is called sloth or laziness, but it's a description of their lack of focused energy. They spend their life taking the path of least resistance. They love to procrastinate and constantly need a fire lit under them. Nines like to go with the flow.
They often consider themselves simple and uncomplicated and present themselves accordingly. This makes dealing with Nines easy. Nines are honest; they have no hidden motives. Nines are very humble. They like to stay in the background and cultivate the self - image of not being anything special. Because Nines dont take themselves so seriously or demand attention, they are often overlooked by others—which does hurt them, although they seldom admit it.
Almost everything that approaches Nines from the outside world is exhausting and draining. They spend their energy avoiding or deadening inner and outer conflicts and suppressing strong feelings. When they get to the point where they can no longer move at all, they absolutely need outside help in the form of love and attention. It works wonders for them, but it is only a start. The life task of Nines consists in discovering and developing their feelings of self - worth and their own inner drive in order to become independent of continual outside impulses.
Nines are natural peacemakers. Precisely because they themselves often have no clear standpoint, they are capable of shifting to and accepting any standpoint whatsoever. They can understand both sides and bring them together under one umbrella. Nines somehow harmonize all the conflicting energies present at a meeting. Perhaps its because their ego is not in the way. Perhaps it's the peace of their body, refusing to be bothered by it all. Nonviolent resistance comes naturally to a Nine.
Unlike the energy - laden high tension of their Eight and One wings that bristle with passion and commitment to justice and a better world, Nines are gentle prophets. Their peaceful radiance is disarming. They can work very effectively precisely because they are indirect. Ones and Eights frighten others away; people feel threatened by them. Nines, by contrast, awaken trust so people are much more willing to work with them.
The conversion of the Nine comes when they are taken seriously and placed inside a structure where they can see they are able to get things done—and that others love them and believe in them, as does God. Their gift, as always, is the opposite of their sin. It is decisive action like that of a healthy Three. They know they must take their small and honest place in a very big plan. Then they can confidently do their part because they trust that they are being used in spite of themselves, as we all are.
Remember: The Enneagram (Part 2)
The gift of redeemed Fours is equanimity or emotional balance. (Sunday)
Redeemed Fives link their knowledge to a search for wisdom and strive for a sympathetic knowledge of the heart. (Monday)
Redeemed Sixes know how to combine holding on to sound traditions with the readiness to take new paths. (Tuesday)
The gift of the redeemed Seven is sober and deeply grounded joy in the face of and despite all the difficulties of life. (Wednesday)
More than any other type, well - developed Eights have the gift of leading other people to their real potential. (Thursday)
The gift of the Nine is decisive action. They know they must take their small and honest place in a very big plan. (Friday)
Rest: Child's Pose
All conversion is turning around and knowing something that we deeply know (our True Self, or as the Enneagram calls it, our Soul Child) and yet deeply resist knowing. The mystery of Gods revelation is hidden inside, and in each of us in a different, unique way (at least nine general God images). Jesus became the Human One who believed the divine image in himself, who trusted it, followed it, and told us to do the same. "We do not recognize ourselves, just as we did not recognize him" (1 John 3:1). The Enneagram is given so that we might see, and, as T. S. Eliot said, "know the place for the first time," which is our truest and deepest Self, the Self that always was but seldom is.
In yoga, childs pose is often used as a restful pause between more challenging poses. Perhaps something in the past two weeks of Enneagram study has challenged you—witnessing the difficult and humbling reality of your "sin" and neediness. I encourage you to go deeper in learning your Enneagram number. But for now, take a pause and remember your Soul Child's innocence, security, joy, and vulnerability.
You might choose to literally kneel and bend into childs pose (for heart and head people, a body prayer can be especially helpful in reconnecting with physical self). Or you might repeat a mantra that echoes your Soul Child's innate wisdom (words and ideas can ground feelings—both emotions and physical sensations—in truth). You could sit quietly in heart - to - heart communion with God and allow the feeling of original rootedness to flow from your heart to your head and through your whole body.
Rest in the gut - stirring, heart - throbbing, mind - bending reality of your True Self.
Your Inner Destiny Sunday, June 8, 2014
Now that we have run through our quick overview of the Enneagram these past two weeks, lets reconnect this tool with our foundational theme of the True Self and the False Self. Your Enneagram type is your concocted False Self, and yet the mercy of God uses it to bring you to a deep experience of your foundational/metaphysical/unloseable identity as an eternal child of God.
Your True Self is who you are in God and who God is in you. You can never really lose your soul; you can only fail to realize it, which is indeed the greatest of losses—to have it, but not have it (Matthew 16:26). Your essence, your exact "thisness," will never appear again in another incarnation. As Oscar Wilde said, "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." Your True Self and your soul come from the Manufacturer—"hidden inside the box," as the commercials say.
In some ways, the soul and the True Self are interchangeable in the sense of revealing that "eternal" part of you, the part of you that knows the truth. However, I must add that the True Self is probably larger than the soul, because it includes Spirit and embodiment, too. Both reveal to you the immortal diamond that God has planted within you, and they often operate as one.
You (and every other created thing) begin with a divine DNA, an inner destiny as it were, an absolute core that knows the truth about you, a blueprint tucked away in the cellar of your being, an Imago Dei that begs to be allowed, to be fulfilled, and to show itself. "It is the Holy Spirit poured into your heart, and it has been given to you" (Romans 5:5). Your True Self is what makes you, you.