What is the Enneagram? Notes from Richard Rohr
Ancient typology that describes nine different characters. And like other typologies, or personality tests, it shares the crude reduction of human behavior to a limited number of character types.
HISTORY: Jung (1875–1961) started from the assumption that there are 3 pairs of functions that are expressed differently in each person: extroverted-introverted; sensate-intuitive; thinking-feeling. Then Isabel Briggs Myers discovered the fourth pair of functions (judging-perceiving: the inclination to quick, clear judgments and decisions as opposed to receptivity to many influences and kinds of information). Then, later on, People like Karen Horney, Fritz Riemann, and others developed other typologies that addressed categories of human fears. The Enneagram leans towards identifying our fears and insecurities that are closely latched onto the bottom roots of our greatest strengths and qualities.
All typologies have the disadvantage of necessarily neglecting the uniqueness, originality, and peculiar nature of the individual. There is no overlooking the danger of forcing oneself and others, for example, into the pigeonhole of a specific “sign” and in that way freezing the individual in place once and for all. The discovery of regular patterns in human behavior has meaning only when at the same time the possibility of change and liberation from the pressure of determinacy comes into view. This possibility, I believe, is opened up by the Enneagram.
The personality types are only the beginning, and the true usefulness of the Enneagram comes way after you learn your NUMBER.
The Enneagram is more than an entertaining game for learning about oneself. It is concerned with change and making a turnaround with what the religious traditions call conversion or repentance. It confronts us with compulsions and laws under which we live — usually without being aware of it — and it aims to invite us to go beyond them, to take steps into the domain of freedom.
WHY?
Because at the heart of the Enneagram is transformation. The goal is to not become the number but to wield it to become our true self.
Where do we start?
The blind alleys into which we stumble in our attempt to protect our life from internal and external threats. In other words, survival.
The external world meets the child first of all in the form of parents and siblings, and later though comrades, teachers, the values and norms of one’s group and religion, and whatever the general situation of society may be.
Many different factors come together, stamp our inner life, and solidify into VOICES.
These voices are complex, short, and pregnant. They accompany us — often whispering throughout our lives — and have a tremendous influence.
“Always be nice and say thank you!”
“Boys don’t cry.”
“Never let them see you sweat.”
Emotions are good, emotions are bad.
We take these VOICES and we frame it within this statement:
“I am good, if I… protect, avoid, overcome, beat, achieve, take”
The Enneagram says, “In your life, you were bombarded and threatened both internally and externally. So, in order to survive, you did you two things: first, you created a false-self and gave it dominion over yourself. And secondly, you buried this truth from yourself.
As we mature, we integrate many of these voices and internalize their implications and ideals.
We listen to VOICES
Those voices create IDEALS
When those ideals do not arrive or are not fulfilled, we go into SURVIVAL mode
SURVIVAL mode creates shame, guilt, self-centeredness.
TRUE MISCONDUCT:
Our true “sins” are in fact the other side of our gift. They are the way we get our energy. They “work” for us. The Enneagram uncovers this false energy and enables us to look at our real dilemma in the eye.
Why in our encounter with life do we human beings so often keep running up against ourselves instead of making a breakthrough to God, to the Totally Other?In our present-day egocentric society we are especially inclined to remain stuck in our own thoughts or feelings. For this reason God today is for many Westerners unless they have dismissed God completely, nothing more than a projected image of themselves.The Enneagram can help us to purify our self-perception, to become unsparingly honest toward ourselves, and to discern better and better when we are hearing only our own inner voices and impressions and are prisoners of our prejudices.
In our present-day egocentric society we are especially inclined to remain stuck in our own thoughts or feelings. For this reason God today is for many Westerners unless they have dismissed God completely, nothing more than a projected image of themselves.
The Enneagram can help us to purify our self-perception, to become unsparingly honest toward ourselves, and to discern better and better when we are hearing only our own inner voices and impressions and are prisoners of our prejudices.