The Enneagram
A brief description of the Enneagram
The Enneagram is a geometric figure that maps out the nine fundamental personality types of human nature and their relationships. It is a development of modern psychology that has roots in spiritual wisdom.
The word Enneagram comes from the Greek for “nine” ennea and “figure” grammos. Thus the Enneagram is a figure with 9 points drawn in a circle, one point for each personality type.
The Enneagram has been synthesized from a number of different philosophical and spiritual beliefs like Buddhism, the Jewish Kabbalah, Islam and Christianity.
The Enneagram figure was introduced to the west by the Armenian Mystic and spiritual teacher Georg Ivanovich Gurdjieff (1872- 1949) who had been traveling extensively and visiting monasteries, and mystic schools aquirering knowledge.
In 1920 in France ,he established a school for spiritual development called The Institute for the Harmonious Development for Man. Here he taught self-awareness in one’s daily life and humanity’s place in the universe.
The Bolivian born philosopher Oscar Ichazo is considered by many to be the modern Father of the Enneagram. He started the Arica institute in 1970 in the United States where one of his students Claudio Naranjo further developed the Enneagram as we know it today.
The model - 9 types, influenced by wings and arrows
The circle in the Enneagram connects the nine types. Because of that each type can be influenced more or less by its neighbors. This is called the type's wings .
Thus a type 1 can have personality traits from type 9, or type 2 etc.
The Enneagram explains the shifts in our personality in situations where we experience increased pressure and uncertainty as well as periods of feeling secure and safe.
When experiencing safety and security we have the strength to “swim against the current” and move against the arrows, hence getting access to the resources from the type where the arrow is coming from. This positive development increases our comfort zone.
Opposite, when we experience situations of prolonged pressure like a difficult relationship, problems at work or emotional problems, we get weakened and don’t have the strength to withstand the current but get swept away downstream and take on some of the characteristics from the type the arrows point to.
In this way the Enneagram model explains to us the shifts we experience when we are under pressure, and when we feel secure.
The personal path of development
Each type has its own path of development.
The Enneagram model describes how each type is driven by a passion, and the more we let this passion drive us, the less we get the results we are really looking for.
So the path for each type is to balance the passion and develop other sides of the personality, letting go of some of the patterns that are most familiar to us.
By doing so, each type experience that they acquire an inner peace and happiness, a feeling of fulfillment and connection to the essence.
Essence
The essence state is when we experience to be 'One with everything around us.
A state where there is no feeling of disconnection or conflict between oneself and the environment. Where we act intuitively and just know what to do. A state without internal dialogue or doubt, a state where our emotions are marked by peace, happiness, and internal harmony.
The essence state is expressed in everyday life when we are engaged with producing or creating something that makes us forget time and place. Or when we experience something really beautiful as a sunset, or the intense experience we sometimes have with another human being where there is no difference between you and me and what we are experiencing together.
Often it is our subconscious goal to recreate this state which we presumably know from the foster state and early childhood. Wrongly we think we can connect to this state by doing what we usually do. But only if we break our old patterns and follow the development path of the Enneagram will we be able to connect to our essence in a prolonged and more permanent way. Life becomes easier, more beautiful.
If you wish to read more, please read a longer description by clicking here.