SOULutions Newsletter, May 2009

Another Tool for Transformation

The Enneagram is one of the most profound transformational tools available to assist us in uncovering our deepest motivations and fears that lie at the core of our ego personality (false self). It’s a psycho-spiritual tool that provides much more than a personality profile. It's a way to transcend to Essence (true self).

The Enneagram is a geometric symbol that maps the nine fundamental personality types of human nature as well as the very complex interrelationships between the various types. Every one is a mix of these fundamental types. One type in particular is your “home base”, or the best description of your overall personality. Knowing your Enneagram type can give you instant awareness of your ego’s core fears and desires and point out a direct path towards Essence.

Each Enneagram type has a core fear, core desire, favorite strategy or vice. It also has a core virtue. The more your ego engages in vice to avoid fear and gain its desire, although providing temporary relief, ultimately it brings a person closer to the fear they try to avoid. The more you determine to be present with your fear and engage your virtue, the closer you come to your core desire.  Your ego tends to choose a quick fix resulting in a protecting or grasping strategy. This is either inflating or deflating and always causes separation. The virtue is always grounded in love and wholeness and therefore, brings an individual closer to their Essence.

Within the nine types, three are more body centered (8, 9 &1), three are more heart centered (2, 3 & 4) and three are more mind centered (5, 6 & 7). What does this mean? Both your greatest strengths as well as your favorite defense strategies originate from your particular center.

Here is a personal example from my life: My ego’s personality type is 7, the Enthusiast, Epicure or Adventurer. My personality center is the mind. Through the mind, when I’m at my best (integrated), I’m able to think quickly, provide insight and ingenuity and offer creative and practical solutions to solve problems. This same mind, when at my worst (un-integrated) I can allow charm to replace substance; allow ideas to distract me from the real work that needs to be done. I let my spontaneity, playfulness and head-in-the-clouds interfere with keeping commitments. It is hard to admit these things, yet, I’ve learned that I either own my “shadow” or my shadow owns me. I most humbly choose the former.

If I can find a way to see my ego’s shadow, accept these tendencies as the ego’s way of attempting to protect me from my pain and vulnerability, I can change. For me as an Enneagram seven, I’ve made the conscious choice to replace my gluttony of the mind with what I call “sacred groundedness”. For me, this is about practicing grounding in present moment awareness with a background sense of the beauty, abundance and preciousness of the life that I’ve been given.

To learn your type, take the sampler test for free.

In Wholeness,
Michael