The Enneagram

The ENNEAGRAM is ancient in origin, modern in its applications and timeless in its accuracy to define the human condition.

There is evidence of the symbol originating in Mesopotamia from about 2500 BC. It was developed by the Sufis and particularly the Sarmouni Brotherhood dating back to approximately 500BC.

It has been passed on until very recently, through an oral tradition. Early this century George Gurdjieff came across it in his studies of eastern mysticism and used it in the personal development of his students.

Oscar Ichazo taught the Enneagon of personality in Bolivia in the 1960's and later went on to teach the system through the Arica Institute in New York. Claudio Naranjo, a Chilean Psychiatrist first mapped modern personality disorders based on the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders on the system.

Since then the ENNEAGRAM has been studied and taught by many different people from varied backgrounds. Some of the most noted teachers include Helen Palmer who has done a lot of work identifying intuition styles; A H Almass, author of The Pearl Beyond Price, and the founder of the Diamond Approach to Essence work; Margaret Frings Keyes, author and Jungian analyst; Thomas Condon, author, Ericksonian Hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner, and there's been a lot of interest with innovative Jesuits such as Richard Rohr, Bob Ochs and Patrick O'Leary.In addition, there is the states of consciousness work done by Charles Tart of the University of California, along with John Lily of the Arica Training to name a few.

The ENNEAGRAM can be used with amazing accuracy to describe nine core personality types or styles, within which there are infinite varieties of ways people demonstrate the basic patterns. These types define the way people's personalities inhibit their choices, growth and connection to their essence or true nature.

The ENNEAGRAM shows us not only how we tend to get stuck, but also some ways to escape automatic responses so our lives can continue to evolve. No one type is inherently any more functional than any other, rather it is up to us to see what sort of hand life has dealt us and learn how best to play those cards. The more we compulsively think, feel, perceive and act from our personality, the less we will be in touch with our true nature and essential ways of being.

The ENNEAGRAM can help us to answer such questions as:

When is it best to really commit and stay with something
or when is it better to let go and seek new options?

When is it appropriate to analyze and look closely into something and when is it better to make a decision and just do something?

When is it useful to give in to experiencing our emotions deeply and when is it better to detach and observe them from a distance?

When is it better to work with the dynamics of a relationship and when is it better to withdraw and work on oneself?

When is it better to seek pleasure and when is it better to seek meaning?

When is it better to take charge and assert ourselves and when is it better to be passive and receptive to what may come our way?

When is it better to work with the body and when is it better to work with the imagination? And when is it better to just let things be?

These are only some of the choices we need to make moment to moment in our lives. Most of these choices are made automatically without even knowing it. These automatic decisions and the actions that follow, are some of the primary ways we define the kind of person we are.

They are qualities of our personalities that we can appear to have no choice about. Much of the time this is fine. The habitual ways we have of handling things work well for us. That is why we have learned them in the first place. However, there arise situations that we aren't happy with, habitual ways of reacting that are problematic. They may have worked for us at one time, but not longer do.

Becoming aware of these patterns of response and how they function can be one of the first steps in discovering new options, and exercise greater freedom in creating a more meaningful and pleasurable life.

This information on the Enneagram was taken from classes conducted by Eric Lyleson M.A.

For more information on the Enneagram, go to Useful Links or Recommended Reading.