The Enneagram refers to a nine sided geometrical figure which, in recent years, has become associated with a method of personality analysis which describes nine cognitive styles which define the way in which a person interprets the world around them. While some consider these styles mutually exclusive with any individual expressing the characteristics of only one style, we subscribe to the idea that they occur in combinations which account for the wide range of individual differences found in people.
The Context of the Enneagram
Where the understanding of human temperament and its various implications has previously been the relatively exclusive domain of mental health professionals or theorists, the advent of the self-development movement spurred on by the universal interest in spiritual development, has significantly changed that. The Enneagram of Consciousness, originally popularised by Oscar Ischazo and subsequently his student, Claudio Naranjo, a psychiatrist, has become so popular that works on this method of self-analysis are available in popular bookshops throughout the western world. It is speculated that Ischazo learned of the Enneagram from a combination of the Catholic church and workshops run by George Gurdjieff in Europe around 1900 which percolated through to a spiritual group that met in Buenos Aries. His Arica Institute, founded in the 1950s, spawned discussion groups around South America which studied his teachings which included the Enneagram.
It is important to recognise that the idea of Ego Fixations (established defensive patterns) is essential to the understanding of Enneagram in his teachings. The term Ego ("I" in Latin) was used by Freud and Jung in the development of their psychoanalytic theories but is used very specifically in the context of the Enneagram. It draws a distinction between the "true self" or Essence and a self-created idea of self (ego) which rests on a belief structure that is evolved to answer the essential existential question "who am I?" In a similar way to both Freud and Jung, Ischazo acknowledges that the Ego is unconscious. Over the remainder of the twentieth century and to the present, the interest in spiritual development has grown and channeled works like Jane Robert's "Seth", Hicks' "Abraham" and the mystical Jesus of "A Course in Miracles" amplify the idea that we are far more than the belief that we hold about ourselves. This sets the stage for the understanding of "limiting beliefs" which is the essential value of the Enneagram.
Put simply, events occur in our lives which serve to teach us our vulnerabilities which we convert into habitual (often aversive) behaviour which serves to protect us from the events that "wounded" us. This becomes ingrained into our behavioural repertoires and forms a general pattern that we apply to the world. Our cognitive structures also become adapted so that we are alerted by specific "triggers" in the world related to these patterns. This whole process occurs without our even being aware that we are setting up patterns that will be with us for the rest of our lives unless we specifically bring them to awareness and address them. Yet, they can be changed and while we remain prisoners to our beliefs, we limit ourselves quite unnecessarily.
The Enneagram can be used to make us aware of the limiting beliefs that we hold about ourselves and, as a result, set ourselves free.
Because the fixated behaviour identified by the model also happens to be the underlying subject of counselling and psychotherapy, models such as the Enneagram have a broader use than self-development and awareness. In order for this information to be truly useful, the way in which it is analysed must become sufficiently refined that professionals will trust it sufficiently to use it.
Measurement and the Enneagram
Bearing in mind that the Enneagram describes a mental pattern that is largely unconscious and subject to the conventional Freudian psychological defenses (projection, denial etc.), bringing it to consciousness requires more than simple enquiry. Since its inception, Ischazo's method of raising the Enneagram patterns to consciousness, Protoanalysis in his terms, involved a process of self-examination geared towards self-discovery. This used meditation, exercise and group work in a context where trust and support were carefully established. Modern business applications of the Enneagram place little focus on these essential elements and have come to rely on questionnaires of various types which examine behavioural elements and use these to infer underlying fixated behaviour. While this is hardly ideal, it has resulted in a fairly large number of measurement instruments which rely on psychometric techniques to "measure" the frequency of Enneagram related behaviour. In assessing these, reliability has become the standard tool but this only reports the coherence of the scales measuring the specific Enneagram points and fails to really say whether the measurement is really accurate or not. That requires some measure of construct validity that, in turn, relies on some accurate way of determining "actual" Enneagram type (Enneatype) of an individual.
In effect, people assessed in this way are often satisfied with the results of the questionnaires and, because they quite often have high face validity (they do not attempt to hide what they are measuring), they do serve to being fixated behaviour to awareness. The awkward situation that arises out of this is that the person may become identified with the results and become even further fixated in the identified behaviour pattern so that, in place of having a method of identifying and changing faulty beliefs, we now have a method that amplifies the faulty beliefs.
On the positive side, this awareness does lead many people to coaching or counselling where they are able to learn new behaviour and, in this way, set themselves free from the worst aspects of the fixations. Furthermore, aligning a person's ego structure with the occupations that they embark on does increase the likelihood of job satisfaction and increased motivation.
You are, in effect, what you believe you are. In reality, you are a universe of totally unlimited potential.
Enneagram Logic
Each of the Enneagram points represents a complex behavioural pattern supposedly evolved in response to emotionally painful experiences that required the development of a defensive or protective strategy that it represents. Frequently labeled in terms of commonly observed behaviour, each represents an identifiable coping strategy. Ironically, the belief that you can be injured by events in the world is, in itself, possibly faulty because it is I that apply the definition "hurtful" to an event. Once I become sensitised to a specific class of "hurtful" events, I come to specifically notice them thus amplifying the belief that I can be (and was) injured.
The Nine Defensive Strategies
If I always
do it right, then perhaps they won't criticise me and withdraw love.
If I always
meet their needs, then perhaps I will get my own needs recognised.
If I am
successful perhaps they will notice me rather than ignoring me.
If I am
outwardly different and original, perhaps they won't notice that I am defective.
If I make
myself completely independent then perhaps it won't matter that I am all
alone in the world.
If I am
always on the outlook for disaster, perhaps I will be able to avert it when
it comes.
If I speed
along and never stop, perhaps I can escape the pain that is always waiting
to get me.
If I totally
take control, perhaps I will escape feeling vulnerable and defenseless.
If
I go along with other people and never oppose them, perhaps I will avoid
being abandoned.
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The Universal Solution
Exploring these statements, it may become clear that the strategies all represent attempts to obviate a phenomenon in the world that is believed to cause pain. They all take the form "If I .... then perhaps I..." suggesting an almost quixotic attempt to fight the inevitable. They also have a feeling of being all alone in making this attempt to be safe. It is said of the Ego that within its belief structure, we are all alone and without support. Looking at these, it certainly seems so. The common paradox, however, lies in the previously mentioned notion that we define an event as hurtful and then proceed to react in a hurt way. Let's take an example here. The ninth fixation tries to avoid perceived abandonment by significant others by being compliant and non-confrontational. It is important to explore the meaning of the "injury" word when working with such a person. When were they abandoned? What were the circumstances? Perhaps his or her mother went back to work and left the child with day care. The recall of the feeling of abandonment is important because the next step is understanding and then forgiving it.
Defining forgiveness in these terms will mean taking attributed meaning into account. I forgive when I remove the meaning I attributred to an event from it, rendering it neutral and thus, again paradoxically, without a need for any forgiveness. All fixated behaviour is abandoned through such an act of forgiveness and it brings tremendous relief.
It is important to remember that that was then and this is now.
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Forgiveness
means that what you thought was done to you did not occur.
Does
this sound strange?
Read this article on forgiveness
based on A Course in Miracles.