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Enneagram Understanding and Influencing Unconscious Strategies of People, Organizations, and Cultures |
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by Vadim Kotelnikov, Founder, Ten3 Business e-Coach, 1000ventures.com
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us" - Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Discovering Your Unconscious Strategies How Your Can Use the Enneagram The purpose of the Enneagram is self-knowledge that can be used to further your spiritual growth, and your understanding and compassion of others. This system can be applied for analyzing and influencing unconscious strategies and behavior of not only people but also organizations, cultures, and countries. The word Enneagram is from the Greek and means "nine points". The original teaching may go back as far as 2500 B.C. to the kingdoms of Babylonia, and the wisdom school of the Sarmoun Brotherhood. In the 14th and 15th centuries it was passed on to Islamic mathematicians who incorporated it into their mystical teachings. Traditionally it has been a part of the secret oral tradition of the Sufi Brotherhoods, being revealed only in part to any but the masters...More Discovering and Influencing Your Unconscious Strategies We all born as Essence, but somewhere in early childhood you develop a defensive strategy to deal with whatever is missing or lacking in your environment. This strategy is characterized by a "chief feature", also called a compulsion, a fixation, or a preoccupation. Because this feature is defensive, it essentially negative and interferes with the expression of your essential Essence. For most of us, this strategy is largely unconscious, manifesting itself as a continuing, recurring motivation for behavior. Because it is defensive, and largely unconscious, it blocks your psychological and spiritual growth. The purpose of the Enneagram is to help identify your unconscious strategy, the problem it creates for you, to heal it and address your deeper needs. It is only through honestly confronting the ways in which you interfere with your own development that you can be freed of these neurotic patterns. It offers the way through, and out of fear, anger and depression. This is an intuitive system, and most likely when you encounter your unconscious strategy you will feel on this level. Listen to your heart. The Enneagram is composed of a circle enclosing a triangle and a star, creating a nine pointed figure. The triangle represents the mystical law of Three, the Trinity, which identifies the three forces necessary for creation. These are the creative, preserving, and destructive forces. After the creation of an event, the law of Seven comes into play (octaves), represented by the star. This represents the progression of events as they materialize in the world. Gurdjieff's work on the Enneagram referred to these mystical properties. Most of the modern work on the Enneagram focus instead on the psychological and spiritual aspects of the Enneagram as they manifest themselves in individuals. Types of Personality Defined The inner figure of the Enneagram contacts the circle at nine equidistant points. Each of these points represents a type of personality. Each point has three sub-types. We have three primary areas of relationship, and one of them is our weak point, where we have been damaged. These are: Sexual - intimate and other one on one relationships. Social - relating to the group. Self-preservation - relating to your personal survival. Although you have concerns in all of these areas, one will predominate. Each number is also affected by the number on either side of it. These are referred to as the "wings". The wings of 9 are 1 and 8. Your personality will have some access to the traits of these neighbors, leaning more to one side than the other. Thus, a 9 can manifest it's wing in 1 either lightly, or strongly, but the basic type of 9 will always dominate the personality. The Enneagram is also organized into Triads. Points 2,3, and 4 are in the image triad. Points 5, 6, and 7 are in the fear triad. And points 8, 9, and 1 are in the anger triad. Each triad also has an intuitive mode, or center. Points 2, 3, and 4 are emotionally intuitive. Points 5, 6, and 7 are head, or mentally intuitive. And points 8, 9, and 1 are gut, or body based in their intuitions. Points 1, 2, 3, 4 are conformist, points 5, 6, 7, 8 are non-conformist, and 9 is ambivalent. There are also three distinct self concepts: Points 8, 2, and 5 see themselves as bigger than the world. Points 3, 6, and 9 see themselves as needing to adjust to the world. Points 1, 7, and 4 see themselves as smaller than the world. The preferred modes of behavior are: Points 8, 3, and 1 are aggressive, they move against people. Points 2, 6, and 7 are dependant, they move towards people. Points 5, 9, and 4 are withdrawing, they move from people. Dynamics of Your Personality The series of arrows moving along the lines of the Enneagram represent the dynamics of your personality. Your personality is not static, but experiences both growth and degeneration. Thus, the model of the Enneagram is one of motion. As your personality disintegrates, you move with the arrows into what is called the "stress space". This movement presents the breaking down of the defensive strategy through stress. If you are a 7, you will go to point 1 when your defenses are stressed. In your stress space you will typically manifest the worst aspects of that type. Conversely, as your personality integrates, it moves into it's "heart space", moving against the entropic flow of the Enneagram. In your heart space you will manifest the higher qualities of that strategy.
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Bibliography:
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"The Enneagram", Wagner, Dunne, Dobson & Hurley, 1984
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"What's My Type", Hurley and Dobson, 1993
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"Tom's Enneagram Page", Thomas Chou, 2001
