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December 2011
Issue 183

The Path With No Goal: Simple but not Easy

Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no
noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of all those
things and still be calm in your heart.
Author Unknown

year, however, the college instituted a new requirement. Those

selected had to attend an Outward Bound course. The outdoors terrified me! I wasnt athletic! I didnt have the kind of
stamina required! All I could see was how hard it would be. I
was devastated. I didnt apply and missed an opportunity of
a lifetime.
Looking back at this decision through the lens of the Enneagram, the reasons were apparent. A deeply ingrained pattern of reacting to challenge with fear was at the root. Had
I been able to see this pattern at the time, I might have approached the decision from a more realistic position. Waves of
compassion for my young self swept through me.
But now I had insight and understanding, and things could
be different. I read every book I could find. I attended many
seminars, near and far. Vallombrosa became my second home.
I enrolled in the certification program, took every new class
Helen Palmer and David Daniels offered and started teaching the Enneagram with a passion Id never known before.
In 1993, I also joined the Diamond Heart work founded by Hameed Ali, which
CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
provided another container for me to further ex-

Terry Saracino

even years ago, this quote arrived in my mail on a greeting card from a dear friend. It spoke to me then and still
occupies a prominent place on my desk. Its a constant
reminder to me that success in the world of psycho-spiritual
development isnt defined as getting rid of all the problems, but
finding a way to be at peace with whatever shows up.
When I first started down my spiritual path, I longed to
arrive as soon as possible and be finished with the work
of transformation. Grace put the Enneagram in my path in
1989, and I was enchanted. The Rosetta Stone had arrived! I
quickly identified as a Loyal Skeptic (Type 6), and the reasons
behind some baffling past decisions suddenly seemed so much
clearer.
One striking example related to a heart-breaking decision I made while in college. I had desperately wanted to be a dorm counselor my senior year. That

Personality, Process & Levels of Development

The fixations are all negatives. The worldview I have deSusan
scribed is all positives. Putting the two sets of terms side by
side is mutually illuminating.
A.G. E. Blake, The Intelligent Enneagram, p. 287.

ore and more, I see the enneagram both in terms of process and personality, as reflected in my commentary last month on Mary Basts article
on alchemy and the enneagram (in which I further explored her initial
exploration of alchemy as a process associated with the enneagram, whereby each
step can be equated with one of the nine enneagram points). On the process enneagram, we are tracing the transformation of something from the raw state at Point
1 to the cooked state at Point 8, with Point 0/9 being the point of (a) origination
and (b) integration. On the personality enneagram, we are looking at nine points of
view that can also be seen as nine core motivations, energy signatures, or personality types.
Of course, it is traditional to think of these points of view as point of fixation:

In This Issue

places where the energy gets stuck. And while I take exception
to that interpretation, it makes sense in that our point of view
is linked to a particular spot on the circle, a spot that is most
definitely fixed rather than moving. Its easy to see what is fixed as fixated; the
only difference is that the former refers to the limits imposed by our point of view
while the latter refers to the potentially negative reaction we have to those limits. To
the extent that we believe this negative reaction to be inevitable, a fixed location
becomes equivalent to a fixated perspective. Change the belief and we change our
situation.
At any rate, comparing the types with the steps is indeed (see Blakes quote
above) mutually illuminating. Because from the personality perspective, it helps
us see our type as fixed (innate), rather than fixated. And from a transformational
perspective, it helps us see how our path in life is profoundly shaped by the core
motivation associated with our type.
This is the same point made in the film Pleasantville, where modern teens are
CONTINUED ON PAGE17
magically transported back in time to a 1950s

Rhodes

Seed of Splitting Sex, Love, Personality Sexuality & Gender- Whats the Point? Type 3 Anxiety Missing Point
Amy Zoll
Mona Coates &
Judith Searle
Joel Rothaizer Tsivya Larson John Howe
page 4
Judith Searle p.5
page 9
page 11
page 14
page 16

New Year is a time to give in to the temptation of making resolutions some

keep them more than others can't brag
that my record is worthy of mentioning...But
what's the harm in taking stock of where we're
at in life and if we can tweak some areas towards
more wisdom.
Every positive change in one area can be seen as
negative at some other level. Well, that's my excuse
anyway for slacking on resolutions such as losing
wight, exercising, being less grumpy, working harder,
doing more spiritual practice, yada, yada, yada...
Doesnt each positive resolution comes at a cost to
something else? Are our actions not like loose particles
in a circle of mirrors in a kaleidoscope move one
and the entire picture changes? Interconnectedness is
a permanent condition everywhere in nature; human,
animal or plant. And, being alive means engaging in
action with all the risks and consequences that come
with it. Act we must, but the degree of skill, attention
or understanding we bring is largely up to us.
In This Issue:
The main theme is centered around examining
common questions about what our purpose is, who
we are and if needed, what we can do about it. A
few specific and some more abstract perspectives are
mixed together to address a range of questions.
Terry Saracino took to the enneagram like a duck
to water and has been teaching it for more than 20
years. With that much experience comes refinement
that usually results in a simplification right down to
the most essential core elements of what really matters. Terry has gone through numbers or such refining processes and her you have The Path with no
Goal: Simple but not Easy. Clear and to the point
is her brief description of a few dilemmas most of us
can relate to, and her specific suggestions of how to
deal with them.
In Personality, Process and Levels of Development Susan Rhodes explores Ken Wilber's description of nine stages of transformation in Transformations
of Consciousness (1986), a seminal book (co-authored
with Jack Engler and Daniel P. Brown) that opens
with Jack Engler's superb description of the aims of
psychotherapy and meditation...but I digress. Wilber
lists pathologies that can occur at each of nine levels

From the Editor

ranging from undifferentiated consciousness to totally integrated consciousness. Wilbers approach is that
any level can be either normal or pathological, from
the lowest to the highest. As best we know, Wilber
did not draw the nine levels from anything related to
the enneagram, and yet, most of them seem to have
an uncanny resonance.
Susan could see how this scheme can enrich the
understanding of the enneagram and at the same
time points out ways in which the enneagram can
enrich Wilbers descriptions.
Amy Zoll has been wondering about what makes
a person drawn to co-dependent relationships with
those who suffer from a Borderline Personality Disorder. Has it something to do with the love/hate relationship we have with parts of ourselves or the degree
to which we believe that we are an image, and lose
contact with our real nature? Apparently The Seed
of Splitting in All of Us and Amy takes us through
a brief example of the conflicting narratives each type
tends to favor. Her point is that if we accept the
premise that finding perfection is not what life usually can offer, especially if we expect such perfection
from another....it may encourage us to move towards
seeing the humanness in ourselves and others.
Mona Coates and Judith Searle continue with
Sex, Love and your Personality: Type Seven, the
Enthusiast in Love filling the gap at the Enneagram
Monthly of articles about how sexual antics of each
enneagram type. Sevens are the Jack of all trades
and masters of (none/some) by nature of ebullient
curiosity and energy that makes it hard for them to
stick to a few subjects. Voracious Sevens could not
possibly engage in gluttony unless they had a sturdy
digestive system. Psychologically, their digestive system is the ability to rationalize, and Sevens can be
veeery good at that. Well, to be good at something
does not mean that one must indulge in it. Sevens
who overload their plate in youth, with age and wisdom must learn what to eat and what to leave...
While on the subject, Judith Searle wrote this

thoughtful article on Sexuality, Gender Roles

and the Enneagram a while back, but human
nature is fairly stable and does not changed from
one decade to another. The question of male/
female differences has puzzled humanity forever
and even last week during Stephen Hawking's
70th birthday celebration when he was asked what
the greatest mystery is in the universe....he responded
women.
Few argue over male/female physical differences
compared to the debates over the extent of cultural
imprinting. Those who credit cultural differences as
more important tend to regard the hormonal and
physical as irrelevant. Their opponents claim that it
is precisely because of the irrefutable physical differences that all cultures have developed a set of cultural
expectations to fit physically and hormonally set realities. The truth is somewhere in the middle, as usual.
Judith sees the masculine energy most often typified
by the type Eight, and the polar opposite female energy by types Four and Two.
Joel M. Rothaizer asks What's the Point? A
question most of us grapple with, rarely seen put so
clearly as in this superb article. I can relate to every
phase of how ambitions and expectations drive us and
no matter how successful or pleased we are with the
results, sooner or later we realize that we don't get to
keep (or own) any of it and that the only stable thing
in life is the awareness of being. Yes, this elusive, yet
omnipresent sense of being that is under the surface
if we only cared to scratch... and yet, it feels that we
can't get to it even if we scratched our skin off. Why?
Joel invested a lot of time, effort and attention in these
matters and found how the enneagram can be of great
help and also saw how it can be abused and act as an
additional layer of armor that keeps us from that part
in us we try to get to.
Tsivya R. Larson looks at Type Three and Anxiety. The title is somewhat provocative since the Three
is reputed to be a feeling, not a fear type, an aggressive
type to boot, one that exudes confidence and competency. But anxiety is probably a cousin of the survival
instinct and rather basic to all types. Actually, let's
re-phrase that; anxiety is at the base of all types. It is
part of the mechanism that motivates us to find a way
a suitable way for the type of energy we are gifted
with or subscribe to for dealing with the world.

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December 2011

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Volume 17, Number 8, Issue 183
Enneagram Monthly
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contents
The Path With No Goal: Simple but not Easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Saracino 1
Personality, Process and Levels of Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Susan Rhodes 1
From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack Labanauskas 2

Fax: 650-851-3113

Editor and Publisher Jack Labanauskas

The Seed of Splitting in All of Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amy Zoll 4

Sex, Love and Your Personality: Type Seven, the Enthusiast in Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mona Coates and Judith Searle 5

Staff Writer Susan Rhodes

Sexuality, Gender Roles and the Enneagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Judith Searle 9

Assistant Editor Sue Ann McKean

Whats the Point? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joel M. Rothaizer (Ashoka) 11

Consulting Editor Andrea Isaacs

Type Three and Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tsivya R. Larson 14

Webmaster Gail Francisco

Missing the Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Howe 15

The Enneagram Monthly, Inc. was founded by Jack Labanauskas and

Andrea Isaacs as a not-for-profit corporation. Its purpose is to gather and
disseminate information in the field of the Enneagram, that is most commonly known as a personality typing system.

For subscription and advertising rates see back cover.

Exploring Type Nine, the Mediator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connie Duckett 16

Teachers Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Subscription Forms and Ad Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Visit our newly redesigned and greatly enlarged web site! enneagrammonthly.com
Some say that type Three is the most inscrutable
given their effectiveness at portraying themselves as
they are willing to be seen. Such skill takes time and
effort to develop. Tsivya's analysis and description of
the phases of this process is particularly illuminating.
At some point, mindfulness is needed to step outside
ourselves if we want to cultivate our inner observer
that will stand, as if separate and without judging, be
a witness.

lucky guess that made a short shrift out of the contestant's secret; other times if questioning started on the
wrong foot, it would remain resistant.
Our mind likes to seek out patterns and we can
always find a plausible alternative to our own type.
John is a type Six, a type that has earned the reputation of being particularly adept at considering alternative realities but at the price of doubt.

is of a different nature what it means to be a type

Nine, really, and how much anger there was coiled
under her faade of nineish congeniality. Where is the
diplomatic sweet and tolerant side when stubbornness, passive aggression and withdrawing take over?
How much of that sweetness, adaptability and tolerance was nothing more than a way to avoid conflict
or prop up the image of being agreeable? This is a
different way of changingour type, but this time it's
from an idealized and little understood model to the
adult version, the one that includes the dark side as
well.

Connie Duckett is Exploring Type Nine, the

John Howe tells his story of Missing the Point.
Mediator which happens to be her type. She does
Some of us (me included) have experienced a siminot have doubts about being a Nine, but her dilemma
lar process in the search for our
enneagram type, some more
than once, others are still at it,
suspended in doubt between
two or more types. It can be the
damnedest thing to pin down
your type if you happen to teeter on a cusp or if your life has
been so turbulent as if you had
multiple incarnations and were
forced to bend and flex to adapt
to changing circumstances.
There was a TV game show
What's My Line a few decades ago
where panelists were required to
probe a contestant's occupation
by asking only questions which
could be answered "yes" or "no."
(Every yes allowed the panelWe moved heaven and earth to freeze subscription and advertising rates for 17 years.
ist to ask additional questions,
It was not an easy task, as postage and printing costs doubled. But thanks to the authors, volunteers,
with every no it was the next
subscribers and advertisers we managed. Please encourage your friends to subscribe. Thank you!
panelists turn... ) Sometimes the
line of questioning started with a

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December 2011

The Seed of Splitting in All of Us

ately, I have been wondering about what

makes a person drawn to co dependent relationships with those who suffer from a
Borderline Personality Disorder. I am not sure
how or why but I believe it has something to
do with the love/hate relationship we have with
parts of ourselves (worthy me/not me). I am
also sensing that the degree to which we believe
that we are an image, and lose contact with our
real nature, determines whether or not we cross
the border into mental illness.
I want to begin this discussion with a quote from Judith Orloff MD, author of Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform
Your Life
The Splitter or Borderline Personality
Splitters see things as either good or bad and have
love/hate relationships. One minute they idealize
you, the next youre the enemy if you upset them.
They have a sixth sense for knowing how to pit
people against each another and will retaliate if
they feel you have wronged them. They are people
who are fundamentally damagedinwardly they
feel as if they dont exist and become alive when
they get angry. Theyll keep you on an emotional
roller coaster and you may walk on eggshells to
avoid their anger.
The individual with borderline tendencies often
idealizes us until we do something wrong or disappoint her. Then we become bad and a horrible failure
as a person. Amazing! This is what we do to ourselves all the time! These difficult relationships are
partly externalizations and reinforcements of our own
inner battle between parts of our personality.
All of us, unless enlightened, realized beings, view
ourselves, and others, and the world, through a dualistic lens (good/ bad, right/wrong, desirable/ undesirable, appropriate/inappropriate, positive/ negative,
this/that etc etc.).
Those who share the same personality pattern
share ideas about which qualities are desirable or undesirable. All personality is a mixture of both. Nobody is perfect.
Yet, we believe at a deep core level that our survival
depends on an ability to be perfect in some way. We
strive to nurture and defend an image that embodies
certain desirable qualities, and to mulch out of sight
the undesirable ones. But, we always fear we will be
found out and exposed as a fraud.
Both the positive and negative ends of the personality spectrum are part of the pattern with which we
identify. Neither end of the pole is real. They exist
together on the same continuum.
For example, 'I' can be helpful and loving, knowing, and caring of others, as well as self absorbed
and self serving. I am both and I am neither. Who
am I?
The inner critic keeps us locked into a dualistic battle with parts of our human nature. It is a battle which

Amy Zoll
can not be won. The opponents are insubstantial. The
essence of our true nature, reflected in the qualities
we imitate, arises naturally, when we stop efforting.
Efforts to keep parts of 'self' hidden is a source of tension and suffering.
I think you will see in the following examples,
how each ofour types is capable of creating impossible expectations and making promises that can never
be sustained and how this can be a set-up for difficult
relationships.
The borderline personality has an amazing ability
to sense the self images we are attached to, and to
know what buttons to push to get a strong reaction
from us and bring us down into defending against
our worst core fears about who we are.
Here are a few examples of the images our personality type is attached to, and what we contract against
or hold back.
Type 1: I defend and identify with an image of
myself on high moral ground, doing the right thing
and beneficially helping others to do the same. I contract and react against any energy, or thought or feeling
that might suggest I am unreliable, indulgent, or putting
self interest above the common good.
Type 2: I defend and identify with an image of
myself as being connected to the source of truth and
love and knowing. I have good intentions and deep
concern about others and know how to help them
gain what is in their best interest. I contract and react
against energy or thoughts or feelings that might imply
that I am self absorbed and not caring or even competitive.
Type 3: I defend and identify with an image of
myself as a person who is great at parrying problems
and able to get results. I react and contract against any
energy or thought or feeling that might imply I am wasting time or am unsure of myself.
Type 4: I defend an image of myself as one who
is clear about what God or judge wants from me and
what I should be doing. I am able to say the really
insightful, deep things that cause others to pause and
reflect and connect to themselves and to me. I react
and contract against any energy or thought or feeling
that might imply that I am stupid or wrong.
Type 5: I defend an image of myself as healthy
and strong; I am a 'live and let live person who works
for the benefit of all. I react and contract against any
thought or feeling that would imply that I am tyrannical, angry, or overpowering.
Type 6: I defend an image of myself as a benevolent, perceptive, problem solver who will lead others to safety. I react and contract against any thought
or feeling that would imply that I am inconsiderate or
causing harm.
Type 7: I defend an image of myself as one who is
well informed, able to make things happen; accepts

others as they are and willing and able to help them

in manifesting what they want. I react and contract
against any thought or feeling that might imply that I
am hypocritical, misguided or close minded.
Type 8: I defend and identify with an image of
myself who is able to rescue and protect the vulnerable. I react and contract against any energy or thought
or feeling that might imply that I am being manipulative or misusing power to get what they want as a result
of self interest while masking their own needs.
Type 9: I defend an image of myself as giving and
doing and being what others want, easy going and
flexible, who can soothe and heal with energy and
calm presence. I react and contract against any thought
or feeling that would seem like I am difficult or demanding or narcissistic.
Judith Orloff advises.....
How to Protect Your Emotions:
Stay calm. Dont react when your buttons get
pushed. Splitters feed off of anger. They respond
best to structure and limit setting. If one goes into
a rage, tell the person, Im leaving until you get
calmer. Then we can talk. Refuse to take sides
when he or she tries to turn you against someone
else. With family members, its best to show a united front and not let a splitters venomous opinions
poison your relationships.
In summary, the split between parts of our ego
pattern with which we identify set up a scenario for
these fatal attractions. Our desire to chosen and recognized as being perfect in some way is a set up and
misleading to those who are searching for a perfect
love or mother. In reality, we can't live up to our images and promises or expectations.
When we are conscious of our hidden parts and
can allow our own humanness we will not be attracted to relationships that make us perfect.
Pema Chodron writes: "The basic notion of lojong (a Buddhist practice of mind training) is that
we make friends with what we reject, what we see
as "bad" in ourselves and in other people..... If we
begin to live in this way, something in us that may
have been buried for a long time begins to ripen...
this "something" is called awakened heart. It's something that we already have but usually have not yet
discovered..Lojong introduces a different attitude toward unwanted stuff: if it's painful, you become willing not just to endure it but also to let it awaken your
heart and soften you."
I have always been drawn to these words of Kirpal
Singh, "be true to your own Self don't deceive
yourself. If one is true to his own Self, he is to fear
none".
I think I am just now beginning to get the meaning.
__________
Amy Zoll is an Enneagram Teacher inVineyard
Haven, MA comments are welcome
amyzoll@vineyard.net

December 2011

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Sex, Love & Your Personality

Type Seven, the Enthusiast in Love

even is one of the Enneagram styles associated with fear. While Fives cope with a threatening world by developing their mental capacities in isolation and Sixes cope through constant
vigilance and seeking trustworthy allies, Sevens manage their fears by staying continually in motion and
distracting themselves with activities and pleasures.
Generally, only the healthiest Sevens are aware of how
pervasive their underlying terror actually is and how
useless any attempt to outrun it will prove.
Average Sevens are preoccupied with activity and
options and are especially oriented toward the future
and its stimulating possibilities. They find it easier to
begin new projects than to follow old ones through
to completion. Their natural optimism, charm and
energy make them appealing companions, but these
same qualities can be a smokescreen for their underlying narcissism. Sevens at this level of psychological
health are subject to impulsive actions that may verge
on recklessness.
Healthy Sevens display immense vitality, passionately enjoy life and are able to sustain commitments
to projects and people. Often multi-talented, they
are productive and fulfilled in their lives. They are
especially adept at brainstorming ideas. Not only
do they frequently display original thinking, but their
enthusiasm also inspires others to creative problem
solving that, in the Sevens company, becomes fun
and exciting.
Unhealthy Sevens are demanding, materialistic,
excessive and self-indulgent. They are subject to rages
when their desires are not quickly fulfilled and tend
to escape into drugs, sexual activity, overeating
whatever will offer them temporary relief from their
anxiety. Unhealthy Sevens can often be manic and
may be subject to panic attacks when they exhaust
their resources and have to confront their underlying
anxiety.

Sevens with the

Self-preservation Subtype

Self-preservation Sevens, whom Oscar Ichazo

calls defenders, are highly social, unlike the Selfpreservation subtype in other Enneagram styles. Sevens with this subtype seek out like-minded people to
share fun, information and stimulation. They see their
circle of friendships and family as a barricade against
boredom, stagnation and other forms of pain. Enthusiastic about acquiring possessions as well as having
new experiences, Self-preservation Sevens are often
more materialistic than Sexual or Social Sevens.
Twisted Bargain
Sarah, 33, a Self-preservation Seven, came to me
in a panic, feeling threatened by potentially serious
losses in her immediate future. She and her husband,
Roger, 35 (a Self-preservation One), were five years
into in their marriage, the second for both of them.

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December 2011

Mona Coates and Judith Searle

They were childless by choice. Kids would tie
us down too much, Sarah said. We want the finer
things in life.
Roger and Sarah were both hard working and
ambitious in their respective sales positions he in
mortgage loans and she in residential real estate. They
were determined to purchase a $1.5 million home
during the coming year and were striving to earn as
much as possible for the down payment.

Jack told Sarah that if she would agree

to have a sexual affair with him over the
next six months, he would sell his parents
home to her and Roger with reduced commission fees and at the below-market
price.
Sarah thought she could obtain a great bargain
on a home through one of her contacts at the office.
Jack, who was 25 years her senior, had been a real
estate agent for almost 40 years and something of a
mentor to her. He was preparing to list for sale his
parents elegant home as they finalized their arrangements to move into an assisted living complex during
the next six to nine months.
Sarah and Roger wanted this house for themselves
more than they had ever wanted anything. Knowing
this, Jack suggested to Sarah an arrangement that
could make her and Rogers dream come true. For
several years he had been expressing to her his frustration over his loveless, sexless, boring marriage to
an ailing wife. Now he told Sarah that if she would
agree to have a sexual affair with him over the next
six months, he would sell his parents home to her
and Roger with reduced commission fees and at the
below-market price of $1.5 million.
Accepting Jacks proposition would mean that
Sarah would meet him about once a week for a pleasure payment date. Jack reasoned that he had helped
Sarah establish her real estate career over the past
eight years and he felt she owed him. All he wanted,
he said, was one last wonderful sexual fling with a
healthy woman whom he cared about not such an
outrageous desire, surely.
The home was a great bargain and Sarah was
almost salivating at the thought of owning it. Jack
was attractive for a man of 62 and he had always
been flirtatious. (Later in our sessions, after gaining some understanding of her own Seven type,
Sarah said she thought Jack was also a Seven, perhaps with a Sexual subtype.) She felt she owed him
for much of her success in real estate, was grateful for his mentoring, liked him as a person and
sympathized with his plight over his chronically ill

Copyright 2011 by
Mona Coates and Judith Searle.
All rights reserved.

wife. After all, she rationalized, doing what he

wanted would mean only one hour per week for
six months about 22 meetings, minus the
weeks when one of them was traveling.
She agreed to his proposal.
Sarah had already had sex with Jack on two occasions when she first came to see me. At this point she
was struggling with endless mental debates over the
moral parameters of her decision. Was this, in fact,
an act of prostitution? Should she risk telling Roger?
Would he want to kill her for doing such a stupid
thing? How could she live with herself if she continued the sex with Jack? Worse, how could she allow
this offer of his parents home to fall through? How
would she and Roger deal with the reality of not purchasing the home?
It was difficult for Sarah to cease posing her questions long enough for me to complete her basic intake information. She was in a real dilemma. What
was she to do?
As I continued asking her pointed questions
about her core values and moral boundaries, her
materialism became crystal clear. She expressed her
belief that standards and cultural morals were all
relative; she saw no absolutes, citing many cultures
where mistresses or polygamy were common. At this
juncture, she was choosing to buy the house and
have sex with Jack.
I explained how understanding her personality
type might be helpful for such decision-making. She
was anxious to take the survey and immediately confirmed the Self-preservation Seven results. She was
becoming more aware of her ambitious, materialistic, self-indulgent, yet highly energetic and impatient
nature.
One of her main concerns was whether she had a
moral obligation to tell Roger. We analyzed endlessly,
at her insistence, the pros and cons: Secret-keeping
was almost never healthy telling Roger would
eliminate enormous stress. Maybe he could accept
this form of volunteer work for a short period?
No. Not a chance. She feared Rogers reaction.
Besides, what she was doing was immoral. She made
a temporary commitment to tell Roger everything,
knowing they might have to drop the entire transaction. But she feared his judgments and rejection.
After thinking about this for a week, she decided
not to tell her husband anything. After all, she told
herself, she was only doing this for their common
good, so that they could purchase the house they
both so desperately wanted. Telling Roger could only
hurt him and possibly devastate their marriage.
Rogers a Type One, she said, and he has this
moralistic, self-righteous streak in him.
Several months into our sessions, when her affair
with Jack was well underway, Sarah burst into my
office with important news: Jacks dad had suddenly
died of a heart attack and his mom would be moving
into the assisted living community sooner than Jack

had planned. This meant that Sarah and Roger would

have to speed up their plans, come up with a significantly larger down payment than they could manage
at the moment and make what felt like a premature
commitment to purchase the house.
Jack reassured Sarah that he would work with her
on the down payment and fees, accepting whatever
down payment she and Roger felt comfortable making as long as she was willing to stick to their deal
for the remainder of the six months. He reiterated
his distress over his marital situation, his appreciation
of her friendship and his hope that she understood
his need for a sexual connection with a woman he
valued.

Sarahs strong materialistic and pragmatic values have allowed her to rationalize her profound disloyalty to her husband and consider that the end justifies
the means.
At this point Sarah was lying awake many nights
debating what she should do. But she went forward
with every step necessary to purchase the house. After
a 60-day escrow, Sarah and Roger became the owners
of their dream home. Jack seemed happy for them,
sending flowers and dinner the weekend they moved
in.
There was still slightly less than two months left
in Sarahs sexual arrangement with Jack and he asked
how she felt about keeping the remainder of their

bargain. She assured him she would never go back on

her word, as she knew Jack would never go back on
his. A deal was a deal.
At this point Jack decided that, for the last seven
weeks of their time together, he wanted only coffee
dates with Sarah an hour each week to restore
their platonic working relationship.
Sarah was grateful to be relieved of the burden of
their bargain and the secret keeping. She felt Jack had
been a perfect gentleman even during their sexual encounters. She said she would always value him as a
friend and as her real estate mentor.
Roger and Sarah continue to live happily in their
new home as they work to decorate it. To date, Sarah
has chosen never to reveal to her husband the twisted
bargain she made, since she believes telling him could
only lead to his feeling hurt and betrayed. She loves
Roger with all her heart, she says and her last five
years with him have been the happiest of her life. She
has been able to put her sexual arrangement with Jack
in the past and now considers him a family friend.
Her strong materialistic and pragmatic values have
allowed her to rationalize her profound disloyalty to
her husband and consider that the end justifies the
means.
The marriage between Sarah and Roger has several
factors predictive of success: Their lovemaps are highly
compatible and their levels of personal development
seem average (with Sarah sometimes unhealthy but
committed to significant therapeutic growth). Both
share the Self-preservation subtype, and the connecting line between Seven and One allows them to complement each others energies.

WORKSHOPS WITH

JUDITH SEARLE
GREAT MOVIES, GREAT BOOKS
AND THE ENNEAGRAM
Los Angeles:
March 17-18, 2012
New York:
April 14-15, 2012
Information: 310-393-5372
www.judithsearle.com

Foot Fetish
Jason, 32, a Self-preservation
Seven, came to his first session
with me struggling to camouflage
his extreme anxiety and probable
depression. He had two issues: one
was his sports bar predicament; the
other was a potential lack of acceptance from his fiance, Rita, 30.
Jason was a natural salesman.
His easygoing, slightly disheveled
good looks made him highly approachable. He had been in several
sales positions (mens sportswear,
commercial mortgages, currently
advertising space for a radio station) and enjoyed having many
irons in the fire.
His biggest iron, at the moment, was a sports bar that he and
his best friend, Alex, had sunk every penny they had into creating
and hoped to open for business.
They had worked nights and weekends to build out the bar, a stage
for live music and seating doing
most of the manual labor themselves. Jason reported that both of
them were determined to make this
venture a huge financial success.
The problem was that it now

seemed every penny they had wasnt going to be

enough. Each had invested $50,000 (Jason cashing
in his 401-K savings to provide his share). Both struggled to economize wherever they could, but they had
underestimated many start-up expenses and salaries
for the employees during the first several months. Jason and Alex both feared that the project was about
to go belly-up.
Jasons stress level was aggravated by pressure from
Rita, his fiance, who was impatient with his spending most of his free time working on the bar and having little left over for her.
First, I recommended that Jason and Alex find
a third financial partner perhaps an older, more
established entrepreneur who might be interested
in part ownership of a sports bar. Following much
brainstorming, Jason finally saw the wisdom of owning one-third of a successful business, as opposed to
hanging on to half of a sinking ship. Eventually, they
found the perfect partner the father of Alexs former girlfriend, a wealthy entrepreneur looking for
an excuse to get out of the house more frequently.
He was willing to invest $75,000 for only 20 percent
ownership and apparently had some practical business advice to offer.
Since this new arrangement seemed to be working well, I saw an opportunity to help Jason learn
more about his blind spots, the natural neuroses
of his Type Seven personality. He was able now to
see clearly how impatient and at times reckless he is
with decision-making, especially when he fears losing
some of his options. He loves to buy, do and have
on many levels with many things simultaneously.
When his rapid-fire choices are not well calculated,
he becomes even more reckless and determined to get
what he wants.
By this time, Jason was beginning to see how
some of his personality traits were not only getting in
his way but also clashing with Ritas. They had been
fighting almost daily, with intermittent screaming
matches. Jason had previously avoided much discussion about Rita, under the guise of needing to settle
the sports bar crisis first. However, since that crisis
was now past, it was time to look at the reality with
Rita.
Jason feared her judgments and her probable rejection once she found out about a certain aspect of
him. He thought I would probably stop seeing him,
too, once I learned the truth.
I assured him that I was not in a position to judge
and that my only interest was in helping him solve
problems, creating understanding and solutions.
Unable to meet my eyes, he addressed the arm of
the chair he was sitting in. I think I have a foot fetish. Looking at womens feet and toes really turns
me on. I like naked feet no socks or shoes and
I love toenail polish. Pretty feet really get me going,
give me incredible erections. I look at a lot of them
online.
He gave a quick glance in my direction, as if to
check my shock level. I really love Rita her care
and nurturing but sometimes she just suffocates
me, makes too many demands on my time. And she
has no idea why I like to kiss her toes. I try to tease
her, tell her its because shes a princess and any man

December 2011

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would be grateful just to kiss her feet. But I feel like

Im lying to her. Im afraid shell throw a fit when she
finds out.
What do you honestly want, Jason? I said. Do
you want to be single and free from the pressure of
Ritas demands? Or would you rather have the comfort and security of her love and the added benefit of
her waiting on you?
Jason wanted it both ways he hoped Rita would
back off and give him more space, but at the same
time be constantly there for him.
I explained that a committed relationship would
require real compromise, negotiation and collaboration something he had never done with a partner.
Also, if he wanted to be loved for who he truly is, he
would need to learn self-disclosure and become more
vulnerable with Rita.
During the weeks Jason spent pondering this issue, we also had a number of sessions dealing with
his foot fetish. I explained the process of classical
conditioning and how he had come to visually associate womens feet with intense sexual arousal (as
Pavlovs dogs had salivated to the sound of a bell, having come to associate the sound with their feeding).
Jason seemed relieved to hear that his fetish was no
more than a conditioned response and that some
of it might even be re-conditioned.
However, he made it clear that he didnt really
want to fix his fetish. This was not why he had
come to therapy. His main concern had been his

dilemma about the sports bar and he was grateful

for my help in resolving that. Now he was troubled
about his relationship with Rita, who was already
pressuring him for more time together, more commitment, more intimacy. How could he tell her
about his foot fetish? He was confused about his
own feelings and what he actually wanted from the
relationship.

I explained that a committed relationship

would require real compromise, negotiation and collaboration something he
had never done with a partner. Also, if he
wanted to be loved for who he truly is, he
would need to learn self-disclosure and
become more vulnerable with Rita.
Finally, Jason asked Rita to join him for one of our
sessions. Ritas been badgering me for a long time
to let her come in here, he said, once the three of
us were gathered in my office. So here we are, Rita.
What do you want from this session?
Rita, a voluptuous woman with long dark curly
hair, appeared gracious and anxious to please. I was
hoping to discuss the future of our relationship, she
told him, if in fact there is a future, Jason.

Jason looked as though he wanted to sink into

the couch. He suddenly became defensive, pouring
out a list of his challenges with the sports bar and
accusing Rita of making unreasonable demands on
his time.
She listened intently, then asked him to look at
his own personality as described in the book I had
prepared for him. His Self-preservation Seven type,
she pointed out, tended to be impetuous, self-indulgent, highly materialistic, demanding gratification of
his own comforts and needs, reckless at times and
attempting to cover too many bases at once. But she
was fair in also listing the qualities that made her love
him: his ambition, determination, independence and
high energy, as well as his ability to be practical and
reach his goals.
Now it was time to discuss Ritas personality. She
had wanted to take the C-JES survey, which Jason
kept forgetting to mention to me. Certain from her
reading that she was a Sexual subtype and that Jason was one hundred percent Self-preservation,
she turned to me with a question: Is there anything you can do, Mona, to make Jason less selfcentered?
Jason flushed. I didnt invite you here to do a
bitch session, he said. Theres some important information about myself that I need to give you.
Rita was silent, looking at him expectantly.
I have a foot fetish, he blurted out. I enjoy it
very much and Im afraid you wont be able to un-

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enneagram monthly

December 2011

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derstand it or accept it. Thats why I always tease you

about your cute toes and say Id rather give you a toe
job than have you give me a blow job. He attempted
a laugh.
Ritas eyes filled with tears and she was speechless
for a long moment.
Im so sorry that youve held all this inside, she
said finally. I cant imagine the embarrassment you
must have felt. Why didnt you tell me sooner? Of
course I accept you. I love you, Jason. Its okay that
youre fixated on feet how is that any different
from big boobs or long legs? It seems like most guys
have some kind of fetish.
Jason, obviously relieved, seemed to be fighting
back a few tears of his own. I just want you to think
about it, he said.
Ritas response was to become more caring, more
possessive, more protective and significantly more seductive with Jason all common responses for her
Type Two personality.
However, over our next few sessions, Jason became more distant and critical of Rita. Though grateful for her acceptance, he found her excessive favors
and attention smothering and confining. Aware that
she wanted more intimacy from the relationship than
he did, Jason knew he was in no position to remain
engaged or to think about marriage.
Eventually, he decided to end the engagement. He
knew this would break Ritas heart and he felt especially guilty since she had been so accepting of his

foot fetish. But it seemed only fair to her to end the

relationship sooner rather than later. He wanted to
present the reasons for his decision in a joint session
with me, so that I could help him explain to her their
differences and incompatibilities.
When we did this, Rita was crushed but also appreciative that Jason hadnt strung her along. She saw
the situation clearly. Once again, Jason, youve bitten off more than you can chew. Our relationship
isnt all that different from your situation with the
sports bar.
They agreed to part friends.
I still counsel Jason periodically on certain issues
and have been pleased to see him grow in self-awareness and insight into his natural blind spots.
In summary, the most important elements for
predicting relationship success were actually not in
place in Jason and Ritas relationship. Their lovemaps had major areas of incompatibility; neither of
them had their expectations for an ideal mate satisfied by the other. Both had average to unhealthy
levels of development (especially Jason). They had
different subtypes (his Self-preservation versus her
Sexual) and they lacked a connecting line that would
have allowed them to complement one anothers differences. The only structural factor they had for relationship success was sharing the same Harmonic
Group the Positive Outlook Group (composed
of Nines, Sevens and Twos). Their shared optimism
was, no doubt, a strong point of attraction in the

Keynote Speaker: Cheri Huber

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Pre-conference Day Event:

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and teaching Back to The Future.
This pre-conference experience will challenge us to bring back the integration of spirit and
psychology. What leads to transformation? What is just a distraction? What do we really mean by
being present? How do we awaken to our souls purpose? How do we incorporate the best of our
western tradition? Lecture, facilitated break out groups, and conversation with David and Russ.

beginning and it was also the note on which their

relationship ended in my office.
Sarah and Jason as Self-preservation
Sevens
Both Sarah and Jason are highly materialistic and
preoccupied with Self-preservation issues. In Sarahs
case, her need to purchase her dream house at an affordable price allowed her to rationalize deceiving
her husband about the adulterous liaison that made
the ownership possible. Although she assumed that
her husbands desire for the house was as great as her
own, her failure to either discuss the issue with him
before accepting Jacks sexual proposition or disclose
it afterward suggests an underlying awareness that her
actions would probably have seriously damaged their
relationship.
Jasons primary focus on making the sports bar a
going concern reveals his preoccupation with financial security. His relationship with his fiance was
clearly of secondary importance in his life and the
foot fetish that worried him was actually a minor issue compared with his inability to commit to intimacy on a deep level. It was probably a wise decision
to break the engagement, given their incompatible
temperaments.

Reprinted with permission from:

Sex, Love and Your Personality:
The Nine Faces of Intimacy

Pre-Conference: Thursday, July 26, 2012

IEA Member $110 Non-Member $140
Conference: Friday Sunday, July 27-29, 2012
U.S. Residents
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Register by March 15, 2012
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$375.00
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$475.00
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Cancellation Policy: Refunds will be given until June 1, 2012, (minus $50 administration
fee). No refunds will be given after June 2, 2012.

Endnote Speaker: Dario Nardi, Ph.D., is a full time lecturer at the

University of California, Los Angeles. Dario has a long term interest in personality and organizational behavior,
recently adding the Enneagram to his considerable wealth of knowledge. A compelling conclusion to three great days.

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December 2011

enneagram monthly

Sexuality, Gender Roles & the Enneagram

he first question we ask when a baby is born

is: Is it a boy or a girl? Gender identity is the
most basic of all human identities. Though
most people accept most of the socially prescribed
roles for the gender they were born with, some struggle against what they see as rigid and arbitrary social
norms. All of us wonder: Exactly what is this mysterious sexual urge that drives us? Is our sexuality simply
the particular cravings we express in our most private
moments with a lover? How does our sexuality relate
to our need for novelty? Is there some universal motor that runs sexual arousal for all of us?
We wouldnt expect a fish to have much insight
into the nature of water. Men and women immersed
in a hair-raising ride through the whitewater rapids of
sexual conflicts and attractions look like equally poor
bets for insights into the nature of sexuality and its
relation to gender roles. However, I believe those of
us who are familiar with the Enneagram have at our
disposal an extraordinary tool for transcending our
individual identities to gain a broader perspective on
some important aspects of human sexuality and its
relation to gender roles in our society.
Before I get into my thoughts about that, it might
be well to begin with a couple of definitions. By sexuality I mean the personal experience of arousal and
the drive toward orgasm. By gender roles I mean
our societys conventions about which behaviors are
appropriate for males and which for females. Gender
roles are, in a sense, the context in which our sexuality exists in society.
On the issue of the root of human sexuality, I know
of no better theory than Colin Wilsons. In his provocative book Origins of the Sexual Impulse, he suggests
that the underlying motor of sexuality is: the need for
alien-nessthe illusion of the inviolability of the other person, upon which all sexual desire depends (p.
42). His book is basically an expansion of this idea:
Satisfactory sex is the invasion of the others alienness. This is why we call the sexual parts our private
parts. All depends upon the idea of violating strangenessWhen the intensity of sexual response depends on
the alien-ness that has been invaded, it follows that men
will try to intensify the response still further by going further afield in alien-ness. Since their enjoyment of normal
sex depends on the sense of violating a taboo, it follows
that they will try to increase their satisfaction by including as many taboos as possible in the sexual objectAll
sexual perversions, from mere adultery to necrophily, can
be seen as attempts to increase the alien-ness of the act by
increasing the number of taboos involved. Sex can never,
on any level, be healthy or normal. It always depends
on the violating of taboosor, as Baudelaire would have
said, on the sense of sin (pp. 246-47).
Many writers on sexuality have observed that
most of us choose as sexual partners people who are
distinct in temperament from ourselves. In her book
The Sexual Self (an examination of sexual types in
which readers familiar with the Enneagram will see
clear correspondences to the nine Enneagram fixations) sex therapist Avodah K. Offit writes:

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December 2011

Judith Searle
Passive people are most frequently married to dominant ones. By dominant, I do not necessarily mean aggressive or commanding. Dominance can also be related
to mood, degree of verbosity, exhibitionism, paranoia,
intellect, or indeed any other prevailing characteristic
(p. 206).
This pattern, Offit points out, has deep roots in
the animal world:
In mating, mammals with a cortex are always concerned with some form of dominance, submission, or
protection. Without Psyche, Cupid does not function (p.
235).

To most sophisticated students of the

Enneagram, it is axiomatic that each of
us, while identifying a home base point
we call our fixation, participates in all
points to some degree.

To most sophisticated students of the Enneagram,

it is axiomatic that each of us, while identifying a
home base point we call our fixation, participates
in all points to some degree. A major strength of the
Enneagram as a system is its compassionate acceptance of the full range of human types and its refusal
to judge one as inherently better than any other.
Nowhere is this concept more rigorously tested than
in our consideration of gender roles and their relation to the diagram. There are certain points most of
us associate with the femininenotably Two and
Fourand a certain point most of us associate with
the masculinenotably Eight. For each of us, the
tensions that drive our fixation shape our particular
sexual style as well, but I believe each of us is also
powerfully influenced by the opposition between
Four and Eight (in which Two participates in ways
Ill discuss later).
My basic thesis in this article is this: that the Four
and Eight Enneagram points form a kind of universal
template for gender roles in our society, and that the opposition between them is the source of the essential alienness that serves as the motor for our sexuality.
Four and Eight is a common combination in couples, and this pairing shows an obvious complementarity. As I observed in my article The Latitude and
Longitude of Enneagram Fixations, Fours gift is for
authenticity: depth of feeling, aesthetic perfect pitch,
a romantic and passionate orientation to life. The
price of this gift is self-absorption, and its pitfall is a
tendency toward self-dramatization. Fours often view
themselves as passionate people doomed to chronic
pain because of the insensitivity of others. The rubber band effect in relationships (which Helen Palmer
has astutely observed is characteristic of the Four)
suggests that Fours may have a problem with too

much pleasuremay in fact require a certain amount

of pain to keep their feelings always at fever pitch and
thus reinforce their view of themselves as more sensitive and authentically alive than most people.

Eights gift is for action: a readiness to do

whatever is necessary to seize and maintain power in a situation, a thick hide, a
relish for confrontation, and a strong
sexual appetite. The price of this gift is
impulsiveness and its pitfall is a tendency
to hold grudgesto inflict massive punishments on those who would impede
Eights pursuit of their desires.
Eights gift is for action: a readiness to do whatever
is necessary to seize and maintain power in a situation,
a thick hide, a relish for confrontation, and a strong
sexual appetite. The price of this gift is impulsiveness
(an inability to forego confrontation, even when restraint might be more advantageous), and its pitfall is
a tendency to hold grudgesto inflict massive punishments on those who would impede Eights pursuit
of their desires. Not surprisingly, Eights often cause
quite a bit of pain to those around them. And this
tendency makes them the perfect partner for Fours.
Though Offits book makes no reference to the
Enneagram, she observes a similar complementarity:
On the negative side, pain dependencethe craving
to receive hurt, either physical or emotionalseems to
be one of the most powerful aphrodisiacs of all time. This
is often related to the sadism with which many parents
expressed their concern. Children accustomed to having
their bodies or sensibilities abused tend to preserve their
punishments in later life by forming relationships which
imitate early models. Security has become associated
with pain.
Both receiving gratification of dependent needs and
giving it can be immensely arousing. Those who derive
satisfaction from supporting, parenting, or inflicting
pain on people who would be better off without these attentions generally demonstrate that form of dependency
which underlies aggressive character traits (p. 40).
The intense one-pointed focus of pain in the body
has an obvious relationship to the intense one-pointed focus of sexual pleasure. In a sense, pleasure is inseparable from pain in the human nervous system the
same way light is inseparable from shadow in chiaroscuro painting. Pain is actually essential to human
survival. Diseases such as leprosy that interfere with
peoples capacity to feel pain are extremely dangerous
because their victims lack the early-warning system
that keeps most of us from seriously damaging our
bodies.
Ive emphasized the sadistic-masochistic split between Eight and Four in order to make my point, but
its important to remember that all sexualitynot

just its pathological manifestationsrequires a basic

alien-ness as a motor for desire. I have found Don
Richard Risos model (which describes the range of
healthy to unhealthy behaviors for each Enneagram
type) enormously useful in many ways, and it has
obvious applications here. The relationship between
Eight and Four partners might range all the way from
a passionate, fulfilling adventure to a downward cycle
of battering, terror, and murder. We see vivid depictions of the pathology of eroticized pain in such literary works as The Story of O and Susanna Moores
recent novel In the Cut.
Helen Palmer has pointed out that Mexico is basically an Eight/Four culture, with the men predominantly Eights and the women predominantly Fours. (I
suspect this pattern may be true of Hispanic cultures
generally.) I think most students of the Enneagram
would acknowledge that the Four and Eight points
on the diagram have strong gender associations. But
lets consider for a moment the opposites of those stereotypes. Though we all know female Eights and male
Fours, we recognize that these people frequently find
themselves at odds with societys expectationsthe
Eight females often being seen as unwomanly, the
Four males as unmanly.

A close look at the Two point offers another perspective on the notion that
Eight and Four represent a kind of universal template for sexuality. The worlds
great loversfrom Casanova to Madonnahave often been Twos.
The great value of the Enneagram in this instance
is that it allows us to see these types (indeed, all types)
as basic human types, not restricted in their gender
incidence at all. I have yet to see any reliable studies
of the numbers of males and females in the Eight and
Four categories (or in any of the points, for that matter), but my gut-level sense is that there are probably
in the general population about the same proportion
of males and females in each point. However, I do observe a tendency among certain types in certain gender categories to be homosexual in their orientation.
Among gay males there seems to be a larger proportion of Fours than in the heterosexual male population, while among lesbians there seems to be a skewed
proportion of Eights. (This is of course not to suggest
that all Eight females are lesbian or all Four males gay,
or that examples of all nine Enneagram types are not
found among gay men and lesbians.) It is interesting to note that even within same-sex relationships
there are usually distinct Eight/Four assignments of
roles: rough trade and queen for males, butch
and femme for females.
A close look at the Two point offers another perspective on the notion that Eight and Four represent
a kind of universal template for sexuality. The worlds
great loversfrom Casanova to Madonnahave often been Twos. Twos gift is for empathy: a powerful
ability to connect with the feelings of others. Through
their extraordinary sexual empathy Twos are able to

10

scope out the erotic longings of others, and their ability to play a variety of roles has led some psychologists
to characterize them as histrionic. The price of their
gift is a lack of connectedness to their own feelings, and
their pitfall is a tendency to manipulate people.
When we examine the Enneagram anatomy of
the Two point, we see that Twos have as their longitude (security-stress continuum) a direct line between
Four and Eight. So Two is essentially an embodiment
of the Eight/Four opposition, a paradoxical combination of aggressiveness and passivity, yang and yin.
Having no compelling erotic agenda of their own,
seductive Twos are skilled at adapting to their partners sexual scenario, playing whatever role seems
likely to prove most arousing. The hidden agenda for
all Twos is power, which Twos often achieve through
their sexual prowess. We need to remember, of course,
that Twos come in many different versionsrunning
the gamut from radiant, altruistic health to hysterical,
power-driven pathology.
Of all points on the Enneagram, Twos have the
most potential for polymorphous perversity
swinging both ways. If a reliable tool for assessing
sexual orientation in relation to the Enneagram were
ever developed, I suspect it would show that a large
proportion of bi-sexuals (of both sexes) are Twos.
In its embodiment of the Four/Eight opposition,
Two exemplifies the possibilities for maintaining variety and sexual excitement through the trading off of
gender roles in relationships. Having myself been in
a relationship with a Two man for nearly thirty years,
I can attest to the power of this kind of sexual play in
keeping sexuality alive. I suspect that most long-term
couples with strong sexual relationships, both heterosexual and homosexual, experiment with this kind of
alternation of gender roles.
A look at the Enneagram Three offers yet another
interesting perspective on the Eight/Four opposition
as a template for sexuality and gender roles. Characteristically, the Three is concerned with presenting an
appropriate image to the world, with Three women
appearing conventionally feminine and Three men
conventionally masculine. Essential to the Three
persona is an ability to gauge how one is perceived by
others and a skill in fine-tuning the picture to elicit the
desired response. (We all, of course, share this ability
to some degree, but Threes are exceptionally adept in
this area.)
I suspect that when gay men and lesbians who are
Threes choose to keep their sexual orientation private
they probably have more success than homosexuals of
other Enneagram points in maintaining the appearance of heterosexuality.
The Threes focus on role playing makes me think
of the way children play house: Ill be the daddy,
you be the mommy. Or doctor (the great euphemism for childhood sexual explorations): Ill be the
doctor, you be the patient. Both these games are, in
effect, practice sessions with Eight/Four polarities.
Through trying on gender roles we learn to define
ourselves in terms of the worlds expectations.
Looking at the Threes ability to put on the mask
of whatever gender image seems appropriate, I find
myself wondering how firmly our sexuality is actually
entrenched in immutable gender roles. Is it possible

that all gender roles, for every Enneagram type, may

ultimately be a part of our consensual social/sexual
trancea lets pretend that we subscribe to in the
interest of generating sexual arousal? Are our approved lists of behaviors for each gender more arbitrary than we like to acknowledge? Does our view of
distinct (and mutually exclusive) gender role categories really qualify as any more than a sort of masturbatory fantasy that allows us to maintain the alien-ness
we need to get off?
Each of the Enneagram points tells itself a different story about the nature of reality. In this sense
the nine points are like nine blind people trying to
describe an elephant. Each of the nine stories about
the elephant is true, but each is limited because it is
not the whole story. I believe this situation applies
also to our personal concepts of the nature of sexuality, each of us being equally blinkered by being either
male or femalecategories as mutually exclusive (and
as connected) as the nine Enneagram types.
One of the great virtues of the Enneagram is that it
allows us to grasp the possibility of an essential truth
beyond our individual fixated views. In my own One
fixation, for example, I am obsessed with imperfection
(both in the world and in myself ) and feel compelled
to fix it. Yet beyond what I see through the flawed
lens of my fixation is an essential truth: that the world
is perfect, just as it is; that its very life depends on its
constant changing and the growth of people within it
in an organic way.
In similar fashion, each of us tells ourselves stories
about the nature of sexuality from the skewed perspective of our personal sexual fantasies. But there
is a kernel of truth underlying all the stories, and I
believe the Enneagram can help us see the universal
template we all subscribe to: that alien-ness, the motor that runs our desire, depends on our telling ourselves some version of a story about an Eight/Four
opposition between ourselves and our lovers. Out of
this awareness we can gain compassion for ourselves
and others caught in societys fixation that there are
appropriate behaviors for males that are distinct and
opposite from appropriate behaviors for females.
Nothing brings us closer to our deepest human
essence than the experience of a fulfilling and generous sexuality, and looking at our sexuality and gender
roles through the correcting and magnifying lens of
the Enneagram can offer a valuable perspective on
our lives.

(from Enneagram Monthly # 15, May 1996)

__________
Offit, Avodah K., The Sexual Self, revised edition.
(New York: Congdon & Weed, Inc., 1983).
Palmer, Helen, The Enneagram. (New York: HarperCollins, 1988).
Riso, Don Richard, Personality Types. (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1987).
Searle, Judith, The Latitude and Longitude of
Enneagram Fixations, Enneagram Monthly (February-April 1996).
Wilson, Colin, Origins of the Sexual Impulse. (London: Panther Books, 1966).

December 2011

enneagram monthly

Whats the Point?

his article is about what Ive learned, on my

particular journey, about how the enneagram
can be a tool for both freedom and bondage.
All of us need to ask what we truly want. To what
are we truly committed? Most all of us would say that
we want to be happy, to be at peace. Most people
still believe that happiness lies in attaining or getting
rid of some objects of consciousness: if I just had the
right lover, if I just had enough money, if I could just
feel really healthy, then Id be really happy. Those with
a more therapeutic bent may feel that: if I could just
get in touch with my anger, if I could heal my inner
child, if I could just work through some early memories, then I could be free. Within the human potential
movement if might be: if I could just keep my agreements, if I could just clarify, visualize and manifest
my goals, then Id be more happy. Even those on a
spiritual path have generally traded in those objects
of consciousness for others: if I could just understand
this theory, if I could just find the time to meditate
more, if I could just get all of my chakras opened, if
I could just master this particular practice, if I could
just reach the next level, then Id be closer to enlightenment.

Joel M. Rothaizer (Ashoka)

a place we can visit now and then. Others have the
direct knowing that rather than being just a place to
visit, this profound Peace is who we are. For the purpose of this article, Ill talk about this transcendent
deep peace as simply being Home.
So how does this relate to the enneagram? There
are so many equations, if I just had X then Id be Y,
where X is some object of consciousness and Y
is lasting happiness, freedom, security, comfort, etc.
It seemed to me that these attempts to find lasting
states of being in changing objects of consciousness
only leads to frustration and suffering. The enneagrams great gift is in describing nine strategy clusters
for getting something, nine belief systems regarding
how one can achieve some state, nine misguided attempts to find Home.

Im sure Im like most of you out there. Ive gone for

that lover, that job, that healing, those goals. Ive attended
countless workshops, dutifully followed a large number
of spiritual practices, etc. Through it all, though, there
was the nagging awareness that something was missing.

What we have always been seeking

(peace, love, happiness) is always immediately available because it is who we are.
It is what is effortlessly revealed when we
stop struggling, when the mind quiets,
when we give up the search, when we stop
seeking some external (or even internal)
source for happiness.

A few have come to the awareness that true and

lasting happiness can never be dependent on any
objects of consciousness, whether material, physical,
mental, emotional or spiritual. The only thing we can
count on, with any objects of consciousness, is that
they change. Sometimes relationships are working,
sometimes not. Financial and physical conditions
fluctuate. Everything changes. Like it or not, eventually this body will rot and well have neither relationships, money, health, understanding, nor spiritual
practice.
Some conclude that the pursuit of true happiness,
true peace, true tranquillity is illusory. Others have
had glimpses of a profound Peace that is beyond any
objects of consciousness. Having experienced desireless Bliss that exploded and then faded, they may
then spent their lives seeking to reclaim and reside
in this state.
That awareness of a deep peace within can arise
in so many ways. Most of us have had it, at least to
some degree. For some it was fleeting, for some it remained for a considerable period of time. For some
it was something that got filed away in a secret part
of memory, rarely to be shared, and not directly influencing day-to-day life. For others it had a powerful
life transforming impact, and nothing is ever again
the same.
There are many names given to such transcendent
experiences. Some call it finding God, or experiencing Spirit or Essence. Some call it the Higher Self, or
just Self. Many view it as an experience, sort of like

I should say something about my background.

The spiritual lineage with which I resonate comes
from Ramana Maharshi, and most principally his
disciple H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji). My experience,
consistent with this lineage, is that what we have always been seeking (peace, love, happiness) is always
immediately available because it is who we are. It is
what is effortlessly revealed when we stop struggling,
when the mind quiets, when we give up the search,
when we stop seeking some external (or even internal) source for happiness. Home is available right
here, right now, but its the very pursuit of it, the very
strategies to which we cling, that close the door on actually having happiness, peace, freedom, etc. Fulfillment comes from emptiness, not from getting more
of anything (including knowledge, concepts, belief
systems). The enneagram describes these strategies to
which we cling which inadvertently cause suffering.
Ill be using the term fixation to refer to any following of those strategies, any attempt to find lasting
happiness in objects of consciousness.
Those of us who have had even a glimpse of that
Peace know that there is a heaven. Ive heard the
ego defined as that which obscures conscious abidance in the Self (being Home). The enneagram describes how we leave heaven and descend into one
of nine versions of a personal hell. In that hell
we forget that we are Peace itself, and we go looking
for it. We become attached to a particular version of
me and my story. We begin acting from the belief

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December 2011

that something out there or even in here will give

us what we most deeply want, and we create suffering
for ourselves and for others.
My experience has been that my ego structure, that
of a self-preservation Three, creates particular filters
through which I view myself and all the other objects of
consciousness When Im attached to that structure, when
I get carried by the waves of its ego movement, I find that
lasting peace and happiness is always off in some distance,
tantalizingly on the horizon, something I can achieve if I
just do enough X. When I hold onto nothing (including any spiritual experience or idea that Ive acquired
some special spiritual knowledge), welcoming everything
and resisting nothing, I naturally and consciously reside
in that most pristine Silence. Im consciously Home.
Ive found the enneagram to be extraordinarily
powerful in serving this awareness. The enneagram
is a map of egoic movement. It shows how we leave
Home, how we descend into hell. It reveals the whole
structure of how we create suffering for ourselves and
for others, how we search for something permanent
in the world of the impermanent. It identifies the
subtleties of egoic movement, the ways in which we
fool ourselves into believing were being spontaneous,
believing were acting freely, believing that were getting somewhere. We discover that were often acting
as egoic robots, cleverly programmed to believe were
acting from free will. Used correctly, the enneagram
provides a point of awareness from which we can begin to unravel the egoic knot.
More correctly stated, the enneagram has the potential to assist us in seeing the suffering that resides
in all egoic structures. It can also be used (and often
is used) to deepen egoic identification. Some enneagram teachers devote equal time to the strengths of
each type, the particular assets each brings to relationships, organizations, etc. Positive names are given to
each point: The Leader, The Motivator, The Supporter, The Thinker, etc., etc. On face value there would
seem to be some validity for that. Isnt a Three useful
in helping to get people pumped up? Isnt it great to
have a Two who monitors peoples needs? Arent we
all fortunate to have an Eight who can take charge
and get things done? The problem is that when enneagram teachers are discussing the strengths of each
type, it seems to me that they are almost always referring to whats positive about each type while its
still in fixation. With healthy development were in
relatively less fixation, to be sure. But as long as were
still in fixation, no matter how subtle, we continue to
cause unnecessary suffering for ourselves and others,
no matter how things look on the surface.
When I began to honestly examine my own behavior
I found that as long as I was in any way attached to the
Three fixation, everything I did was contaminated by a
deep selfishness, where others were objects to hopefully
please this egoic structure. No matter how any behavior
appeared on the outside, there was a selfish root. True
love and compassion were masked, and at best imitated,

11

except in those blessed moments when fixation relaxed

or dropped. For example, I received a lot of approval
throughout my life for being someone who was good to
talk to, and I suppose I was. However, while in college
I had the uncomfortable realization that internally Id
get really upset if someone got better and didnt need
my help any more, or if they talked to someone else about
their problems instead of me. On the egoic level, I clearly
was less interested in their well-being than in my own.
Similarly, Twos in fixation arent really giving, theyre
taking. Nines in fixation arent true peacemakers,
theyre placators who arent willing to bear the discomfort
that it would take to truly deal with the issues at hand.
And so it goes with all the types and their strengths.
Each type certainly has unique gifts which are revealed
when fixation drops. As long as theres fixation, however,
people at best display the imitation of those gifts. Ultimately the only good fixation is a dissolved fixation.
Theres nothing wrong with focusing on the positive aspects of each type (in fixation) if one is still
at the stage of ego strengthening. Everything has it
place. The problem is that at this stage one still believes that deep and lasting happiness comes from
augmenting those strengths and watching out for the
types particular pitfalls, and this is a limiting idea.
As long as Im operating within the relative world,
the world of objects of consciousness, I can achieve
relative results. Perhaps I can decrease my suffering
and increase my happiness. Unfortunately, however,
one must ultimately consider the possibility that this
very pursuit of happiness obscures the true source of
it. When were busy trying to get somewhere, trying
work on ourselves, we miss the discovery that deep
and lasting peace resides where most of us are least
likely to look, in the blissful silence thats revealed
when we stop the efforting and the doing, when we
welcome everything, even our pain and suffering.
I know so many people who devote such energy to
working on themselves. With great sincerity they process early life traumas, reflect on their feelings, and do a
variety of other practices to free themselves from limiting
beliefs and patterns. Some do so with the enneagram as
a principle frame of reference. I too have worked on
myself so much in this lifetime. When I stepped back,
however, I had to come to terms with the fact that the
more I processed the more I found to process, that there
didnt seem to be an end in sight. Perhaps you cant get
there from here?
Ive generally loved and recommended Riso/Hudsons new edition of Personality Types. Its a major
contribution, and my partner and I have all of our
workshop participants read it. The nine levels of
development are a really useful way of showing the
range of behaviors within each type, from least fixation to deepest fixation. Their level one reflects a
remarkable degree of health, and can serve as a beacon for people to see whats possible as their fixation
weakens. Despite the beauty of the level one descriptions, however, my sense is that theres still something more thats revealed at each enneagram point
when egoic attachment has truly dropped. This could
be aptly called a level zero, the fully awakened man-

12

ifestation of each type, a level where all sense of me

as a separate individual has dissolved. At this level it
becomes nine flavors of desirelessness, nine flavors
of pure Self expression where all duality has disappeared.
As Ive said, my particular egoic structure is that of a
self-preservation Three. At first I saw the grossest aspects
of this fixation. During my first enneagram workshop,
for example, a man was talking to me and I realized
that, within the fixation, I really didnt care what he had
to say. Inwardly I was impatient for him to stop talking so I could say something that was really significant
and of course impressive. The awareness of the selfishness of that was quite uncomfortable. Well, theres actually some deceit in that statement as well. It would have
been quite uncomfortable, even unbearable, if Id slowed
down enough to really feel the depth of the selfishness
fully. Instead, I of course managed to put a positive spin
on the awareness and shared it in an optimistic way that
turned it into a win, attempting to gain the approval
of the workshop leader and participants in the process. I
recognized the enormous power of the enneagram in that
first workshop and it has been with me consciously on a
daily basis since then.

How can the enneagram be both a tool for

liberation and for bondage? It becomes a
tool for bondage when one believes that
one is ones fixation. It then becomes an
excuse for behavior, a way to avoid taking
responsibility.
The enneagram presents such a profound framework for understanding ourselves and others. It can
facilitate the dropping of so many veils from our perception, resulting in an ever-deepening clarity regarding what drives our behavior and that of others. Some
authors (e.g., Tom Condon) aptly talk about the fixations as hypnotic trances, where there are more awakened and more entranced versions of each type. The
enneagram can be used to awaken from fixation, and
it can also be abused and used to deepen fixation,
to deepen identification with the ego. It can support
freedom or bondage. Its a two-edged sword.
How can the enneagram be both a tool for liberation and for bondage? It becomes a tool for bondage
when one believes that one is ones fixation. It then
becomes an excuse for behavior, a way to avoid taking responsibility. But I am not a Three. In the absence of identification with the egoic structure called
point Three, Im consciously Home. The value of
the enneagram is in revealing who I am NOT, but
have come to believe I am. When people identify the
fixation as who they ARE, they solidify their identification with the egoic structure, and thus also solidify
their attachment to illusion and suffering.
I began a process of self-exploration and opening
around the age of twenty that became the central feature of my life. The journey included psychotherapy, personal growth, the human potential movement, living on

a spiritual commune, sitting with enlightened teachers,

doing countless spiritual and meditation practices, and
much more. Later, in my initial enneagram workshop,
I looked at my whole life and saw that virtually all of it
had been contaminated by the motivation of the Three
fixation, and much of what Id done had inadvertently
strengthened the fixation. Once I entered a system I would
begin to turn it into an achievement vehicle. This unfortunately required significant self-deception. Whatever
deep understanding was supposed to look like, thats
who I was, or at least thought I was. In order to fit in
I generally turned off my discernment. What looked like
surrender was really abdication of responsibility. I added
to my spiritual resume, at times even making a list of all
the enlightened beings with whom Id sat.
Fortunately, my exposure to the enneagram coincided
with direct experiences of being Home. For twenty years
Id done so much, tried so hard to re-experience the peace
Id discovered in that public meditation. The ultimate
cosmic joke was revealed: the belief in an I who had to
make some efforts to be free was what had always been in
the way of residing in that inner peace. The enneagram
became a tool to show the egoic movements through which
I left inner peace and re-created hell. That which I had
longed for was always present, but my consciousness did
not always reside there. The enneagram was a map of the
particular habitual desire structure within this Threeness, the actual routes into hell.
There were ongoing discoveries. I found that the first
movement of the egoic structure often could be experienced
in the eyes, as a kind of pressure, a reaching out to the
other to get approval. I explored how this egoic structure
could co-opt spiritual truth and use it to support fixation,
e.g., using principles like spiritual detachment to support
an aloof and arrogant position, or using an awareness of
the illusory nature of reality to support the Threes defense
of not feeling things authentically and deeply.
I learned that when I was really present in my life
there was an exquisite vulnerability, neither resisting nor
hanging on to any experience, while in the egoic imitation there was a numbness, a lack of compassion. I found
that compassion and gratitude were not qualities that
needed to be developed (although the Three dutifully did
the appropriate exercises), but rather qualities that were
naturally present whenever the egoic movement slowed
or stopped.
I discovered that Id been doing meditation instead of
being meditation. I discovered that most of my acquired
spiritual wisdom was only borrowed and imitated. I
discovered the extent of my spiritual ego, internal deceit
and spiritual fraudulence. In the unmasking and revelation of that, I also directly experienced the profound fear
of humiliation that runs beneath the Three fixation.
I discovered that when one chooses to Stop, chooses
to not follow the egoic tendencies, one must be willing
to face all the demons that run the fixation. Threes
seem to have a particular flavor of agitation, a need to
constantly be doing something. I found that there were
layers of anger, sadness, fear, hopelessness, and dread that
had been hidden by that agitation. I then understood
much of why so many people experience inner peace and
yet move back into egoic patterns, why they find Home
and then leave. In the stopping of egoic movement theres
much bliss, but that bliss must also welcome everything
that has been repressed for so long. We cant welcome

December 2011

enneagram monthly

peace without welcoming pain. This only sounds bad

to the mind; however, I discovered that when one dives
into the heart of that which has been avoided, rather
than running from it, one finds peace at the core of everything.
Using the enneagram, what promotes liberation
and what promotes bondage? What supports a quiet
mind and an open heart, and what supports further
egoic identification? This seems a very important
question for on-going discussion. For example, what
degree of complexity is useful in supporting freedom,
and what adds to egoic bondage?
The interviews with Oscar Ichazo seem to have generated considerable controversy. Rock et al. wrote that
Oscar sees the enneagram as a doorway into authentic
enlightenment, rather than being a mere psychology
typology, and that the ego-fixations are the mechanisms by which we hold ourselves to be separate. This
is my experience as well, that the ego fixations represent the particular ways in which we create a special
me with its particular desires and attachments, and
that identification with this fixation is the barrier to
true awakening. I also deeply resonate with the value
of self-examination, recognizing the subtleties of egoic
movement and being willing to not follow them, no
matter what demons must then be faced.

My experience continues to be that freedom is instantly available when identification with the egoic structure stops.
Stillness is our birthright, it is who we
are, and there is no efforting necessary
to reside in who we already are.
At the same time, I wonder about the value of
trying to understand the degree of conceptual complexity that I find in the interviews. When does more
knowledge add to the unraveling of the egoic knot,
and when does it deepen the sense that theres a separate I who has achieved some very special knowledge? When does more knowledge allow the mind
to let go of its grip, and when does it strengthen its
grip with the belief Ill be so much freer if I can just
understand these concepts? When people meet in
study groups to understand complexities, how does
this facilitate a quiet mind and an open heart?
I also question that one has to work through levels
or stages of anything in order to be free. My experience continues to be that freedom is instantly available
when identification with the egoic structure stops.
Stillness is our birthright, it is who we are, and there is
no efforting necessary to reside in who we already are.
What seems required is a relaxed vigilance, the resolve
to not follow egoic movement, noticing the tendencies and not following them. Fulfillment comes from
emptiness. Its a letting go, not an adding-on.
I was just talking to a friend of mine whos still active
in a spiritual group to which I used to belong. We had an
interesting discussion. This group is similar to many others in which a teacher tells you what to do in order to be

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December 2011

free. I experience the ego as

a sense of agitation, the belief that I have to do something in order to be free. In
these spiritual communities,
there seems to be a tendency
to replace one set of desires
for objects of consciousness
(more money, more prestige,
etc.) with another set of desires for objects of consciousness (better service, deeper
meditation, the approval
of the teacher, etc.). Home
is still somewhere out on
the horizon. Perhaps these
spiritual teachings inadvertently reinforce what I
call do-ality, the belief that
theres something I need to
do in order to be free. Ultimately, perhaps, despite
the best of intentions, something fundamental doesnt
change. Material agitation
gets replaced by spiritual
agitation. Then, whats the
point?
When I read and hear
from the top names in
the enneagram world, I
find much of the information useful. I also notice that some of these
people (but not all) seem
to have developed their
own arrogance of I know
more than the others do.
Im right, theyre wrong.
Their presentation contain eruptions of egohood, me-ness, specialness, competitiveness. I
recognize all too well the
arrogance of this I know
as being a reflection of an
unquiet mind. Perhaps for
some the enneagram has
stopped being an instrument of liberation, and
instead is one of bondage.
Then, whats the point?
All I can recommend
is that each of us get clear
on what we truly want,
and then deeply ask ourselves what supports freedom and what supports
bondage.
(from
Monthly #
1997)

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13

Type Three and Anxiety

nneagram Type Three (the Performer), the

ideal of our culture with its projections
of boundless health and self-confidence,
hardly seems the place to begin research on anxiety. However, a Three who has begun to practice
self-observation may begin to notice that the air of
self-confidence is a performance designed to hide
anxieties from the audience consisting of oneself,
as well as others.
The onset of an anxiety attack can be quite sudden. Those of us with type Three personalities can
be the life of the party one minute and find ourselves obsessing over an offhand remark or a look
the next. Often this begins in a moment of solitude
after a period of social interaction when our attention is no longer focused outward. If we are prone
to shifting easily to the suspicious, Six side of the
inner triangle, the sinister nature of the incident
might pop into our heads with the intuitive flash of
the aha! experience, leading us to believe that it
simply must be true. The stage can vary; it makes
no difference if the anxiety is played out against the
backdrop of the office, the family, social or religious
group, or even the neighborhood, but the effects are
always the sameand extremely unpleasant. The
mental function obsesses over the language or gesture or the context in which the suspicious incident
manifested, and tries to think its way through
the quandary. The emotional function will respond
with a variety of negative states, which may include
anger and indignation. The body may behave as if
it were under attack, with adrenaline and acutely
tensed muscles, which, if left unchecked, may even
result in the generation of illness. During a severe
attack, we may find ourselves unable to be present
to what is in front of us, unable to breathe, unable
to concentrate, unable to sleep.
How do we deal with anxiety attacks? If we
have access to counterphobic Six, we will confront
the situation head-on to discover if our assessment
of the situation is correct, perhaps packaging it to
the other person as a reality check in order to
save face. This strategy sounds a lot more useful
than the phobic approach, which is to brood and
avoid, but in reality it has very limited results. If
we find, much to our surprise and delight, that our
assessment of danger is incorrect, the thrill of relief
lasts a very short time, and soon our machine is hot
on the trail of another plot.
However we handle the situation, one theme is common: we are convinced that our well-being and happiness are dependent upon something external to us.
Because our lives are at a complete standstill
during an anxiety attack, in the moment we feel like
we are willing to do anything, anything, to make it
stop. If we are particularly mechanical and external at the moment, we may decide to change jobs,
end the friendship, or become ingratiating. If we are
dabbling in Work ideas, we might resolve to stop
whatever behavior we believe has caused the situation, such as talking back to a supervisor or arguing
with the spouse. We might even, if we have been

14

Tsivya R. Larson
working on ourselves for a while, resolve further to
not express negativity, talk less, and keep our energy
more centered. And, if we remember to make these
efforts, we might even see a lessening of anxiety.
However, the situation calls for a much deeper
change, a change of attitude towards ourselves on
the very basic level of self-definition. And then,
deeper still, since the way we define ourselves also
defines how we view the world and reality.
How did we ever get in this pickle in the first
place? Lets go back to a happier time, maybe a
week or a month ago, when our product or our
act received compliments. Who we are and what
we do are two entirely different things, and yet the
Three machineOUR machinewould convince
us that we are our product, we are our image. We
define ourselves as the good mother or father, the
compassionate friend, the wise shopper, the top
salesperson.

However we handle the situation, one

theme is common: we are convinced that
our well-being and happiness are dependent upon something external to us.
The name of the role hardly matters; there are an
infinite number of variations on a theme. They all
have one common thread: we are the best, the most
efficient, the Authority. As long as others agree with
usor, more accurately, dont contradict our fantasyall is well with the world. But let this position
be threatened, and not just the role, but the very
foundation of our existence, is in jeopardy. We are
not afraid only that we will lose someones esteem
or our job, but our very justification for existence.
We fear not that the axe will lop off a branch, but
that it will destroy our roots.
Paradoxically, at the moment that we embraced
the role, we rejected the talents and efforts which
we brought to it that resulted in success. In the moment when we could have sat with the knowledge
that we have done the job well, when we could
have eaten the fact that we are capable of doing a
good job, we have rejected it for the role. The idea,
I am capable of meeting the demands of the moment has a much broader range than just being the
authority on a given subject. If I have let myself
be capable of imaginative thinking and hard work,
then it is possible for me to let myself be capable
of other things, too, such as courage or sensitivity;
the possibilities are endless. However, embracing
a role excludes everything which is not defined in
that role, and these things then become part of our
unacknowledged dark side.
Let us go back further still. As young children,
we were not dealing with issues such as approval,
identity, and justifying our existence. We were content to be in the moment. Our finger painting was

a joy to make and fun to look at and show offfor

maybe five minutes, and then on to the next adventure. If another child said our painting was awful,
our life and position were not threatened. Somewhere since that time we have picked up excess
baggage, the belief that we have to do a job or be a
role just to exist.
As children, when we were frightened or wanted
something very badly, we made promises to heaven
to be good or attend religious services if only we
were granted our hearts desire, and too often, when
we did receive what we wanted, we went happily
on our way without fulfilling our promise. Now, as
adults, we do the same, making all sorts of promises which are forgotten when we are on the feel
good swing of the pendulum. When we are lost in
the false security of the feel good, we forget that
the anxiety attacks even exist. And yet, therein lies
the roots of the problem. If I did not place my sense
of self in the product or the image back when it was
being received favorably, then my machine would
not feel threatened when the product is criticized or
the image is tarnished. The Three machine really
does believe, Love me, love my product. Further:
I am my job, I am my role, I am my product.
Once a full-blown anxiety attack is underway,
it must be treated with emergency measures, much
the same as one would treat a medical crisis. One
can attempt to distract the mind from obsessive
thinking by putting oneself in a place where focused
attention is demanded, to relax the body through
vigorous physical exercise and deep breathing, to
quiet the emotions by attempting to be more fully
in the present moment. However, just as the most
effective medicine is preventive, the real work
must be done earlier in the cycle, when the machine, basking in approval, identifies with the role.
The ego feels inflated and the machine feels large,
but, in truth, we have just been reduced from the
fullness of our humanity, with its glories and pain,
to the superficial definition of a narrow role. Were
someone else to do this to usdefine us as a sex
object, for instancewe would run quickly in the
opposite direction, but when our machine whispers
enticingly in our ear, we obligingly fall under the
hypnotic spell. And that is the moment that the real
work can take place, the work of separating from
the lies of the machine.
Separating means holding it apart from myself. I
am here, it is there. Wethe feature and my Self
are separate and distinct. Separating does not mean
arguing. Arguing serves only to bind us tighter together. When I separate, I can watch the Three machine as it postures as the Authority, identifies with
the product, and places its sense of self in the approval of others. When I can watch this uncritically,
then it is not me. Every little bit of energy which is
freed up from having to shore up the machine, is that
much less energy to feed the anxieties, and that much
more energy available to be used for my real Self.
(from Enneagram Monthly #44, Nov. 1998)

December 2011

enneagram monthly

Missing the Point

This tale, entitled No Time to Waste, is from
Idries Shahs The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla
Nasrudin:
Nasrudin ran to an appointment in a near-by
town, stark naked. People asked him why. I was in such
a hurry to get dressed that I forgot my clothes.

n this essay I share the process of discovering my

Enneagram type and the life-altering lessons I
learned along the way.

I was convinced of my Enneagram type One fixation after reading Risos Personality Types and Palmers The Enneagram. I was amazed by the insights
contained in the type descriptionsit was as if they
had been written specially for me. A friend had introduced me to the Enneagram, and she confirmed my
type. I felt overjoyed as I experienced that magical
Enneagram Aha! moment. At last, I could understand myself and explain my behavior.
For years, I had recorded self-observations and
accumulated self-knowledge; my binder was over an
inch thick. It seemed a disparate collection of traits
with no underlying theme to connect the dots, but
now the Enneagram had given me an outline and the
picture was clear.

After reading many books about the Enneagram, it became my belief system
and religion. Knowing my Enneagram type
gave my life a sense of purpose and meaning that had been missing
After reading many books about the Enneagram,
it became my belief system and religion. Knowing my
Enneagram type gave my life a sense of purpose and
meaning that had been missing; my lifes work was
to transcend my false self by being present and working on the unhealthy aspects of my type One fixation
through ego-reduction.
I attended Enneagram classes, including a workshop exclusively for Ones. I became a type One exemplar. I sat on panels and was interviewed about
my type One fixation. Around this time, I decided
I wanted to become an Enneagram teacher myself.
I wanted to deepen my study of the Enneagram and
help others learn from it. So I enrolled in a professional training program.
Shortly before the training, I attended a meeting of a group led by Mel Risman at his home in
Berkeley. Mel and others in the group told me I was
not a type One, but a type Six. I resisted this idea
strongly and argued my case for having a type One
fixation. During the ensuing debate, I became angry
and lashed out verbally. Some group members were
upset and cried. I left.
My head was spinning and I felt numb. Could it
be so? I recalled when I sat on a panel and a member
of the audience said: You seem really in your head
for a type One. I remembered how I alone would

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December 2011

John Howe
not participate in movement exercises at Beverly Sorensens workshop for type Ones. I did not really understand the Six fixation. I had not studied it half as
much as type One nor did I know many Sixes.
My resistance was too strong and I kept returning
to the evidence of Oneishness I had constructed by
matching known type One traits to my own observed
behavior. I was so emotionally invested in having a
type One fixation that I could not be open-minded
and consider the alternatives. I tried to reassure myself by taking type tests which all indicated a type
One fixation.

I attended a meeting of a group led by Mel

Risman at his home in Berkeley. Mel and
others in the group told me I was not a
type One, but a type Six.
The Enneagram had been my main focus for
the last year. Could I have spent so much time and
thought and come up with the wrong conclusion?
How hideously embarrassing to have been helping
others with their types when I had mistyped myself. I
began to feel crushed.
For three days, I walked around in a daze. Then
it occurred to me that if I could be wrong about my
Enneagram type, then I could be wrong about many
other things. This was what I had been resisting: the
acceptance of the limits of my own mind and the extent of my ignorance. My pride was shattered and
my sense of security was threatened, not just by having mistyped myself but by the admission of my own
fallibility. I was concerned about what others might
think about me, but I was more scared of how harshly
I would judge myself.
I began to see how I had mis-mapped my observed behavior to type One traits. I had mistaken
my aggressive reactivity for anger, my skepticism and
rebelliousness for criticality, and doubting mind for
critical mind. What I thought was the perfectionism
of type One was in fact a fear of mistakes reinforced
by a grasping need for certainty.
As I understood the Six fixation more deeply, I
recognized my emotional volatility, my feelings of inferiority, and the anxiety which, like the air I breathe,
is all around me but hardly noticed. The anxiety drives
me to quickly resolve ambiguity and uncertainty
for example, wanting to nail down my type right
away
I have noticed in my meditation, that even random thoughts can cause feelings to arise, and those
feelings often motivate my behaviorespecially if I
am not present. While I had observed and recorded
my behavior, I had not examined the underlying motivations. I had to go deeper. I saw myself as an angry
young man but had not noticed the rage was caused
by fear. It is an eerie moment when you first realize
you live constantly in fear and have been oblivious

to it.
One of the worst aspects of thinking you have the
wrong Enneagram fixation is the transition from fantasy to reality. I thought I was this incredibly healthy
type One: Well, I must be pretty enlightened because I dont suffer from any the bad type One stuff.
The reality was less alluring and meant accepting unpleasant type Six traits I had been in denial about.
I felt so stupid about mistyping myself that I nearly
withdrew from the professional training course. How
could I teach people about the Enneagram if I couldnt
even type myself? I attended the course though my
aspirations were now more personal than teachingrelated. I explained the painful process of mistyping
myself at the first opportunity. There were ten others
on the course. Five of them changed their type during
the week! This made me feel less of a fool. At every
course, training or group I have attended, someone
has changed his or her type. For a while I suspected
it was my influence, then I figured it just happens all
the time, especially to those who learned the Enneagram from books or from an acquaintance.

For three days, I walked around in a daze.

Then it occurred to me that if I could be
wrong about my Enneagram type, then I
could be wrong about many other things.
Ones and counterphobic Sixes can be lookalike
types according to Naranjo in Character and Neurosis (p. 228). Naranjo found counterphobic Sixes
represented in the MBTI type ENTJ (p. 229). My
MBTI type is ENTJ.
I get angry often and quickly, so I assumed I must
be an anger type. It is much harder to see the flash of
fear that precedes the explosion of my temper. It happens so fast there is no time to observe it.
There is a clue, however, in the nature of my anger, which at its worst can be an aggressive outburst
of vicious insults and wild threats. The threats are a
manifestation of my defensiveness. They are a way of
warning off others and avoiding repetition of whatever situation upset me. It is the snarling and bared
teeth of a guard dog. Oneish anger has a different
quality, perhaps less hot-blooded.
Around this time, I read in Ouspenskys In Search
of the Miraculous, that Gurdjieff said to be in the
Work, a person must have a teacher because a person cannot see himself objectively. This helped me
to understand how I could make such a mistake and
I felt grateful for having a wise teacher and a supportive group to help me through the process. Mel
Risman helped me develop emotional awareness and
straighten out my confused thinking. He even had a
word for my fear-based anger: fanger.
My mistyping experience should not be generalized. Each type and each individual has their own
unique process. Some things are type-specific; for example, it was important for me to know and be able
to explain my inner workings. As a Sixish person, it

15

was hard to let go of the security this apparent certainty of knowing had given me.
No harm came to me when I was trying to work
on my perceived type One fixation, but little progress
was made. Working on issues I did not have while
ignoring the real ones was a form of stagnation. I do
not regret the months I spent working on type One
issues. In fact, the process of mistyping myself was
immensely valuable, not just because of the skills and
deeper self-knowledge I gained, but as a lesson in humility.
No harm came to me when I was trying to work

on my perceived type One fixation, but little progress

was made. Working on issues I did not have while
ignoring the real ones was a form of stagnation. I do
not regret the months I spent working on type One
issues. In fact, the process of mistyping myself was
immensely valuable, not just because of the skills and
deeper self-knowledge I gained, but as a lesson in humility.
On several occasions, I nearly wrote a piece
about my typing process and what I learned from
it, but I found excuses not to write. A few years
have now passed and my reluctance is outweighed

(from Enneagram Monthly #41, July 1998)

Exploring Type Nine, the Mediator

very one of us, if we wish to transform ourselves, must face our dark side. By this, I mean
that we must face our useless automatic patterns. When we uncritically observe these patterns,
acknowledge them, and hold them in our awareness,
we have begun to transform ourselves.
I would like to share with you some of my experiences using the Enneagram of personality types as a
tool in my efforts towards personal transformation.
The Enneagram type that describes my personality is

Connie Duckett

number Nine, the Mediator. When I first read Helen

Palmers description of this type in her book, The Enneagram, I experienced the same sadness of feeling
overlooked as I had as a child. Soon thereafter, my
teacher suggested I observe anger in myself. These
two simple words, observe anger, unleashed a torrent of rage. Nines characteristically have their anger
so tamped down inside that it is described as anger
that went to sleep.
The anger is so buried
that to a large extent
Nines do not admit
it to themselves, and
instead tend to believe
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EnneaMotion

16

by my desire to encourage those who do not feel

comfortable with their type to find a wise teacher,
and to remind those who feel bad about a mistyping
experience to remember there are no mistakes in
life, only lessons to be learned.

__________
John F. Howe MBA is a business consultant
and certified Enneagram teacher. Originally from
Britain, he recently relocated from San Francisco
to Durham, North Carolina.

Nine children feel that their wants are unimportant

or even wrong. They therefore avoid this conflict by
merging with the agendas of others. This habit of
not having a personal agenda perpetuates itself into
adulthood, where it reinforces the experience of being
overlooked. For me, this means I must acknowledge
that now my anger is the result of my own pattern of
being unwilling to take a position or face a conflict.
As I observe myself in situations that involve conflict, often some placating response or a refusal to
respond at all leaps out in front of me and I am left
to see once again that I am victimized by my own
conflict avoidance. When I am more awake or more
centered, or when I take the opportunity to become
quiet inside, I see that it is about to do it again.
Then I can reach my own position and speak it.
Now another very interesting piece is beginning to
unfold: I am becoming increasingly aware that I would
not win awards for Ms. Congeniality, even though
I have carried around the image of being nice, agreeable, adaptable, easy to work with, etc. Although the
type tends to be overly adaptable, Nines adapt out of
fear, and therefore begrudgingly. Anyone who is close
to a Nine has experienced his or her stubbornness,
passive aggression and quiet ways of letting you know
that they wish you did not exist. In my relationships
with others, my automatic patterns are responsible for
my share of the difficulties. Others are not any more
unduly difficult than I am. This has been a revelation
to me, because, while I had the intellectual knowledge
of the Nine type, I had not experienced myself behaving in a stubborn, resistant, withdrawing manner,
while simultaneously realizing what it feels like to be
on the receiving end of this treatment. Though this
is not pleasant to observe, it is a hopeful sign because
uncritical observation is the first step in intervening
in and changing these automatic patterns.
Each of us develops patterns to protect ourselves
as children. As adults, we can understand that we are
not these patterns. Now they have outlived their usefulness and are actually harmful to our well-being. By
observing them and experiencing their results, we can
come to a point of choice: do we wish to continue in
this way or do we wish to transcend these patterns
and open ourselves to another way of being?

(from Enneagram Monthly #45, Dec. 1998)

December 2011

enneagram monthly

Personality, Process & Levels . . .

sit-com, where they help the people therewho are
stuck in their two-dimensional, black-and-white
rolesto become more vibrantly real. Each time a
character makes the first really big step towards transformation, he goes from black and white to color.
(One poignant touch is the appearance of signs reading No coloreds allowed in establishments committed to the old black-and-white paradigmexactly the
same signs that we would have seen in segregationist
establishments of that era.) I was moved by the films
message that no two individuals become real (i.e.,
transformed) in exactly the same way: the precise nature of our transformational process depends upon
our inner nature.
Nevertheless, there are nine steps through which
we all proceed in each transformational cycle, steps
associated with Points 1 through Point 9. So transformation involves both, that which is universal (the
nine steps) and that which is individual (the nine
types). It is in the dynamic interaction of limitation
and freedom (what Arthur Koestler refers to as fixed
structures and flexible strategies) that transformation unfolds.
But transformation is not a given. At any point,
there is the potential for things to go wrong. This is
something we all intuitively understand, because we
all have experiences in life in which a new project
(or some kind of inner transformation) starts well but
goes off the tracks at some point, due to the arising
of some kind of problem. Nathan Bernier discusses
the potential problems in pp. 325-333 in The Enneagram: Symbol of All and Everything (2003). His focus
is on transformation in a generic sense, because that
is what the process enneagram strives to model: the
process by which transformation occurs, whatever the
context. One of my aims in my writings has been to
show how the challenges faced at each point in the
process are particularly salient for the type associated
with that point (such that the challenges we see at
Step 1 are particularly salient for Type 1, etc.; see,
e.g., the discussion in Chapter 7 in Archetypes of the
Enneagramor the discussion below). My point, as
always, is that we are not doomed by the mere existence of our type to miss the mark where these challenges are concerned.
When researching Ken Wilbers books in preparation for my forthcoming book, The Integral Enneagram, I discovered three chapters Wilber wrote in
Transformations of Consciousness (1986) that describe
nine stages of transformation (Ch. 3), the pathologies that can occur at each level (Ch. 4), and potential treatments according to level (Ch. 6). The lowest
level described = undifferentiated consciousness while
the highest = totally integrated consciousness.
The assumption underlying Wilbers approach
is that any level can be either normal or pathological,
from the lowest to the highest. So Wilber presents us
with an approach to levels of development in which
higher consciousness is not necessarily correlated
with psychological health. He formulated this idea
during the mid-1980s when the guru scandals of
the 1970s and 80s were making spiritual seekers realize that there is no one-to-one relationship between

enneagram monthly

December 2011

spiritual attainment and psychological healthbut

that even advanced practitioners who experienced high
states of consciousness (and had presumably transcended
ego) were not necessarily balanced.
In this article, Ill talk about Wilbers approach,
break it down by stages, and talk about its implications for enneagram workboth in terms of what
we assume about how transformation unfolds and
the nature of the barriers we encounter along the
way. Included is a detailed breakdown of each point,
where I start with both the comments of Wilber and
Frank Visser, author of Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion
(2003). I then comment on the significance of their
observations from the perspective of both the process
and personality enneagrams. My commentary is in
italics.

Ill talk about Wilbers approach, break it

down by stages, and talk about its implications for enneagram workboth
in terms of what we assume about how
transformation unfolds and the nature of
the barriers we encounter along the way.
The General Approach
Wilber has broken down stages of development
in many ways. His simplest scheme is by three categories: pre-personal, personal, and transpersonal. At
the time he is discussing the pathologies possible at
each level, along with potential treatments, he has
conceived of nine levels, making it possible to break
down each major phase into three subphases. So we
have nine levels in all.
From an enneagrammatic perspective, this is a
pretty interesting organizational scheme, because it
obviously lends itself to looking at parallels between
Wilbers levels and the nine stages depicted on the
process enneagram. And if we know how to tie the
process enneagram to the personality enneagram (to
see the correspondence between Stage 1 and Type 1,
etc.), we can explore the possible ties between Wilbers
Fulcrum (Level) 1, the process enneagrams Stage 1,
and the personality enneagrams Type 1. In addition,
the fact that Wilber has a nine-level developmental
scheme allows us to see the parallels, if any, between
his approach and that of Don Riso, who developed a
nine-level model to describe the nine types at each of
nine levels.
So lets take a look at the characteristics of each
level, how pathology manifests at that level, and what
can be done to address it. Ill save a discussion of how
this scheme compares to that of Risos levels of development for later (along with a discussion of Riso
and Hudsons newer strata approach). In the immediate discussion, I focus on the comments of Wilber
and Visser on the levels (fulcrums) of development
in terms of the life cycle, starting in childhood and
progressing into adulthood, along with my commentary on how these correspond to the nine stages of the
process enneagram and the nine types of the person-

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

ality enneagram.
As we will see, the first four or five levels of development are similar to those described by Piaget
and take us to the level of mature adult thinking and
even meta-cognition (thinking about thinking). The
last three levels as described by Wilber are clearly
transpersonal. While the pathologies and therapies
described for the lower levels are similar to what we
would expect, given the current level of psychological understanding, the pathologies and therapies for
higher level maladies are less familiar. So we will accordingly spend more time on them. Please note: the
terms level, point, and stage are all used to describe a
particular phase in the developmental process.

Pre-personal phase of
development

The pre-personal phase corresponds to that part of

the human life cycle prior to the emergence of a clearly-delineated sense of self and the ability to reason
and exercise judgment. Please note that, as regards
the three enneagram types that fall within this phase
(Types 1-3), this does not mean that these types are
less mature or developed than other types, only that
they particularly access the energy available on this
level: binary evaluation (Type 1), emotional bonding
(Type 2), and practical thinking (Type 3).
Level One: Sensori-physical. Wilbers realm of
matter, the senses, and perception. This is the most
primitive level of development that occurs during the
earliest part of life. Pathologies at this level involve
the inability to separate the self from other. This
manifests in severe psychosis which Wilber sees as
very difficult to treat, except pharmacologically (perhaps with counseling as an adjunct). Vissers is more
specific, talking about the use of sedation for dealing
with pathology at so early a phase of development. It
occurred to me that we do not need to assume that
were talking only about an adult here; and, if we are
talking about an infant or small child, it may be possible to bring about healing with persistent physical
holding, affection, and love.
The move from Point 0 to Point 1 on the process
enneagram: At the beginning of anything new (life, a
new lifetime!), we need a basic way of relating to ourselves and our surrounding, a basic sense that life makes
sense: that it is good, not bad. So the impulse is to move
toward the good and away from the bad, and it is this
impulse that provides a basic (instinctive) orienting response to life. It is this orienting response that becomes
the basis for evaluating later choices as to their goodness
or badness; so it plays a very important role in our ongoing response to life.
Type 1 on the personality enneagram: Ones are
known as black and white thinkers, but perhaps it
would be more accurate to call them would-be positive
thinkers whose desire to move towards the light requires
them to identify and avoid its opposite. So a two-category approach will also make sense to a One, because it is

17

their natural modus operandi. However, discriminating Ones will gradually learn how to determine good
from bad using increasingly refined and complex criteria for determining goodness, and in so doing, avoid
substituting rigidity for discernment.
Level Two: Emotional-sexual. This is the self at
the level of the sexual impulses and emotions. Wilber
sees this as the level of the simple image mind that
requires positive mirroring for healthy development
and sees narcissism/grandiosity as the pathology that
can take hold at this level. Visser comments that this
is a period of emotional development, that it requires
structure and that providing such structure will be a
key element in any therapeutic approach.
The move from Point 1 to Point 2 on the process
enneagram: Once there is the sense that life is good, it is
possible to take the risk of interacting emotionally with
others, especially those closest to us (usually our mothers).
But the interactions need to be consistently positive over
time (or at least,good enough), so that the developing
child gradually learns how to mirror herself from interacting with his or her caregivera caregiver who knows
how to combine love with the setting of limits.
Type 2 on the personality enneagram: Twos are
the most outwardly emotional type on the enneagram. As
a result, they are particularly sensitive to their emotional
environment and need adequate emotional support early
on in order to develop the kind of firm psychic structures
needed to manage their strong emotions. These emotions
can potentially be highly differentiated and unselfishly
motivated affections, to the extent that the Two is adequately mirrored by loving adults in childhoodor to
the degree that they are motivated to do the kind of inner
work that allows them to learn how to mirror and nurture themselves without the need to be overly-dependent
on others for emotional support.
Level Three: Representational mind. According to Wilber, the representational mind describes a
self that is beginning to work with symbols and concepts. So from his perspective, it is a step up from
the image orientation of the previous level. As the
self becomes more complex (now possessing instinct,
emotion, and rudimentary mental operations), so do
its pathologies; this is the level of ordinary neurosis,
where instinct can conflict with emotions, emotions
with mind, or instinct with mind. Whereas the lowest two levels are more instinctive, this level represents the emergence of more conscious mentation.
However, there is still a certain automaticity operating here, although we are on the cusp of higher-level
mentation. Visser says that its on this level that repression really becomes possible which is why therapy
for neurosis often consists of helping people uncover
repressed material.
The move from Point 2 to Point 3 on the process
enneagram: The focus here is on acquiring basic competence in living, so that the helplessness at Point 1 which
is replaced by dependency at Point 2, can finally be (if
not quite left behind) at least temporarily set aside in the
interest of establishing a foothold in life. The temptation

18

to suppress instinct and emotion is strong because of the

dawning realization that competency is critical for living
and must therefore take priority over inner (emotional or
instinctual) needs. The focus is on tangible striving and
results because at this point, we need to get a clear picture
of how life works and how we need to work if we seek to
prosper within the parameters of a physical world.
Type 3 on the personality enneagram: Threes are
known for their focus on striving and aspiration but also
their difficulty with taking time for intimacy or with
depth in general. But you cant have depth until you have
life experience, which is why Threes are known for their
enthusiasm for plunging into concrete, action-oriented
projects that yield tangible results. It is only after they
have achieved a certain level of competence, material
security, and social recognition that Threes feel solidly
grounded in lifeand ready to turn their attention to
the more subtle, intimate, or playful aspects of living.

Personal Phase of
Development

Wilber observes that those who focus on psychopathology often dont go beyond Level 3 in their discussion, in part because the pre-personal pathologies
are the most debilitating (at least for ordinary people
living an ordinary life). However, he makes the point
that simply getting beyond Level 3 in no way guarantees a pathology-free development, because there are
increasingly subtler kind of challenges that arise.

Wilber observes that those who focus on

psychopathology often dont go beyond
Level 3 in their discussion, in part because the pre-personal pathologies are
the most debilitating (at least for ordinary people living an ordinary life).
Level 4: Script/role thinking. At this level, we are
moving to a higher level of mental functioning and
deeper reflectivity, which allows us to become aware
of both the social roles we play and to understand
the role of another. Wilber notes that the conflicts
that arise at this point concern the desire to fit in, to
belong, andparticularlyto understand the rules.
This new awareness also brings with it the possibility
of consciously manipulating others. Visser notes that
this is the point where the self can start to feel quite
insecure about itself and how to behave in different
social situations and says that script analysis can help
by providing tools for becoming more aware of the
nature of the roles we play, which can help us become
more self-aware.
The move from Point 3 to Point 4 on the process
enneagram: Our expanding self-awareness allows us
to become aware of anothers point of view, which gives
rise to a deeper sense of empathy. But it also allows us
to realize for the first time that what seemed completely
natural in our behavior at Stage 3 in our development
actually involved the adoption of a socially-conditioned

roleand this is an unsettling realization. A crisis is

brewing, because of our newly-discovered awareness of
the roles (and games) people playand that we play.
Realizing the role me, we realize there must be a real
meand that the two are not the same. This discrepancy potentially creates the psychic split that allows the
re-emergence of deeper psychic material suppressed at
Stage 3; it also initiates a three-step existential crisis
that reaches its apex at Stage 6 (see below). However, as
Wilber points out, it is helpful at this point to identify
the roles, games, and scripts involved in human behavior
so that we can begin the processing of sorting out this
role from the real.
Type 4 on the personality enneagram: At some
point, Fours become painfully aware of the conditioned
nature of the self with which they currently identify,
which in turn gives rise to self-critical feelings and an
extreme concern with authenticity. This creates the psychic split alluded to above, because they feel as though
this knowledge about the conditioned self should enable
them to free themselves of social conditioning, which it
does not. So the immediate effect of this knowledge is not
liberation, but painful feelings of dissonance and shame.
Two things can be helpful; first, developing the reflective
skills necessary to separate out the authentic from the inauthentic (which is helped by a better understanding of
the nature of social roles, according to Wilber); and two,
cultivating compassion for both oneself and others, such
that we realize that there is nothing wrong with the desire to fit in or the adaptation of behaviors that facilitate
social acceptance. However, Fours who try to suppress or
deny the splitwho try to remain unconscious of their
own inner processesmay find themselves suddenly decompensating at some point, because they occupy a place
on the circle where that kind of denial is difficult if not
impossible.
Level 5: Formal-reflexive mind. Wilber observes
that its at this point that we can begin to think about
thinking. This kind of meta-cognitive awareness allows for hypothetico-deductive and propositional reasoning, but the plethora of possibilities introduce new
levels of complication. Here we confront philosophical problems that are hard to ignore and the need to
allow the self to actually emerge as an independent
entity. Visser says that there are so many possibilities that arise that it is difficult to make a pragmatic
choice. Both Wilber and Visser recommend introspection for sorting out the chaff from the wheat; Wilber
additionally makes the point that to be silent at this
point is to be absent (worthless), so expressing ones
thoughts can bring greater balance. Thus, Wilber sees
the value of Socratic dialoguing at this point.
The move from Point 4 to Point 5 on the process
enneagram: This is the mid-stage of the existential crisis beginning at Point 4 and the crossover point on the
bottom of the enneagram, known as a region of chaos
and confusion. It signifies the move from a self-centered
perspective to an other-centered perspective, simply because the otherness of life can no longer be denied. The
multiplicity of things and ideas in the world can seem
overwhelming, creating the need to get a grip on reality
by developing some sort of rationally-based framework.

December 2011

enneagram monthly

The ability to exchange ideas with others helps develop

both the knowledge frameworks necessary to make sense
of those ideas and a new, more philosophical way of relating to others (often through the discussion of ideas).
Type 5 on the personality enneagram: Here we see
the individual who has a sense of spacious thinking and
the ability to reflect deeply on life. However, the ability
to break down things into separate categories can result
in over-compartmentalization and detachment, not just
intellectually, but socially, because everything becomes an
object that must be categorized. Too much emphasis on categories can de-emphasize the flow of energy and information between different compartments. Wilbers comments
about expressivity are instructive, because they suggest that
it is helpful for Fiveswho tend to become lost in abstractionto make a particular effort to express their ideas
to others, because this helps them
break out of their solitary world
and enter into social communion..
Level 6: Vision-logic. A
new, more panoramic kind of
logic begins to emerge, a kind
of higher-level synthetic or
integral awareness that transcends ordinary logic. This is
the level that Wilber strives to
put forth as a goal, because it
represents the point at which we
are on the cusp of a new kind
of awarenesspoised to make
the transition from personal to
transpersonal
consciousness.
However, for that same reason,
existential concerns come to a
head, creating a whole raft of
concerns: existential depression,
inauthenticity, isolation, aborted self-actualization, and existential anxiety. These problems
are ironically the product of
the self-beginning to grasp the
vastness of life and potentially
recoiling from that vastness into
overly-conventionalized and (by
now)
inauthentic/superficial
routines. Wilber speaks to the
need at this point for seeking
out a more humanistic, expansive perspective that can accommodate our newly-emerging
centauric awareness. Visser says
that our ability to keep opening at this point depends upon
knowing there is a valid reason
to do so; in order to proceed, we
need to know, What difference
does it make?

AENNEAGRAM

rchetypes
of the

Exploring the life themes

of the 27 subtypes from
the perspective of soul

Type 6 on the personality enneagram: Type 6 is

the type most associated with issues involving fear, faith,
and courage. The foregoing discussion reveals the reasons
why: because the Six sits on the point on the circle where
there is an incipient leap to a new expanded level of
consciousness. As a result, both old and new fears come
rushing to the surface of consciousness, creating the kind
of anxiety that is hard to ignore. The need for stability and loyalty from friends and family comes from the
understanding that in order to face our deepest fears,
we need all the inner and outer support possible. What
is often missing from type descriptions is the idea that
the fear and anxiety experienced by Sixes is grounded in
emergent changes that are inherently unsettling (rather
than irrational impulses that lack any real foundation).
Of course, from a purely rational perspective, these fears
do indeed appear baseless, so long as the Six insists upon

Archetypes of the Enneagram:

Exploring the Life Themes of the 27 subtypes
from the Perspective of soul

What is my path in life?

This is the question we all seek to answer. The 27 enneagram

subtypes can help us find that answer, especially when seen through
the playful lens of archetypal psychology. Explore the worlds of
spirit, ego, and souland discover the path that fulfills the souls
purpose in life.

Susa n Rhodes

Read Chapter 1 at
www.enneagramdimensions.net/archetypes_of_the_enneagram.htm
Buy it at Amazon.com

The Positive Enneagram

Positive
the

Enneagram

The first book to portray the nine types

as vibrant resources that enrich our lives

The enneagram of personality has fascinated me as a way of understanding problematic

aspects of ones personality. But I suspected there were a lot of positive uses for it that have
been overlooked. Susan Rhodes has pointed these outfascinating reading!
Charles T. Tart, Ph.D., author of
Transpersonal Psychologies & The End of Materialism
Susan Rhodes defines the core of a much-needed unified field theory of the Enneagram through
integrating Gurdjieffs Enneagram of Process with Ichazos Enneagram of Personality.
Judith Searle, author of The Literary Enneagram

A New Approach
to the Nine Personality Types

The move from Point 5 to

Point 6 on the process enneagram: This is the move from an
extreme emphasis on compartmentalization and systematiza-

enneagram monthly

tion to a higher-order synthesis of ideas that begins to

take into account the larger (transpersonal) context. But
in order for that synthesis to be effected, it is necessary to
begin to open to those inner impulses that can inform
our logical sensibilities as they begin to emerge. And this
creates a great deal of fear, what Bernier has discussed in
connection with the Dweller on the Threshold effect, in
which all of our inner demons collectively arise just at
the point when we are finally able to transcend them.
But it takes tremendous conviction to break through
the fear and resistance that arises at this point, which
is why faith matters so much: we have to believe that
if we open ourselves to ancient fears and an unknown
future, life will support that opening. Cultivating common sense, good habits, and social support provides the
groundedness and self-confidence we need to engage our
fears without feeling overwhelmed by them.

SUSAN RHODES

Clear, cogent, and concise. Susan Rhodes looks at the enneagram through a positive
psychology lens and opens up new territory.
Jerome Wagner, Ph.D., author of
Nine Lenses on the World

Read Chapter 1 at
www.enneagramdimensions.net/positive_enneagram.htm
Buy it at Amazon.com

December 2011

19

clinging to a purely rationalist approach, he or she will

probably have a hard time shaking off anxiety. Its the
ability to relax into a more intuitive, receptive space that
moves us beyond the restrictions of pure logic and allows
for a gradual but balanced expansion of consciousness.

Transpersonal Phase of
Development

The move from personal to transpersonal levels

takes most of us into unfamiliar territory, which is
why Wilber describes the challenges we face in a considerable amount of detail: because they are not the
sorts of problems with which we are likely to be familiar. The discussion below will therefore be more
detailed than the discussion of pre-personal and personal levels.
Level 7: Psychic level. This is the point, Wilber
says, where the kind of abilities associated with the
third eye begin to emerge: transcendental, transpersonal, or contemplative forms of awareness, also kundalini awakenings. These developments can bring about
profound openings, but also the potential for inflation,
disorientation, transient psychosis, imbalance due to
faulty practice, dark night of the soul, split-life goals
(spirit vs. earth life problems), pranic disorders, inability of body to handle higher-level energies.
Wilber identifies three general ways that an individual can experience psychic level openings that
are likely to create imbalance: spontaneous (i.e., by
accident), in a psychotic-like fashion, or as a beginning spiritual practitioner. In the case of spontaneous
openings, the person can either ride it out (with
or without the help of a professional therapist) or
can choose to deliberately engage with the process
by taking up a contemplative discipline (p. 139).
Psychosis-like episodes may respond well to deep
(probably Jungian) therapy because it aims to build
the kind of psychic structures that translate psychosis-inducing material into a more assimilable form.
Beginning spiritual practitioners are susceptible to
kind of inflation or disorientation that requires structure-building and/or insight into the nature of the
delusion experienced; Wilber observes that it may be
best to temporarily break off spiritual practice if there
is too much disorientation.
The Dark Night of the Soul experience, Wilber
notes, can bring about profound despair that is often
best addressed by reading about the experiences of
others who have encountered the same painful experience in their path or via petitionary prayer.
Split-life goals are the result of living in a culture
where spiritual values and cultural values start to diverge so much that the individual feels psychologically pulled apart. Wilber recommends trying to integrate spiritual and cultural life as much as possible
rather than seeking an ascetic approach (presumably
because it then becomes difficult to re-integrate at a
later point).
When depression or anxiety arises at this stage, it
is often best, Wilber says, to break off or lighten up
on practice rather than intensifying practice, because
this will likely result in psychic splitting.
Pranic disorders are those which have a somatic
element based on psychological causes; Wilbers focus

20

is on various bodily-oriented yogas designed to address bodily issues and possibly acupuncture.
Yogic illness (physical illness): Wilber recommends prevention when possible via purification of
the body and/or treatment by restricting the intake of
caffeine, sugar, drugs, etc.
Vissers general comment is that unbalances at this
level tend to occur because the body and the soul are
not sufficiently integrated; so the way to greater balance is through practices, therapies, etc., designed to
promote integration.

The move from personal to transpersonal

levels takes most of us into unfamiliar
territory, which is why Wilber describes
the challenges we face in a considerable
amount of detail: because they are not
the sorts of problems with which we are
likely to be familiar.
The move from Point 6 to Point 7 on the process
enneagram: This move is like a transformative leap to
a new, expanded level of consciousness where we arrive
in a world that is of a whole different order than anything we have previously encountereda world that can
inspire awe but also bring about the kind of disorientation discussed in the previous section. This move is often
associated with grace, with the kind of reaching down
from above which transports an individual beyond
their own self-conceived borders. While this move represents a significant expansion of awareness, it can be very
disorienting, which is probably why Wilber recommends
that the individual cease spiritual practice for a time,
until he has had a chance to become oriented. Focusing
instead on activities designed to enhance groundedness
can be helpful for restoring equilibrium and a sense of
normalcy.
Type 7 on the personality enneagram: Sevens
instinctively seek lightness and avoid heaviness, because
they resonate with this initial stage in the transpersonal
process, where it is important to let go of focused or logical consciousness so that a more diffuse yet more ethereal
kind of awareness can emerge. At the same time, there is a
need to find a new way of checking in with all the aspects
of ones being, so that the individual can literally pull
himself together (rather than dissociating). This accounts
for the tendency of Sevens to seek out diverse experiences
and keep moving from experience to experience: they are
laying down new neural tracks that allow them to link
together the diverse aspects of their inner being by linking together their activities in the outside world. It is as
though they cannot connect the dots within the psyche
until they physically trace them out, working outside-in.
By creating and projecting a vision in the outer world,
they are creating a vision of the emergent self that is seeking to be born.
Level 8: Subtle level. Its at this point that an
awareness of the archetypal forms, of subtle sounds,
and audible illuminations begins to emerge. These
phenomena can be very impressive and powerful, but

they are based on forms and are thus not part of the
highest level of (formless) awareness. The problems
that can arise include the failure to let go of more
limited forms of identity, subtle illusions, false sense
of realization.
About the failure to let go of more limited forms
of identity (integration failure), Wilber notes that he
is not aware of any solution other than to seek some
means to relax the contraction (especially via insight),
which will otherwise result in being overwhelmed by
the powerful energies received at this level.
Regarding the subtle illusions we can experience
(especially that of believing ourselves to be at a higher
level than we actually are), he says that many traditions include ways to check our actual level of development, so we can avoid getting caught up in illusion.
Pseudo-realization seems to be Wilbers (albeit
puzzling) way of referring to the extreme pain of being caught between the desire to continue onward
and the desire not to; I believe he refers to what happens when energies become so intense that the individual feels as though he cannot go either forward or
back (like a woman in childbirth at the moment of
crowning). The only real option, he observes, is to
continue ones practice.
The move from Point 7 to Point 8 on the process enneagram: The transition from Point 7 to 8 is the
movement from the gathering together of all the separate
bits of the self from an external vantage point to the unification of all those bits into a coherent whole that is experienced as something internal, not external. So it can
truly be likened to a birth, which is why there is the kind
of extreme pressure that we can find difficult to bear:
we are turning ourselves from outside-in to inside-out.
Because we are still within the realm of form (although
it is a very high level of form), we can mistake the forms
we perceiveincluding our own formas the ultimate
reality, which is disastrous, because we then see ourselves
as God and attempt to literally embody that force which,
of course, we cannot. The results of failure are so serious
that it is quite critical that we do not attempt to make
this move before we have the kind of preparation that
allows us to avoid missteps at this critical stage.
Type 8 on the personality enneagram: This type
represents the highest embodiment of spirit in form and
as such is subject to the kind of internal pressures that
make the achievement of a calm and steady approach
to living quite a challenge. It is not that Eights are better or more advanced than other types but that they are
subject to internal forces that require them to devote a
considerable amount of time and energy learning methods of self-discipline, containment, and mastery. Should
they decide not to do so, the consequences are often more
serious than they would be for types who are not subject to this kind of internal pressure. However, the Eight
who elects to take on the challenge has access to a much
greater pool of energy with which to work. So the energy
at Point 8 is a double-edged sword that can bring about
either rapid development or decline.
Level 9: Causal level. This is the level in which
we are immersed in the unmanifest, where form is

December 2011

enneagram monthly

transcended and we make the final disidentification

from the limited sense of self. Challenges revolve
around the need to differentiate/detach oneself from
all previous levels of self-understanding while at the
same time to understand that these levels are perfect expressions of unobstructed Wisdom (p. 144),
rather than defilements (violations) of that Wisdom.
Wilbers comments allude to the pull of the inner
teacher on the student, so as to eliminate any final
source of separation; perhaps the simplest way to
characterize this process is as the final surrender to
the Infinite, such that even the subtlest of I/Thou
differences disappear. At the same time, there is the
need to acknowledge the creation as being entirely as
it should be, not as something less than the Infinite
than gives it life. It is the need to simultaneously surrender the creation while at the same time realizing
its inherent goodness that makes this final transition
such a challenge.

sion, as well as paralysis, blankness, and passivity. The

former characteristics develop as the result of deep and
genuine involvement at each stage of development; the
latter characteristics develop as the result of shrinking
back, apathy, and just getting by. This is why its especially important for Nines to get motivated, to act, and
to actively reflect on their motives and actions as they
proceedso that they become increasingly able to consciously manifest the stamp of their uniqueness. In this
way, they take the generic potential with which they are
born and develop in a manner that gradually transforms
them into self-aware individuals with the ability to act
as co-creators in their ongoing development. In this way,
Nines are the prototype for all of the types, because this is
the goal of evolution: to discover and perfect our uniqueness in a way that enables us to serve life and to eventually integrate all that we have become into the Greater
Wholeness of All That Is.

Wilbers Nine Levels Summarized

The move from Point 8 to Point 9 on the process
Table 1 summarizes Wilbers nine evolutionary
enneagram: This transition is one of the most mystestages, along with their corollaries on the process and
rious on the enneagram, involving the move from Allpersonality enneagrams. They are arranged with the
ness into Nothingness in a way that affirms the essenlowest level on the bottom and the highest on the
tial sameness of the two (which is why it represents the
top. One key thing to note is that while Wilbers nine
highest form of integration/synthesis). The individual
levels focus on the journey from birth to Enlightenwho has internalized the Kosmos paradoxically becomes
ment, we can use the same general approach to focus
a single element in that Kosmos. In practical terms, it
on any transformational process, e.g., the cycle of the
involves the realization that there is no ultimate state of
human lifespan, of a transformation story, or a natuachievement, individuality, enlightenment, etc., which
ral process such as photosynthesis.
is attainable by individuals in isolation: to continue deThe fact that we can easily see the relationship
veloping, we must become part of something yet greater
between his model, the process enneagram, and the
(which means finally relinquishing the separate
I to completely experience the greater thou).
But it also involves the
understanding that the
only way to integrate
ones individuality into
something greater is to
develop that individualTRANSPERSONAL
ity in the first place: to
make the entire journey
9
Causal level
Final synthesis
from Points 1 to 9 in a
way that facilitates our
8
Subtle level
Unified awareness
ability to separate, differentiate, and individ7
Psychic level
Expanded awareness
uate. If we hang back,
refusing to make that
PERSONAL
journey (or making it in
a perfunctory way), then
6
Vision-logic
Panoramic intuition
the re-union at Point 9
means very little.
5
Formal-reflexive mind
Cognition

personality enneagram suggests a single underlying

model of transformation, rather than three separate approaches with limited parallels. For the enneagram,
it suggests that there are not really two separate enneagrams, but one enneagrama transformational
enneagramthat can be interpreted in diverse ways.
As always, I feel compelled to note that juxtaposing process with personality does not mean that the
types with lower numbers are less evolved than the
types with higher numbers, because the enneagram
is not really a circle but a spiral such that we can be
at any of an infinite number of levels. So an Eight
on the 4th spiral is probably going to have a lot more
learning to do than a Two on the 64th spiral!
Similarly, its important to observe that types
working more with pre-personal energy are not at
some sort of evolutionary disadvantage as compared to types working with personal or transpersonal energy. Rather, each type is at an advantage in
different arenas of activity. One of the problems in
traditionally-oriented spiritual paths is a disproportionate emphasis on the higher (transcendent) levels,
resulting in the frequent neglect of the lower ( immanent) areas. People who rise quickly often have
troubled staying grounded and appreciating the joys
of ordinary life (including kids, nature, and close relationships); those who are more tuned into to the
divine within daily life may not ascend as quickly, but
they tend to do so in a way that is considerably better
integrated. So there are advantages and disadvantages
at each point on the circle.

Stay tuned, continued in next issue

Table 1. Parallels Among Nine Levels of Development

Point/
Stage

Wilbers Levels of
Development

Type 9 on the personality enneagram:

Type 9 is the one most
identified with being
and creative potential,
as well as synthesis, harmony, and receptivity.
But its also the type most
identified with lack of
motivation and indeci-

enneagram monthly

December 2011

Script/role thinking

Enneagram Stages
of Development

Enneagram
Points of View
Balance & integration
Fully-embodied living
Dynamic connections

Trusting ones intuitions

Understanding

Identity

Role Me vs Real Me

Representational mind

Competency

Concrete achievement

Emotional-sexual

Bonding

Emotional relationships

Sensori-physical

Orientation

Dual category definition

PRE-PERSONAL

21

The Path with no Goal . . .

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

plore spiritual development.

tions have been refined. Now I just try to be presIntention
ent to each moment as it is not with my preferI had hope. I believed there was a way to get beOne has to engage the process. For most of us,
yond the pain and limitations of my habitual patterns
ences or desires, but just here, aware. This breath
change and growth wont happen without our connow. Helens refrain echoes in me. But, but, but,
and I was going to get there. Hard work and comscious participation. Hameed Ali speaks of grace
mitment were not alien to me. I was certain
and impeccability. Grace is always there; we
that if I just put enough effort into the task, I
dont earn it. But impeccability is our part.
A team from IONS interviewed more than fifty teachers Its doing our best not being perfect, but
would find freedom.
Twenty-two years later, of course, I have a from different religions, cultures, and traditions to see orienting toward wanting to know the truth.
very different understanding of what it means if they could find the key elements of the transformaAttention
to be free. In the beginning, I thought I
As the Narrative Tradition teaches, how we
tion
process.
Four
elements
showed
up
consistently
in
could get rid of fear. It was a setback every
pay
attention and what we attend to is central
time my types patterns reoccurred. As Helen each of the traditions: intention, attention, repetition,
to spiritual growth. When we shift our point
teaches, however, I can see progress when I and a generous dose of guidance.
of view, people and events do not remain the
look sideways. Though my type structure
same.
still hangs around like an old habit, I certainly wear it more lightly than before, at least
Repetition
some of the time.
my mind fills. I should be doing this or that. Back,
Davids third law says we have to practice, pracMy path has become simpler and my expectaback, back. The practice is really simple, but not
tice, practice. It takes repetition to make new patheasy. It is essentially what weve
ways. The good news from neuroscience is that our
learned from Helen and David,
brains are plastic. New grooves can be laid down in
strengthening our capacity to obour brains, but if we dont practice, our energy will
The only combined
serve ourselves, captured in Dakeep following the same old pathways.
scientifically detervids famous three little laws:
mined Enneagram
A Generous Dose of Guidance
1. Wherever attention goes, enpersonality test and
Its my experience that we need others on this path,
ergy follows.
in-depth guide
other travelers as well as guides who has been around
2. Management of attention
the block a few more times than we have. Some few
and energy requires self-obmay be able to engage this work alone, and they are to
servation.
be commended for that. Most of us, however, need
others to help us as we seek not only wisdom, but the
3. While self-observation can be
David Daniels, M.D., & Virginia Price, Ph.D.
capacity to live that wisdom every day in our ordinary
taught and becomes easier, it
Just updated and Revised 2010 with much
lives.
never becomes habitual. It
new material
I suspect thats why Im drawn to the Narrative.
requires continuing practice.
We are all each others teachers. It is through the sacred sharing of stories on panels that we gain compasWhen I hit blocks that dont
sion, open and grow. I also know that I would not be
dissolve by applying attention, the
where I am today without the wise and loving supchallenge is, of course, much great The Enneagram Intensive (also Part 1) of our
port of the more official teachers who have been at
er. Such difficulties require addiEnneagram Professional Training Program (EPTP)
my side these past two decades.
tional approaches and tools, but
My desire to be finished with the work of transcomes to lovely Vallombrosa Center in Menlo Park
everything begins with the develformation still lingers, but it, too, has taken on new
opment of the inner observer and
close to the SF Airport in February and August 2012
meaning for me. When it arises, I no longer take it
placement of attention.
and to the Montreat Center close to Asheville, NC
as a marker of my failure or a measure of how far I
in OctoberNovember, 2012
What we practice in our work
have left to travel before reaching my goal. Though
with the Enneagram and the Narit still triggers pangs of longing, I am now more able
rative Tradition coincides beau Deepening Spiritual Awareness and the Typing proto greet it as a reminder of the need for compassion
tifully
with
the
results
of
a
tencess (Part 2) come to California in February and
for myself, and for all who walk the path with no
year research study conducted by
goal.

August 2012.
the Institute of Noetic Sciences
(IONS) and recorded in a book
This article was previously published in the TALK
Check our website for Davids radio shows and videntitled Living Deeply: The Art and
Journal, a monthly publication of the Enneagram Aseos.
Science of Transformation in Evsociation in the Narrative Tradition.
eryday Life (2007). A team from
__________
IONS interviewed more than fifty
Call Tracy at 866-366-8973 for detailed
Terry Saracino, an Enneagram teacher since
teachers from different religions,
1989, is president of the nonprofit Enneagram Studies
information and registration or go to
cultures, and traditions to see if
in the Narrative Tradition (www.EnneagramWorldwww.enneagramworldwide.com
they could find the key elements of
wide.com) and on the faculty of the internationally
the transformation process. Four
Visit our website and explore the more than 200 pagrecognized Palmer-Daniels Enneagram Professional
elements showed up consistently
Training Program. She has created a variety of ines of vital information, and for all the detailed information
in each of the traditions: intennovative courses on the transformative power of the
about our Intensive, training programs, and workshops.
tion, attention, repetition, and a
Enneagram.
generous dose of guidance.
Terry can be contacted at TASaracino@aol.com.

the
essential
enneagram

22

December 2011

enneagram monthly

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