Enneagram For Dummies. Jeanette van Stijn

Enneagram For Dummies

invent it. Buddha, for example, is also referred to as the awakened one. This term describes the various states of being, such as the state of being awake or not being awake. Becoming aware or being aware can be seen as not sleeping. People engage in self-observation and self-reflection when they are suffering but forget them again when they feel good. This is why internal suffering is often associated with the function of waking up again.

Think about some small thing you intend to do — something you've wanted to do every day for a while. It doesn’t have to be something useful. This is about the practice itself, about remembering this intention. This exercise is also part of mindfulness training. It helps to associate the intention with a certain time or place.

Maybe these examples will help when you search for your own intention:

Consciously smile at your mirror image every morning.

Every day before going to sleep, think about a person you love who is absent but whose photo you possess.

In the mornings, think about what you’re planning for the upcoming day.

Observe how easy or difficult this is for you. It’s only about perceiving and noticing it; this is not about a judgment!

Three centers of knowledge

Numerous spiritual traditions, in many places in the world and during various epochs of history, refer to three centers of knowledge: knowledge with the head, with the heart, and with the gut. In Plato’s The Republic (Book IV, 6-18), he (427-347 BC) briefly describes a human's physical structure: first, the head, home to their thinking capacity, with logical or intuitive reason; second, the chest, “which concerns courage,” the potential for inspiration, for heroism, perseverance but also rage; and third, the abdomen, the instincts and passions which are at the service of human nourishment and procreation. When they act according to plan, the associated capacities are called wisdom (head), courage (chest), and moderation (body). These are the three essential human virtues that belong to the head, heart, and gut. There are plenty of deviations from these virtues — vices, in other words. That's because, whereas on one hand, virtue signifies accordance with the developmental laws of humans and this accordance is only possible in one form, on the other hand you have innumerable ways to diverge from this one possible form of accordance — divergences that take the form of vice. (The latter point is taken from Konrad Dietzfelbinger's study Mystery Schools: From the Ancient Egyptians to the Early Christians to the Rosicrucians of the Modern Age.)

The nine Enneagram types are distributed to these three centers, in accordance with the three personality structures that act primarily from the head center, three from the heart center, and three from the gut center. People who are intensely involved in self-research have recognized this. The three types in the head center are Types 5, 6, and 7. (They are also referred to in abbreviated form as the head types.) The types in the gut center are Types 8, 9, and 1 — the gut types, in other words. The types in the heart center are types 2, 3, and 4 — the heart types.

The American psychologist Mary Horney (1855-1952) named three methods by which people try to overcome their fears in life: submissiveness (toward others), hostility (toward others), and differentiation (away from others). This corresponds to the Enneagram centers — namely, the heart center (moving toward), gut center (moving against), and head center (moving away). You can see this concept in Figure 3-1.

Just because someone belongs to the heart center doesn’t mean that this person has more feelings or is more sensitive than the types aligned with other centers. Nor are the head types more intelligent. The decisive point is that, for the types of a particular center, the respective function (thinking, feeling, acting) is predominant and plays a significant role in the type mechanism in one way or another. An imbalance generally occurs between thinking, feeling, and acting. You should explore the centers and recognize them because they offer a reference point for self-observation. It often helps your development if you create more balance among your various centers.

FIGURE 3-1: The three centers of knowledge.

HEAD TYPES

The head types (5, 6, 7) are all directed toward understanding and explaining, analyzing, and developing practical ideas and concepts. Keep in mind that everyone sees the world primarily through some kind of mental filter. For the three head types, that filter lies in the value they place on independence, each in their own way. They also share an inclination to differentiate themselves (moving away). When something unsettling happens, for example, they tend to move away. The goal of this unconscious strategy is to minimize worries, gain control of potentially painful situations, and thus gain a sense of safety. This is carried out via the mental processes of deliberation, projection, conception, and planning.

The head types often have a subliminal sense that something isn’t right. This can (literally or figuratively) be a lack of space, safety, or freedom. This sense of lack can also be directed against oneself: feeling that you aren’t good enough or thinking of yourself as incompetent or as a social-emotional failure. However, this perception might be quite far from reality.

The apartment where Alice (Type 5) lives is virtually a library. She reads four or five lengthy books each week. The people around her consider her to be an educated, intelligent person. Alice herself sees this differently. With everything that she reads and learns, she also discovers how much more still remains to read and learn. In the process, she finds out that she doesn’t know enough of what one could know during one’s lifetime and in the world.

GUT TYPES

The gut types (8, 9, 1) are either all focused on physical aspects, on activities, or on action or are focused on the exact opposite. They react to impulses and are either quite physically active and present or (again) not active or present at all. They see the world through a filter of physical perceptions and unreflective instincts.

Gut types have an innate talent when it comes to listening to their bodies. Thoughts are experienced in the head, feelings in the heart, and perceptions in the body. These can be pleasant perceptions, such as the sun on the skin or the warmth of a touch, but also less enjoyable ones, like tension. The gut types value their autonomy, each in their own way. They share an inclination toward confrontation (moving against). When something happens, they have a tendency to fight it. Gut types use their personal position and strength to shape life the way it must be. They develop strategies to secure their place in the world and minimize unpleasantness. The idea of borders is a significant (unconscious) thematic for them, in the sense that they either don’t actually experience boundaries or are unaware of their own boundaries.

Internally, gut types often experience a subliminal sense of resistance, especially when their (unconscious) boundaries are crossed. This resistance can be expressed in ways that seem either steadfast, passive-aggressive, or controlling. Just as the head types share a subliminal feeling of a lack or of personal failure, the three gut types often feel worthless or guilty because of some failure on their part. This is why their goal is often to be of value to others.

Stan (Type 8) instinctively perceives who has power. He wants

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