By Helene Makani

 

The Enneagram is a geometric figure that maps out nine fundamental personality types of human nature. Its roots is in ancient wisdom from the Sufi culture, but since the 1960ies it has been combined with modern western psychology.

The word Enneagram comes from the Greek for "nine" ennea and "line" grammos. The Enneagram is a figure with 9 points drawn in a circle, one point for each personality type. The lines between the types describe the relation of the patterns for each type - for instance a type 9 will under pressure show traits from type 6, and in security take on traits from type 3. It is an advanced psychological model, describing the complexity of human beings.


History:
The Enneagram figure was introduced to the west by the Armenian Mystic and spiritual teacher Georg Ivanovich Gurdjieff (1872-1949) who had travelled extensively in Asia, visiting monasteries and mystic schools. He later wrote about and taught the 9 energies of the Enneagram.
The Bolivian born philosopher Oscar Ichazo is considered by many to be the modern Father of the Western Enneagram, connecting the 9 points of the Enneagram figure with 9 personality types.
He founded the Arica Institute in USA in the 1970ies.
The Enneagram in its Western form soon spread in the USA, and has during the last 30 years been further developed and combined with theories of psychology and psychiatry. The Enneagram, as we teach it in Makani Coaching Center, is based very much on the books by American authors Don Riso and Ross Hudson, who also describe the levels of development for each of the nine types.

The path of self development for the 9 types:

The Sufis say that we humans have fallen asleep to ourselves, and instead of being awake and present in the now, we live in a world of our own where we subconsciously repeat our patterns over and over - even if these patterns do not always give us what we want. It is as if we do not know what else to do, reacting on automatic pilot to what we think goes on around us. These patterns where developed in childhood. The Enneagram describes these patterns of each type, patterns which the type repeats under the illusion that "if I continue this for long enough, in the end I will get happy".

The patterns are with us for the rest of our life - unless we actually change them!
The Enneagram help us to wake up to ourselves even more, by showing us ourselves and the results we get from keep doing what we have always been doing. It describes our deepest motives behind our actions, and it describes what each of the types is really looking for. It helps us realize that repeating the same patterns does not give happiness and joy, and helps us start questioning our own motives and beliefs, and the way we interpret other people's behaviour.

When we become conscious about our patterns trough the Enneagram it is like waking up to ourselves and see life with our eyes wide open. Because the Enneagram also describes how we can stop our patterns - wake up - and instead do the opposite of what we used to do. And by doing that, we start on the path to true happiness, - by finding inside ourselves what we have been looking for in the outer world.

Oscar Ichazo’s focus and great contribution to the Enneagram has among others been the assignment of the nine "ego fixations" of the Enneagram types, and the description of the path of development for each type.

Every personality type has a starting point or is driven by an unconscious motivation. This determines our values, and is fundamentally the basis for what we think about the world and ourselves.
The deepest motivation is then resulting in a fixation of the mind. The fixation is the behavioural pattern that we keep repeating again and again, as we think this will satisfy us and give us the inner state that will make us happy.
Unfortunately it does not work, and instead the opposite effect occurs.
The fixation amplifies our motivation, which in turn amplifies our fixation, amplifying our behaviour, so our pattern continues in a negative circle. "If you do what you have always done you will get what you have always got".

An example: I am a type 4, and have been motivated by the envy of wanting to belong in the world, like other people, while at the same time feeling that I am different, and do not belong. My mind has been fixated on comparing myself to other people, and too often finding that I have more flaws than others. By comparing myself to others I have unconsciously hoped to motivate myself to change, so that I would one day really find my (special) place in the world. But unfortunately this only brought frustration and self loathing, and made me feel more and more apart from and different from other people.

Do the opposite:

When we become conscious about this fixated behaviour, we can then stop and focus on doing the opposite. As easy as this sounds, this is often very difficult, as our motivation and fixation is so deeply rooted in us, and so connected with who we are, that it is scaring to let go of it.

However, each type actually has a special ability that is the direct opposite of the subconscious motivation. This special ability is something the type already knows and uses in resourceful situations. This ability is the pathway to a psychological development that gives us what we have unconsciously been looking for all our life - a state of happiness, in contact with our inner self, our essence. A state that was lost when we as children experienced that the world is sometimes an unwelcoming place, where people do not always give love and care and nourishment in the amounts that the innocent child would like.

Example: When I stopped my pattern of comparison (as described above) , and instead used the special ability of type 4 to see myself and people around me as equal human beings, and started looking for what is the same instead of for what is different, then I experienced that I am part of the world, and have my place in the world.
Of course, this did not come along in 1-2-3, but gradually changed over some years. And for me, personal therapy was important to help me let go of old beliefs. But I have seen other people change by just learning about the Enneagram and becoming aware of where their patterns where leading them.

Wrongly we think we can connect to our inner state of happiness by doing what we usually do. But only if we break our old patterns and follow the development path of the Enneagram will we be able to connect to our essence in a prolonged and more permanent way. And when we do, then life becomes very much easier, more beautiful, and filled with love.