Christopher L. Heuertz - The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth

The book you hold in your hands is more powerful than you know, more illuminating than you assume, more transformative than you imagine. If you are weak-kneed or faint of heart, drop it and run. If youre happily complacent or content to live on autopilot, turn back now. Because this book will change the way you see everything. The Sacred Enneagram is not a just book about an ancient personality framework with a funny name. It is a roadmap to self-understanding written by one of the great spiritual practitioners of my generation. Read it now and you can thank me later.

Jonathan Merritt, contributing writer for The Atlantic and author of Learning to Speak God from Scratch

The gentleness of Chriss tone mixed with the truth in these pages makes this book unavoidable for anyone who not only cares about their own mental and spiritual well-being but also wants to see others flourish.

Propaganda, spoken word poet and activist

Integrated within these pages is Chriss extensive knowledge and understanding of this ancient tool, along with depth in his teaching of contemplative spirituality as practiced by Jesus. Readers are offered a powerful way forward in their unique journey of spiritual transformation through aligning Christian contemplative prayer postures to specific Enneagram types.

Nina M. Barnes, Dean of Spiritual Formation & Leadership, University of NorthwesternSt. Paul

The Sacred Enneagram is a groundbreaking contribution to the Enneagram community, providing unique spiritual growth insights for all nine types. If youre not yet convinced of the value, depth, and accuracy of the Enneagram, Chris demystifies and makes this ancient wisdom more accessible than ever.

George Mekhail, pastor, The Riverside Church NYC

Understanding the Enneagram is not just an exercise in secular self-discovery but a journey toward living out rhythms of rest and reflection that will lead to deep spiritual growth. By grounding the Enneagram in the core truth of Scriptures teachings about ourselves and God, this book helps us live into the full promise of who God created us to be, with impact on the communities and places God has called us to serve. I applaud Chris for doing the hard work of grounding an age-old practice into such practical and wise applications for those of us who seek to honor God in all of who we are and all of what we do.

Jenny Yang, Vice President of Advocacy and Policy, World Relief

Through years of careful research and mindful study, Chris uses the Enneagram to illuminate the best and the worst of us and shine a light down the path to our truest selves. The Sacred Enneagram will find you when you need to be found.

Orenda Fink, singer-songwriter

The Sacred Enneagram beautifully integrates the journey of self-discovery with guidelines that are simultaneously seasoned and filled with childlike wonder, personal and inviting. Instead of wandering around a hall of mirrors that most self-discovery texts build, The Sacred Enneagram walks with you through holy ground and fills you with love and life that ultimately pours out and must be shared.

Alex Hwang, vocalist of Run River North

As the years pass, I often find myself asking, Who am I? The Sacred Enneagram is a book that I will forever use as a guide throughout my lifelong journey of self-discovery.

Shirley Chung, Top Chef semifinalist and restauranteur

Accessible to the spiritual journey of any seeker, Chris Heuertz beautifully translates this simple truth: that God is accessible when we know ourselves deeply. The Sacred Enneagram helps us to learn how to take that deep dive into our own essence to find the Divine.

Mona Haydar, rapper, poet, activist, theologian

The Sacred Enneagram is a fascinating exploration into our inherent and undiscovered gifts of humanity. Learning about the Enneagram has awakened my understanding of Self in connection to God, my reactive tendencies in leadership, and hopeful opportunities for growth, discernment and spiritual formation. Learning about the Enneagram has expanded my hearts capacity for compassiontoward those I fail to understand and especially toward myself.

Nikole Lim, Cofounder and International Director, Freely in Hope

ZONDERVAN

The Sacred Enneagram

Copyright 2017 by Christopher L. Heuertz

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Epub Edition July 2017 ISBN 9780310348153

ISBN 978-0-310-34827-6 (softcover)

ISBN 978-0-310-34815-3 (ebook)

All Scripture quotations are taken from The Inclusive Bible, 2007 by Priests for Equality. Published in the United States by Rowman and Littlefield Publisher, Inc. All rights reserved.

Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Author is represented by Christopher Ferebee, Attorney and Literary Agent, www.christopherferebee.com

Cover design: Charles Brock | Faceout Studio

Cover illustrations: Shutterstock

Author photo: Scott Drickey

Interior illustrations: Elnora Turner

Interior design: Kait Lamphere

First printing July 2017 / Printed in the United States of America

I dedicate this work to my teachers:

Marion,

Russ,

Helen,

Richard,

I honor you.

Contents

1. 1. 1 The Question of Identity
      Exploring Who We Are, How We Got Lost, and How We Might Find Our Way Back Home to Our True Identity
   2. 2 What Is the Enneagram?
      Learning the Essentials of This Ancient Tool
   3. 3 Paths of Integration, Disintegration, and Grace for the Journey
      Honestly and Compassionately Confronting Our Patterns in Growth and Stress
2. 1. 4 Head, Heart, Body, and the Whole Self
      Introducing the Intelligence Centers
   2. 5 A Curated Color Wheel Summary of the Nine Types
      Finding Yourself within the Enneagrams Nine Types
   3. 6 Relationists, Pragmatists, and Idealists
      Introducing the Harmony Triads
3. 1. 7 The Unexpected Gifts of Solitude, Silence, and Stillness
      Returning to Our True Identity through Contemplative Practice
   2. 8 Mapping Your Enneagram Type with Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth
      Integrating Knowledge with Practice
   3. 9 The Way Home
      Mapping the Nine Types with New Ways to Pray
   4. 10 An Invitation to Inner Work
      Getting Started in the Contemplative Journey

As long as you do not have experience

of this dying and becoming, you are only

a troubled guest on this dark earth.

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

I was taught the Enneagram by my own Jesuit spiritual director in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1973. I noticed Father Jim OBrien was often getting to the heart of the matter with me rather quickly, and he was so insightful that one would have thought he had known me for a long timeor on some occasions, as if he knew me better than I knew myself. I thought he surely had the rare gift of reading souls.