Thomas Condon - Enneagram Applications: Personality Styles in Business, Therapy, Medicine, Spirituality and Daily Life

1INTRODUCING THE ENNEAGRAM

Although the word Enneagram sounds exotic, it actually refers to something plain and practicala psychological system that describes nine basic personality styles, detailing the inner workings of human beings and nine very different ways that they see the world. Newcomers to the Enneagrams descriptions often recognize themselves and their friends with a clarity that astounds them, while those who know and use the system over time are struck by how endlessly revealing it is.

Like the people it portrays, the Enneagram is complex, subtle and dynamic. The system pinpoints our unconscious worldview and self-image, our inner motivation and habits of processing information. It also defines our greatest limitation in life as well as our greatest giftwhich, remarkably, are the same.

The Enneagram says that each of us has a central way of making sense of reality, a personality strategy that informs everything we do. We schedule time, take medicine, tell stories, and run errands all in relation to it. This strategy guides us through life providing us with an inner map of the world that, in turn, shapes our outer behavior. It is our greatest strength but when we use it too much, it becomes a weakness.

Among other things, the Enneagram identifies our bias. When we overuse our personality strategy we see the world through a specific filter that narrows our perceptions. Not a static filter like a camera might have, which darkens or colors some objects while letting us otherwise see clearly. More like a camera that will not take pictures of anything red or smooth or moving. This filter creates a limited focus of attentionour biasand prevents us from seeing or hearing certain things clearly or at all.

Learning about your Enneagram bias can initially be a shock. For starters, it means that the way you see reality isnt reality and that your most cherished assumptions about the world are relative. Also, some of your more deeply held beliefs may be more like neurotic defenses than true ideals. The Enneagram names our illusions, showing us our personal foibles, delusions and vanities in unflattering detail. In addition, the system implies that our personal limitations are entirely our own creation, that we engineer our difficulties and get in our own way.

After the shock comes the good news: you dont have to take your own behavior so personally. Character flaws that seemed to be ingrained in your being are actually shared by many other people. Since your limitations are your own creation then you have more power than you realize; on some level, however unconscious, you are making choices and can learn to make new ones. You also have an array of talents, abilities and resources that are characteristic of your Enneagram style and even the limitations of your style suggest how to work with it, marking out an obvious path to growth and self-development.

Knowledge of the Enneagram is helpful in many ways, from understanding relationships to improving communication to handling difficult people. Attendees at Enneagram workshops come from all walks of life. The system is especially helpful for resolving conflicts among people who clash but wish they could get along. The Enneagram has, for instance saved many marriages and healed many family rifts.

The Enneagrams origin is veiled in mystery. We know it came through psychologist/philosopher Oscar Ichazo, who taught it to a group of students in the 1960s in the little town of Arica, Chile. Where Ichazo came by the system is unclear since, at various times, he has claimed to have invented it, learned it from an unnamed spiritual mystery school or adapted it from the Kaballah, the body of mystical teachings based on Hebrew scriptures.

Some people have reported learning the Enneagram in the 1930s and, during that time, esoteric author Alice Bailey published several books that alluded to the system. The mystic-philosopher George Gurdjieff seems to have known the Enneagrams essence, although he never revealed much detail and may have only known it in a nascent form. On the other hand, some of Gurdjieffs early students wrote about the Enneagram and many of his present-day followers know a form of the system that resembles a cross between astrology and the more psychological Enneagram that we present in this book.

Claims that the Enneagram originated in ancient Babylon are mostly romantic New Age marketing, but the system does have a history that has yet to be tracked to its source. The Enneagram is so intuitively brilliant and comprehensive that it seems like it was distilled from a long tradition. Oscar Ichazo originated the systems present form and thats all we know for sure.

If Ichazo gave the modern Enneagram its bones and internal organs, Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo gave it flesh when he took the Enneagrams character descriptions and cross-referenced them with modern ego-psychology. Naranjo also brought the Enneagram to the United States and taught it to a small group of students, each of whom went his or her own way with it.

The Enneagrams recent fame is due to the bestselling books and workshops of Helen Palmer and Don Riso with Russ Hudson. Palmers books benefit from a vivid reporting of the subjective experience of real people and her persistent focus on using the Enneagram as a spiritual tool. Her book titles include The Enneagram, The Enneagram in Love and Work and The Enneagram Advantage. Riso and Hudsons books offer many original distinctions and theoretical additions to the model. Their titles include include Personality Types, Understanding the Enneagram and The Wisdom of the Enneagram. We generally recommend all of these books as solid and worthwhile.

The Enneagram also grew popular in Catholic circles, through the retreat/missionary system of the Jesuits and because of the sale of tens of thousands of cassettes and books by Franciscan Father Richard Rohr. Currently, the main print source of information is the Enneagram Monthly and some of the articles in this book originally appeared there.

I (Thomson) am the editor of the Electric Enneagram, an online journal that began life in print as the Enneagram Educator. I teach the Enneagram and use it actively in spiritual direction and counseling. I also apply it to executive coaching and counseling entrepreneuers. I (Condon) teach the Enneagram in conjunction with Ericksonian Hypnosis, Brief Therapy and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), emphasizing the systems practical applications as a tool for psychological change and personal development.

As Enneagram teachers and editors of this book we freely admit to our own bias: that the Enneagram is not really worth knowing unless you do something with it. The system by now has been comprehensively described and refined as a theory. The question is: how do you use it?

This book, the first volume in a series, is one attempt to answer that question. It features some talented Enneagram teachers and students applying the systems insights in a variety of ways. Most of the authors have another area of expertise and blend the Enneagram with the needs and challenges of their particular field. The authors include: medical doctors, CEOs, pharmacists, therapists, executive coaches, corporate heads, psychotherapists, nuns, a Buddhist monk, a teacher and a graphologist. The subject areas are as diverse as business, psychotherapy and self-help, medicine, pharmacology, literature, film, spiritual counseling and handwriting analysis. We hope that by these examples it becomes obvious how to apply the Enneagram to your life.