The Enneagram is a map of the human experience supporting the evolution of human consciousness , awareness through self-knowledge..
The Enneagram is formally represented by a circle that includes an equilateral triangle intersecting a six sides figure. The points touching the circle are numbered from one to nine in a clockwise direction and are connected by lines and arrows in both internal figures.
The Enneagram nowadays is mainly used to outline nine personality types with distinct and specific mental, emotional and motor patterns, and the interrelationship between them. Actually, the Enneagram is much more than this. It represents in a very precise way three intelligences – cognitive. emotional and visceral – with different approached to the world, and three survival impulses that affects in an automatic way our decisions and actions. It also describes different aspects of experience shared by all human beings. It’s a map of the path in the journey back home, the self-remembering.
One of the main points of strength and interest of the Enneagram is its objectivity and not being identified with any ideology or doctrine. It speaks a language that overcomes cultural, educational or religious differences. Describing our differences, it enlighten a level of common humanity..
The Enneagram offers various levels of interpretation and two of them are particularly evident. One is horizontal and it’s useful to understand the functioning of our personality and for supporting the awareness of cognitive, emotional and instinctual limiting patterns and of the available resources. It explains in a clear and detailed way the real motivations of our behaviour and it reveals the hidden intentions, beliefs and bias that automatically guide our decisions, providing concrete indications about the resources that can lead us out of this limitations. One is vertical and makes it clear the change within the personality, the shifting within the spectrum of motivations, traits, and defenses. A third one shows the connection between personality and Essence and the spiritual dimension.
It is a support to the process of change and transformation that becomes really functional and useful when it’s contextualised and practically applied with appropriate methods. Its’ precious in all situations considering self knowledge ed individual trasformazione as the fundament for any positive change in the quality of life and inworkplace..
How does it work
The Enneagram states that each soul has a particular sensitivity and receptivity to specific aspects and qualities of the divine and essential nature and that our natural talents are founded and originated from this receptivity. The loss of the direct inner experience with these qualities and the illusion of lack that arises leads to nine different ways of seeing and interpreting reality deprived of its innate depth. These are nine incomplete perceptions that become distorted and fixed beliefs about how things are and should be.
The three Centers
The Enneagram describes three ordinary Centers of intelligence in human beings cognitive, emotional and visceral which we all have access to. Each Center is represented by three points and personality types that have in common the gifts and difficulties of the Center to which they belong and which manifest three peculiar nuances of resources and difficulties.
These intelligences refer to three brain formations with structural and chemical differences that correspond to different ways of receiving reality and experiences. As best as possible, they work together. However, each of us tends to use them in a confused way, preferring the use of one of them to the detriment of the others, generating a limiting favorite way of interpreting the world. This leads us to observe events from different perspectives and is reflected in our relating to even opposite meanings for the same situation. Knowing how we manage our intelligences is an important key to harmonizing internal conflict, illuminating blind spots and fully developing our potential and ability to understand others.
The nine types
Each of us experiences the qualities of all nine points, yet we are born with a dominant point, which is our type. Type defines the pattern of beliefs, preconceptions, values, reactivity, motivations, habitual behaviors that we define as “myself”. It describes how we manage different intelligences, how we treat our mind, emotions, sensations, drives and how we experience happy and peaceful moments and difficult or tense ones.
Types One want to do the right things in the right way, to be right, to be good people, honest, upright, moral, virtuous and hard workers, to strive and improve everything.
Types Two want to be needed and appreciated, help others and sacrifice themselves for those they love, express their feelings and love passionately and devotedly, receive recognition
Types Three want to be valuable and win, to be brilliant, active, practical, useful, desired and admired, to be successful, to receive attention, to stand out and to impress others.
Types Four want to be themselves, discover their own unique meaning, express their individuality in a free, original, creative and refined way and surround themselves with beauty.
Types Five want to have knowledge, to understand, to be competent, capable and have something to contribute to the world, to be autonomous and to have space for solitude and reflection.
Types Six want to have security, certainty, reassurance and direction, to be supported by others, to be engaged and gregarious, to feel belonging and to struggle with anxiety and insecurity.
Types Seven want to be free, happy, fulfilled and satisfied, avoid emotional pain, stay stimulated and occupied and not miss out on valuable experiences, have variety and fun.
Types Eight want to be resourceful, decide for their own life and have control of the situation, reject weakness, dominate the environment and be important in their world.
Types Nine want to create harmony in their environment, be at peace, calm, patient, conciliatory and internally stable, avoid conflicts and tensions and keep things as they are.
The Enneagram describes in a surprisingly precise way three forces in our Visceral Centre, three specific areas of survival that relate to our relationship with the environment: Self-preservation, Sexual or Attraction and Social or Adaptation.
Instincts are an internal force within the organism that aims at the satisfaction of basic needs and drives automatic behaviour.
Types and Instincts are two different and independent keys. However, once we understand how the cognitive bias and emotional reactivity of each type influence survival drives, we realise that it is no longer possible to treat a type accurately without considering this dynamic.
Instinctive Variants have the added value of clearly describing in which area of life they motivate our judgements, choices and efforts. They indicate in a very practical way what we can actually do for ourselves and to improve our lives and our inner and relational balance. Each of us has the ability to bring attention to the functioning of our instincts, to recognise imbalance and actively engage in restoring balance.
Since 2005 I have developed EnneagrammaIntegrale®, a proposal for exploration and learning about human nature, inner experience and the relationship with others and with the environment through a dynamic and practical approach that awakens, involves and harmonises our different intelligences .
It is based on Ken Wilber’s vision of theIntegra Approach and consistently integrates the body of knowledge of theEnneagram with somatic and movement research with academic studies in religious ethnology and cultural anthropology the principles of Spiral Dynamics , Non Violent Communication , Sociocracy and meditation practice.
It considers as fundamental the awareness of the multiple dimensions of reality. It is a proposition that ooffers support for awareness of our position and movement in life and in the world. The orientation of this approach is to move the sense of ourselves and our identity from projection, from emotional reactivity and from the automatism of our instinctual drives toward the inner space of presence and support that allows to our resources to emerge.
Traditions often call this space our true nature. Integrating the empirical knowledge of our differentiated inner aspects and of the many dimensions of reality, our daily life may also express and manifest all the variety of true nature.
Due questionari per riflettere sulle tue attitudini, pensieri, emozioni e comportamenti e scoprire i tuoi possibili tipo e istinto dell’Enneagramma dominanti.
The Enneagram is formally represented by a circle that includes an equilateral triangle intersecting a six sides figure. The points touching the circle are numbered from one to nine in a clockwise direction and are connected by lines and arrows in both internal figures.
