Imagine a kiosk at a shopping mall. The mall has three "anchor" stores: Body, Mind and Heart-Spirit and each of these three has three "entrances".
The Enneagram is simply a map that says, "You are here." It gives you signs and suggestions with which you can agree or disagree as you get your bearings. Whether the map is helpful in that regard is always up to you.
It suggests that each of us "parks" in front of and enters the mall habitually through one of the three anchor stores.
Not only do we have a favorite anchor store but we also have a favorite entrance. We consistently choose (consciously or unconsciously) to enter the mall through that store and through that particular entrance over the others.
Though we can and do obviously mix it up a bit, the enneagram suggests that there are patterns to our thoughts, emotions and behaviors to which we return. It provides a Kiosk of sorts to help us become more conscious of where we are so that we might be more conscious and intentional as we move through life.
The "Anchor Stores" (Head, Heart and Body) can be seen in the picture to the right. The "Nine Entrances" reflect Nine values: (1) Goodness; (2) Love; (3) Efficiency; (4) Originality; (5) Wisdom; (6) Loyalty; (7) Joy; (8) Power or (9) Peace . As our life is an expression of all nine values, we use all Nine as “entrances”.
As my Enneagram teacher, Jerry Wagner says, "We value what we’re good at and become good at what we value," so again the suggestion is that we have a favorite "entrance" / a favorite value that we enter life through more than the others.
The values in a sense become the lenses through which we see ourselves, others and the world around us. Our values help us orient and focus our vision. They tell us what’s important & what to live for. But, because we tend to look through only one lens, we see somethings and not others. We begin to "idol-ize” the ideal and can become overly convinced that our way of seeing something is the only way to see it.
And who could blame us. We each have a gift, an insight, an ability to see things that other don't, won't or can't. The enneagram helps us avoid the pitfalls of the patterns that often get played out. Have you ever known something intellectually, felt something different emotionally and then done something completely opposite behaviorally? St. Paul puts it this way:
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” – Romans 7:15-23
As a map, the enneagram can help us make sense of the patterns of our thoughts, feelings and behaviors…why we do what we do…why we react to what we react to and why we tend to focus on certain things and not others. It is a tool that can help us understand, love, appreciate and work with others better.
The Enneagram is simply a map that says, "You are here." It gives you signs and suggestions with which you can agree or disagree as you get your bearings. Whether the map is helpful in that regard is always up to you.
It suggests that each of us "parks" in front of and enters the mall habitually through one of the three anchor stores.
Not only do we have a favorite anchor store but we also have a favorite entrance. We consistently choose (consciously or unconsciously) to enter the mall through that store and through that particular entrance over the others.
Though we can and do obviously mix it up a bit, the enneagram suggests that there are patterns to our thoughts, emotions and behaviors to which we return. It provides a Kiosk of sorts to help us become more conscious of where we are so that we might be more conscious and intentional as we move through life.
The "Anchor Stores" (Head, Heart and Body) can be seen in the picture to the right. The "Nine Entrances" reflect Nine values: (1) Goodness; (2) Love; (3) Efficiency; (4) Originality; (5) Wisdom; (6) Loyalty; (7) Joy; (8) Power or (9) Peace . As our life is an expression of all nine values, we use all Nine as “entrances”.
As my Enneagram teacher, Jerry Wagner says, "We value what we’re good at and become good at what we value," so again the suggestion is that we have a favorite "entrance" / a favorite value that we enter life through more than the others.
The values in a sense become the lenses through which we see ourselves, others and the world around us. Our values help us orient and focus our vision. They tell us what’s important & what to live for. But, because we tend to look through only one lens, we see somethings and not others. We begin to "idol-ize” the ideal and can become overly convinced that our way of seeing something is the only way to see it.
And who could blame us. We each have a gift, an insight, an ability to see things that other don't, won't or can't. The enneagram helps us avoid the pitfalls of the patterns that often get played out. Have you ever known something intellectually, felt something different emotionally and then done something completely opposite behaviorally? St. Paul puts it this way:
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” – Romans 7:15-23
As a map, the enneagram can help us make sense of the patterns of our thoughts, feelings and behaviors…why we do what we do…why we react to what we react to and why we tend to focus on certain things and not others. It is a tool that can help us understand, love, appreciate and work with others better.