The Enneagram

A Framework of Personal Discovery and Growth

THE PARADOX WAY helps us to identify the ways and motives of the false self so we can begin to live and love from our True Self. Genetics and life experience both contribute to our unique perspectives and the way in which we see and respond. The invitation and opportunity is to migrate from the kingdom of self to the Kingdom of God and the Enneagram is an incredibly helpful tool for this journey of struggle, discovery and freedom.

While the Enneagram is an ancient tool, “it is now seen as a brilliant gift for the democratization of spirituality and a very effective ‘psychology of sin’. By forcing us to face our own darkness and shadow in ways that are rather undeniable, it simultaneously opens us to our deepest gift. It has brought many people to a very practical understanding of non-dual thinking and the endless paradox and mystery that human nature seems to be.” – Richard Rohr

“The purpose of the Enneagram is not self-improvement as such, which would still be our ego’s goal. Rather, it is the transformation of consciousness so that we can realize our essence, our True Self. Our gift is amazingly our sin, sublimated and transformed by grace.” – Richard Rohr

“The Enneagram suggests that we all have been given a particular gift from God. Numbered from one to nine, these gifts include goodness, love, effectiveness, creativity, wisdom, faithfulness, joy, power, and peace. As we live with the special gift have been given, we bump into roadblocks: we cannot do this perfectly, others do not appreciate our gifts, and others have different gifts that may look better or worse in our own eyes. When these roadblocks appear, we desperately try to affirm ourselves by exaggerating our gifts. Life becomes all about our talents, our abilities, our desires. When we become really desperate, we exaggerate our gifts to the point of compulsion. The Enneagram identities nine gifts, followed by nine compulsions, and then suggests nine graces to help us return home.” – Alice Fryling

NOTE: While there are numerous online Enneagram “tests”, many use behaviors as the determinant factor(s) for Enneagram typing. It is our strong belief that the truest diagnostic is through seeing and understanding our motivations and this is what will launch us on the path of transformation.

 

ONES: The Perfectionist; The Need to Be Perfect

Ethical, dedicated and reliable, they are motivated by a desire to live the right way, improve the world, and avoid fault and blame.*

  • Gift: Goodness; Reformers and idealists who are motivated and driven by the longing for a true, just and moral world.
  • Compulsion: Anger (resentment) because the world is not the way they know it should be.
  • Grace: Serenity: When ONEs can recognize this imperfection in themselves with grace and compassion, they can begin to be at peace and happy.

TWOS: The Helper; The Need to be Needed

Warm, caring and giving, they are motivated by a need to be loved and needed, and to avoid acknowledging their own needs.*

  • Gift: Love, loving themselves and others with the love of God
  • Compulsion: Pride (Self-Abnegation), as they subconsciously get their own needs met by serving others.
  • Grace: Humility, emerging from the humiliation of seeing that so many of their “selfless” acts were indeed selfishly motivated.

THREES: The Performer; The Need to Succeed

Success-oriented, image-conscious and wired for productivity, they are motivated by a need to be (or appear to be) successful and to avoid failure.*

  • Gift: Effectiveness, using their tremendous competence and energy to help other people and to motivate them to discover their own potential
  • Compulsion: Deceit, relying on their own natural talents and accomplishments to secure the praise and affirmation of others
  • Grace: Truth, often after a failure which exposes their life-lies and ultimately their true identity

FOURS: The Romantic; The Need to be Special

Creative, sensitive and moody, they are motivated by a need to be understood, experience their oversized feelings and avoid being ordinary.*

  • Gift: Creativity, bringing beauty and symmetry as an offering toward the wholeness of the world
  • Compulsion: Envy, desiring what others have in order to compensate for a fear of abandonment, often in an endless search for authenticity
  • Grace: Equanimity / Emotional balance, coming to see that they live in God and God in them.

FIVES: The Investigator; The Need to Perceive

Analytical, detached and private, they are motivated by a need to gain knowledge, conserve energy and avoid relying on others.*

  • Gift: Wisdom, which reaches to a sympathetic knowing of the heart
  • Compulsion: Avarice / Greed, showing up as an insatiable appetite for knowledge, thoughts, ideas, silence and space. “Knowledge is power.”
  • Grace: Detachment, from their minds and a letting go, into their hearts for healthy and committed engagement with the world.

SIXES: The Loyalist; The Need for Security

Committed, practical and witty, they are worst-case-scenario thinkers who are motivated by fear and the need for security.*

  • Gift: Faithfulness, courage and loyalty to what deserves loyalty, knowing how to hold onto sound traditions with a readiness to take new paths.
  • Compulsion: Fear, primal anxiety, resulting in a grasp for something solid, authoritative, certain and clear.
  • Grace: Courage, to move from relying on outer authority to knowing and trusting their Inner Authority, from needing certitude and answers to having faith.

SEVENS: The Enthusiast; The Need to Avoid Pain

Fun, spontaneous and adventurous, they are motivated by a need to be happy, to plan stimulating experiences and to avoid pain.*

  • Gift: Joy, in the face of, and despite, all the difficulties of life.
  • Compulsion: Gluttony (“more is better!”) in order to avoid the perception that reality found in the now is boring, painful and insufficient.
  • Grace: Sobriety, found in facing pain and cooperating with God to accept both sides of life.

EIGHTS: The Challenger; The Need to be Against

Commanding, intense and confrontational, they are motivated by a need to be strong and avoid feeling weak or vulnerable.*

  • Gift: Power, used for the protection of others and to lead them into their real potential
  • Compulsion: Passion, in the form of excess, lust or addiction
  • Grace: Innocence, through a recognition of the innocent, vulnerable and distressed child in their own soul

NINES: The Peacemaker; The Need to Avoid

Pleasant, laid back and accommodating, they are motivated by a need to keep the peace, merge with others and avoid conflict.*

  • Gift: Peace; peacemaking and bringing harmony
  • Compulsion: Sloth / Laziness, stemming from a desire to avoid inner and outer conflict
  • Grace: Action, particularly “right” or decisive action as they practice their willingness to make their own contribution

*From The Road Back to You, An Enneagram Journey of Self-Discovery, by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile