Experiencing the Enneagram

by Richard Rohr

Richard Rohr has had extensive experience with the use of the Enneagram. He gives a review of what the Enneagram is and the nine personality types that comprise it, and places it within a religious context.

Genres: Spirituality, Psychology

264 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 1992

About the author

Fr. Richard Rohr is a globally recognized ecumenical teacher bearing witness to the universal awakening within Christian mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. He is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fr. Richard's teaching is grounded in the Franciscan alternative orthodoxy—practices of contemplation and expressing itself in radical compassion, particularly for the socially marginalized.

Fr. Richard is author of numerous books, including Everything Belongs, Adam’s Return, The Naked Now, Breathing Under Water, Falling Upward, Immortal Diamond, Eager to Love, and The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (with Mike Morrell).

Fr. Richard is academic Dean of the Living School for Action and Contemplation. Drawing upon Christianity's place within the Perennial Tradition, the mission of the Living School is to produce compassionate and powerfully learned individuals who will work for positive change in the world based on awareness of our common union with God and all beings. Visit cac.org for more information.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A DIVERSE SERIES OF ESSAYS EXPLAINING THE PERSONALITY TOOL

Fr. Richard Rohr wrote in the Preface to this 1992 book, “‘Do we really need another book on the Enneagram?’ I ask myself. ‘Do I have anything more to say?’ I wonder. The answer to both is surely no. There is nothing more to say, only more concepts and clarifications, with an occasional hope of life-shattering insight… I continue to trust the wisdom of the Enneagram and use it in the work of the Gospel because it leads many people back to that well where body and soul are still yearning for Spirit. For too long the religious and Christian West have tried to do an ‘end run’ around body and soul to get to God’s Spirit, or even to get to our own transcendent spirit. A truly biblical anthropology saw the human person as tripartite… Soon this more traditional model of spirit, soul and body was lost as Paul struggles with his dualistic ‘flesh’ versus ‘spirit.’ … flesh is bad, spirit is good, and never the twain shall meet. Now we finally say yes to body and soul, but often get trapped there for lack of experience and expertise.

“Conservative types… tend to fear and avoid the messages of body and soul. Progressive types… tend to remain in the outer courts of Spirit, almost humiliated before the Transcendent. But both of us lose: the first is pseudo-spirit, trapped in the private self. Conservatives… will avoid the wisdom of the Enneagram for fear of being waylaid. Liberals, who are often trapped in their own cultural moment, will often use Enneagram technique to avoid the scary encounter with the Not-Me. But the trinitarian understanding of our human nature says that all three parts must be honored and respected: body, soul and spirit. Quite simply, the Enneagram is soul work, with some body manifestations. Its original purpose was to open us up to our own longing for God… The Enneagram insight overwhelms one with his or her need for ‘salvation,’ his or her incapacity to change oneself by oneself, and the metamorphosis of grace that turns sin into gift. The Enneagram at its best is significant soul-work that relates one to their own spirit, which always longs for the eternal Spirit of God. The body stands as witness, antagonist, and truth-speaker to both soul and spirit.”

Rohr writes in the opening essay, “For many years I’ve been a counselor and spiritual advisor to a lot of men and women. In the ordinary course of pastoral care it would take eight months to build up enough confidence to tell somebody to his face the sort of things you can say the very first time with the Enneagram. For some reason the Enneagram seems to remove the element of personal confrontation, so that we can see ourselves as part of a pattern… the Enneagram is a tool for conversion, for turning ourselves around. It’s more than just another psychological curiosity for learning about ourselves. If we use it that way, we forfeit its true strength. Because then we’re misusing it, pampering our ego instead of letting it go and giving it away. The Enneagram has no false pity for the ego, it will pay any 0rice to uncover the games our ego plays.” (Pg. 3-4)

In the next essay, Rohr summarizes the Nine Types: “ONES:… only perfection is worthy of love… TWOS: … they would be loved in they themselves loved… THREES: … have to experience success somewhere, because success gives them the certainty… FOURS: … marked by a deep longing for something that’s more beautiful than what’s actually there… FIVES: are characterized by a deep experience of emptiness, and bottomless abyss that seeks to be filled… SIXES:.. they couldn’t trust themselves… SEVENS: We … call them ‘planners.’ … EIGHTS: … they’re larger than life… NINES: … have a very hard time finding and pursuing a clear purpose.” (Pg. 15-26)

Markus Becker suggests, “When we combine types in ‘clusters’… the same types do not necessarily appear in the same clusters. This means that … individuals of the same type are less similar than people of a different type… This finding naturally calls into question … the Enneagram’s… predictive power. The Enneagram typology works on the assumption that it can adequately and completely describe people by assigning them to their type… we can say that the types are not such fixed quantities as may have been assumed.” (Pg. 68)

Hans Neidhardt states, “we can see that the focusing process doesn’t take place simply within an ‘individual,’ but always in a network of relationships grouped together by the focusing advisor as he or she works with that individual.” (Pg. 84)

Klaus Renn summarizes, “first I have to accept myself and then let myself go again. If I accept myself and my qualities, which I find described in the Enneagram, if I accept my body and my relationships, then I can let myself go.” (Pg. 96)

Christian Wulf asserts, “The Enneagram wants to support people as they find their way to themselves and to God. This is where the new perspective comes in: Anyone who finds himself of herself on a spiritual path or is guiding others on their way will find the Enneagram very helpful. It broadens your outlook, it points unsuspected connections and uncomfortable truths with a few quick, powerful strokes.” (Pg. 99-100)

Dietrich Koller proposes, “I would like to begin with the Enneagram of Christ and … describe Christ as a TWO, because we can assume that this heart-point serves the essence of Christ and the essence of Christianity as a specific point of departure.” (Pg. 110)

Dirk Meine explains, “The Enneagram tries to understand better the individuality of a person and to deal with it---by looking into the ways he or she is like others. People with similarly structured
natures are compared with one another… the Enneagram offers help for living and believing that we can observe in three major areas: knowledge, change, and relations with God.” (Pg. 117)

Andreas Ebert states, “Awareness of which behavioral modes destroy human life, both individual and social, and which modes serve it, turns up in all ‘high’ religions as well as in ancient philosophy. Beyond that, such awareness contains an astonishingly large amount of material that is not unique to the Enneagram, but continually recurs in the most varied religious and philosophical systems including the New Testament.” (Pg. 141 )

Wolfgang Müller says, “I feel it is necessary for anyone who speaks to others about the Enneagram be aware of and ‘confess’ his or her own type. The discovery of one’s own type can be made ‘tasty’ or ‘disgusting’ to the other person depending upon whether one brings one’s own ‘discovered’ type into the encounter or denies it.” (Pg. 176)

Marion Küstenbmacher observes, “The Enneagram is not a game of psychobabble with numbers, it’s not pigeonholing or handing out brochures. It’s a invitation to take a spiritual journey, and it gives us what all travelers need to be able to see; the loving look at what really is.” (Pg. 182)

Liesl Scheich explains, “When you’re a SIX, you have a particularly strong need to have the experience … of being loved unconditionally.” (Pg. 186)

This book will appeal to people (particularly with a religious and/or Catholic) background.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is more about how the enneagram came to be and the mechanics of the tool than how to use it. I found it interesting to know more about the history and hearing from different voices gave it a more rounded persepctive.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accidentally picked up Experiencing the Enneagram at a used book store, but intended to get this book: Discovering The Enneagram: An Ancient Tool a New Spiritual Journey.

This book is not for those trying to learn about the Enneagram (like me) - each section is written by a different author, and it feels like the book is a product of a Enneagram conference, and each section is a seminar from it. The description of each type is in the first section; each section following either explains the usefulness of the Enneagram in different contexts, or a Christian spirituality of the Enneagram. It does have a 115-question survey in the appendix that gives you a type.

TL;DR - not for those who need an introduction to the Enneagram Geared towards those with experience and who are looking for implementation.

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

EXCELENTE ESTUDIO RESPECTO DE LAS DIFERENTES PERSONALIDADES QUE SE PUEDEN EXPERIMENTAR, EN EL SER HUMANO, Y QUE SE PUEDEN RECONCER LUEGO DE UNA INTROSPECCION Y REVISION DE NUESTRAS CARACTERISTICAS Y ACTITUDES, EN EL ARDUO PROCESO DE AUTOCONOCIMIENTO.

Y QUE CON ALGUNA O ALGUNAS CARACTERISTICAS DE CADA UNO DE LOS NUEVE DIFERENTES TIPOS DE PERSONALIDADES CONVICEN EN NUESTRO SER Y QUIZAS A PARTIR DE AHI PODER DECIFRAR ANTICIPADAMENTE LA PERSONALIDAD DE LOS QUE NOS RODEAN EN BASE A UN ESTUDIO Y ANALISIS, BREVE RESPECTO DE ELLOS, PARA PODER TENER UN POCO MAS DE INFORMACION RESPECTO DE LOS DEMAS, SIN QUE NOS LO MUESTREN, SOLO EN BASE A SU COMPORTAMIENTO.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. I hate to admit it but I am a 1 with a strong 9 wing. Everyone should explore this and discover yourself and others.