The Enneagram
Most people know the Enneagram as a personality typing system that reveals nine distinct “types” or patterns of thinking, feeling, and being in the world.
The Enneagram of Personality is used throughout the world for self-understanding, appreciating differences, improving leadership, relationships, and growing spiritually. It is a constant companion in my work, because it provides direct insight into both our gifts and also the patterns that prevent us from growing, being more influential, or otherwise solving issues and realizing our dreams. There are many great places to learn more about the Enneagram of Personality, like here, here, here, and here.
But the Enneagram has even more to offer...
The Enneagram Symbol
What is not as well known is that the Enneagram Symbol itself is a kind of a “map” to the process of increasing the health, well-being, and unity within and between people and larger systems.
Like the S-curves described here, the Enneagram is a depiction of a universal pattern that governs the process of creation and continuous renewal at ALL levels of life, from the cellular to the cosmological, and everything in between. That pattern is governed by three universal “laws” that are represented by the three shapes that make up the Symbol.
The Law of One describes the unified field of intelligence underlying the diversity of the created world.
The Law of Three illustrates how new creation occurs and how, under the right conditions, life leaps or evolves to higher-order expression.
The Law of Seven describes how life is continually renewed through a predictable pattern that engages both orderly growth and chaotic disarray.
Together these laws reveal a process of intelligent self-organization underlying Reality itself; one that continues to evolve toward greater complexity and coherence.
Why would the Laws of the Symbol matter to us? Understanding and engaging skillfully with the laws can help us to evolve fragmented systems toward “higher-order” unity and health. And their wisdom applies as well to our own psychological integration and spiritual development, as it does to creating greater coherence in teams, organizations, or polarized communities.
More on the Laws of the Symbol: link
The Enneagram Symbol Journey
The Enneagram Symbol Journey is a unique developmental process for evolving higher Self leadership and improving the systems in which we live and work. It is a guide, we might say, for “jumping curves” or navigating that confusing and chaotic space between where we are now and where we could be, as individuals and as a collective.
This process integrates the ancient wisdom revealed in the Laws of the Enneagram Symbol with the mythical hero’s journey, modern science, psychology, and diverse spiritual perspectives to create a unique transformational experience that is, at the same time, based on your own psychological, spiritual, and leadership development aspirations.
On this journey we engage the Laws of Three and Seven to travel clockwise around the Symbol, collecting the points of the Enneagram as archetypes and “parts” of our developing whole or “higher” Self. The adventure takes us across the threshold between the Order of the known world, into the Chaos of the unknown, to “face the dragon” of our unconscious limitations, and uncover psychological and spiritual gifts that enable us to return and help the world as well.
You can learn more about this journey in my book, and/or join an upcoming talk or workshop to explore the Laws of the Enneagram through your own journey around the Symbol.
Further Exploration of the Enneagram Symbol
Enneagram training
I learned the Enneagram in 1993 in a full-quarter narrative tradition course taught at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford (perhaps the only time it was taught there!), and have continued my training, teaching, coaching, and application of the Enneagram ever since. Eventually, the Enneagram Symbol itself became my teacher and a central aspect of my development and spiritual growth. Training highlights include:
Certified as a teacher in the Narrative Enneagram 2004
Completed multiple trainings with The Enneagram in Business since 2005 in consulting, coaching, and training with the Enneagram; been a mentor to other professionals using the Enneagram in business through the EIBNetwork since its inception; Mentoring Coordinator for the network since 2019
Completed all trainings in the Personal and Professional Tracks through Chestnut-Paes Enneagram Academy, as well as other one-time offerings in The Way of the Symbol (2015-2021)
Completed in-depth personal trainings offered by Enneagram Prison Project: 9 Prisons, ONE Key and Path to Freedom
Attended various workshops taught by Russ Hudson via Shift Network, Sounds True, and The Awakened Company
Accredited Practitioner of IEQ9 – Integrative Enneagram Questionnaire
Certified professional with the International Enneagram Association since 2019
“The ultimate aim of the quest must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and the power to serve others.”
- Joseph Campbell
