Recently a former subscriber remarked, in parting, that my use of the enneagram to answer questions about world events was misleading, that it had nothing to do with personal growth (which was this same subscriber's hope to learn more about, most likely) and that the enneagram was something that I must just be into (whatever that means) but that I ought not to confuse my subscribers by referring to it.
I can hardly imagine a better discussion topic. Nevertheless, I would have tried to phrase the same sentiment with a question, since questions lead to discovery more reliably than complaints do. I hope this response will at least clarify for others, if not prevent, some common misconceptions and even suggest other less common, though more fruitful, lines of investigation.
As always, I welcome follow-up questions.
Tradition has it that the enneagram was discovered long ago and preserved in secret. There were defensible, maybe even altruistic reasons. Topping the list was to prevent distortion and misuse. Now that the cat is out of the bag, the first is impossible and the second is a problem of management.
So far the greatest distortion is a prevailing assumption that the enneagram is a set of personality types.
It is proudly spread by partially informed, possibly well-meaning authors in the service of misinformed, possibly well-meaning publishers of all-too popular self-help literature. The Internet has done little to dispel the confusion. Thus, the strength of first impressions converges, in time, with the power of association.
It no longer surprises me that some of my readers and subscribers know almost nothing about the enneagram itself. Many can't seem to see beyond the personality types, which has been the principal obstacle in my various attempts to demonstrate creative approaches to ancient questions. This is a problem with two faces, because so few 'typologists' can say with certainty what personality is, at least not exactly.
I intentionally assign unfamiliar names to these so-called types. I will defer for another discussion (several discussions, actually) my reasons in each case, along with a description of each. For now, I am more interested in a higher level flyby of personality itself, without fragmenting it any more than necessary.
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As always, I welcome follow-up questions.
Tradition has it that the enneagram was discovered long ago and preserved in secret. There were defensible, maybe even altruistic reasons. Topping the list was to prevent distortion and misuse. Now that the cat is out of the bag, the first is impossible and the second is a problem of management.
So far the greatest distortion is a prevailing assumption that the enneagram is a set of personality types.
It is proudly spread by partially informed, possibly well-meaning authors in the service of misinformed, possibly well-meaning publishers of all-too popular self-help literature. The Internet has done little to dispel the confusion. Thus, the strength of first impressions converges, in time, with the power of association.
It no longer surprises me that some of my readers and subscribers know almost nothing about the enneagram itself. Many can't seem to see beyond the personality types, which has been the principal obstacle in my various attempts to demonstrate creative approaches to ancient questions. This is a problem with two faces, because so few 'typologists' can say with certainty what personality is, at least not exactly.
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| N I N E P E R S O N A L I T Y T Y P E S |
I intentionally assign unfamiliar names to these so-called types. I will defer for another discussion (several discussions, actually) my reasons in each case, along with a description of each. For now, I am more interested in a higher level flyby of personality itself, without fragmenting it any more than necessary.
Let me begin by taking -person
literally, to see where it leads.
Metaphors are well and good, but they make distrustworthy points of embarkation. A proposition with no literal truth won't pack any higher cognitive punch, either. The word -person means nothing less than -mask, and nothing more, either.
Metaphors are well and good, but they make distrustworthy points of embarkation. A proposition with no literal truth won't pack any higher cognitive punch, either. The word -person means nothing less than -mask, and nothing more, either.
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| A P R E V A I L I N G A S S U M P T I O N |
Don't take my word for it; look it up if you don't believe me.
It follows that as one's person grows, it does so at the expense of its host. Beyond a certain point, it becomes a liability. So it is fair and just, even responsible, to ask: How big a mask does one need?
Pruning, sometimes outright weeding, might be more appropriate for many a person than yet more growth. Too big a mask, no matter how pretty it may be, does not inspire trust. Likewise, having the preconception either that the enneagram is a tool for personal growth or that personal growth is necessarily a virtue can lead to a nonrandom collection of predictable perils.
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| A T H R E E - F O L D L O G I C |
I reasonably infer that a process may be at work. Process, more than any inventory of masks, is the enneagram's domain. Therefore, as you read of the following perils, consider them first as whole microprocesses and then as steps in a single macroprocess, or in the reverse order - what matters is that you do not rely on any one perspective, but that you zoom your level of focus up and down.
Far beyond enumerating the perils themselves, my aim is to demonstrate the laws of process in dissimilar but reproducible examples since many apply universally. If they may be discerned, the laws may be more essential to realizing human potential than the trial and error methods that we are already sick of, literally. More to the point, though, is the possibility that human potential is a more robust direction for self-help or inner-work than is personal growth, with more useful benefits.
There is a three-fold logic to personal growth that, when recognized, may be countermanded. The cycle, comprising a series of steps, is held together by the triad of DECEIVE, IDENTIFY and FORGET. These underlying terms bear brief explanation because they contain hidden substance beyond the disposable use more often made of them.
DECEIVE is a negation of -receive and derives from the Latin -capabilis, -capax, -capere, etc. - meaning receptive, able to contain and/or undertake, etc. - although the word has non-Latin relatives, too. The root is all about -capacity and/or -capability. By declaring DECEIVE to be the opposite idea of -capacity, I use it synonymously not only with TO LIE and/or TO BE UNTRUTHFUL but also, more emphatically, as meaning TO INCAPACITATE, according to its effect.
Deception of self or others, in essence a reliance on masks, is like junk food to the cycle of personal growth and like solitary confinement in a small, dark room to self-help and inner-work.
IDENTIFY also has a hidden side, connected to its literal meaning and invisble to modern usage. Nowadays, the term is vaguely and incorrectly used as a synonym for sympathize, with an implied good intention that is never defined or specified. For example, if a colleague relates a story of some professional challenge, the listener might IDENTIFY with the speaker or with some element of the story.
As it pertains to personal growth, to IDENTIFY is to become a slave.
The literal meaning is -to regard as the same, indicating the power of association. Freedom, on the other hand, is in the realm of human potential, of self-knowledge and self-expression based on individuation. There is little or none of either to be had in slavery to a role, to a mask, or to one's own identity.
I imagine that slavery is unbearable, and that most folks (even those who benefit from the slavery of others) would choose more freedom for themselves than less - at least until the price of freedom was explained to them. A dose of freedom might change some folks' answer, but that is another story. In any case, the easiest way to endure the loss of freedom, although maybe not the best way, is to FORGET the truth of the situation.
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| D E C E I V E - I D E N T I F Y - F O R G E T |
FORGET is yet another idea with a hidden side. Beyond having memory loss, the word means -to give away, -to squander. In a weird twist, modern English speakers have forgotten their language and its riches, literally and ironically.
The effect of this three-fold logic upon the whole of what might be called an individual's Real I is to INCAPACITATE, ENSLAVE and ultimately SQUANDER it. The cycle progresses through a series of perils to the Real I, which may be recognized and enumerated, even dissected. As we will see, the enneagram is the perfect tool for such work.
Those who set out on a path of personal growth will see as many as six signs along the way, depending on how hard and how far they push it.
The first, IMPRECISION, is unsurprisingly one of definitions. Personal growth is so vague an intention, so abstract a notion, lacking as it does any solid vision of a goal, that it has negative value compared to intentional fruition. If self-help or inner-work is your aim, then by all means make your first steps count.
They need not be large, but they should be in the correct direction.
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| I M P R E C I S I O N |
Perhaps because I do not consider personal growth to be a virtue of any kind, rather something to be strictly monitored, this first barrier seems to me more like a graceful warning than an imposing hurdle. It is as though fate were asking - Are you sure that you want to get on board? - before the roller coaster actually gets underway. The problem of IMPRECISION vis-a-vis human potential is known to scientists and project managers as GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out.
The next peril in the series is INSUFFERABILITY. To describe it, I will pursue the roller coaster idea a step further, still likening the process as a whole to a fall of the Real I. That fall is preceded, in fact enabled, by a proportional rise.
During this phase, there is often a noticeable condescension toward others, a higher-than-thou attitude. The deception is at its most vigorous at this point in order to impart the energy needed to overcome later hurdles, just as in other processes. During INSUFFERABILITY there is almost no sensation of hurdles at all, which feel as though automatically overcome, like a roller coaster's initial climb.
You may have also noticed that we somehow see personal growth for what it is more easily in others than in ourselves. The face is the seat of the personality, an entity with its own agenda, one possibly quite different from the rest of its host. I should add that since these perils transpire in a sequence, this second one strikes hardest at society's least defended individuals - the young.
Society, such as we know it, markets INSUFFERABILITY to the young as surely as it mistakes pride for a virtue. It does so in numerous ways, ranging from insufferable parents to peer pressure and beyond. While society does not cause anything, per se, it does tend to reward deception and identification.
During this phase, there is often a noticeable condescension toward others, a higher-than-thou attitude. The deception is at its most vigorous at this point in order to impart the energy needed to overcome later hurdles, just as in other processes. During INSUFFERABILITY there is almost no sensation of hurdles at all, which feel as though automatically overcome, like a roller coaster's initial climb.
You may have also noticed that we somehow see personal growth for what it is more easily in others than in ourselves. The face is the seat of the personality, an entity with its own agenda, one possibly quite different from the rest of its host. I should add that since these perils transpire in a sequence, this second one strikes hardest at society's least defended individuals - the young.
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| I N S U F F E R A B I L I T Y |
Society, such as we know it, markets INSUFFERABILITY to the young as surely as it mistakes pride for a virtue. It does so in numerous ways, ranging from insufferable parents to peer pressure and beyond. While society does not cause anything, per se, it does tend to reward deception and identification.
PARALYSIS is the dominant mood of the new melody. Both the growing personality and the Real I each go into a sort of cocoon, one waxing and the other waning. It is still uncertain which will emerge as the master and which the slave.
The name derives from the Greek -paraplessien, -to strike at the side and/or -paraplessesthai, -to be stricken on one side. Here the stricken side is conscience. With personal growth comes a corresponding loss of authenticity, per the logic above.
PARALYSIS is a quiet stage wherein any major changes will be deep and imperceptible to inexperienced ears. The effects of personal growth upon the Real I are not yet permanent - something still is missing. Meanwhile, the first three steps comprise the matrix of cause, in this or any process.
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| P A R A L Y S I S |
It might seem from the foregoing that I regard the person as a disease, possibly a tumor. There is partial truth in that, or at least a healthy respect for potential hazard. The whole truth is that the person is only one part of any individual human being, more of an obvious appendage than an essential element.
Between the third step and the fourth lies a chasm of irreversibilty, after which return by the same path is impossible. An alternate path of return, if any even exist, will demand expert method and guidance to traverse. Also, in the real world, reliable guides are not always available, nor to everyone equally.
Although accident is enough to get you this far, further progress needs more will-power than is generated by PARALYSIS alone.
As the enneagram shows, the fourth peril, ATROPHY, requires a sufficient rise to overcome those hurdles encountered after PARALYSIS. The good news is that it is not so easy to destroy the Real I. For the record, ATROPHY, or malnourishment, derives from the antithesis another Greek verb, -trephein, meaning -to fatten.
ATROPHY constitutes some of the first solid evidence of self-harm. Conscience is not only stricken, but starved - its growth, stunted. Meanwhile, to avoid a similar fate, the person does what any opportunist predator would: feed on those more feeble than itself, which in this case is the Real I.
From the point of view of authentic self-knowledge and self-expression, ATROPHY is a willful act of auto-vampirism. For its maturation, the underlying conscience needs a diet of impressions that is steady, varied and fresh - or a specific blend of light in order to grow, if you prefer. The person alternately absorbs or deflects said nourishment according to its own appetite or discomfort.
Although accident is enough to get you this far, further progress needs more will-power than is generated by PARALYSIS alone.
As the enneagram shows, the fourth peril, ATROPHY, requires a sufficient rise to overcome those hurdles encountered after PARALYSIS. The good news is that it is not so easy to destroy the Real I. For the record, ATROPHY, or malnourishment, derives from the antithesis another Greek verb, -trephein, meaning -to fatten.
ATROPHY constitutes some of the first solid evidence of self-harm. Conscience is not only stricken, but starved - its growth, stunted. Meanwhile, to avoid a similar fate, the person does what any opportunist predator would: feed on those more feeble than itself, which in this case is the Real I.
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| A T R O P H Y |
From the point of view of authentic self-knowledge and self-expression, ATROPHY is a willful act of auto-vampirism. For its maturation, the underlying conscience needs a diet of impressions that is steady, varied and fresh - or a specific blend of light in order to grow, if you prefer. The person alternately absorbs or deflects said nourishment according to its own appetite or discomfort.
If discovering human potential first-hand is your aim, then an intentionally translucent person will be an asset and an unintentionally opaque one, a liability. When it comes to conscience, the familiar admonition applies: Use it or lose it. By now, of course, the choice has been made.
Thus, the next step in the process is DISTORTION, during which the person mutates into a new creature - it emerges from its cocoon, for better or for worse. This level of the pyramid and the next demand as complete an oblivion to the Real I as possible in favor of the new normal. Mutation is completely natural, predictable and not necessarily a maleficent force - everything depends upon intention.
Whereas DISTORTION takes various forms, they may not be as random as we are sometimes tempted to suppose. Now, is the point when the study of types becomes appropriate and relevant, not before. In fact, premature study is itself a growing cause of DISTORTION.
An arresting, possibly even effective, comparison may be made between personal growth and cancer - surely neither will check its own growth. Personality is a DISTORTION of the Real I and, more importantly, a process that is all-too often mistaken for a product. In reality, it is more of an event than it is an object.
Thus, the next step in the process is DISTORTION, during which the person mutates into a new creature - it emerges from its cocoon, for better or for worse. This level of the pyramid and the next demand as complete an oblivion to the Real I as possible in favor of the new normal. Mutation is completely natural, predictable and not necessarily a maleficent force - everything depends upon intention.
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| D I S T O R T I O N |
An arresting, possibly even effective, comparison may be made between personal growth and cancer - surely neither will check its own growth. Personality is a DISTORTION of the Real I and, more importantly, a process that is all-too often mistaken for a product. In reality, it is more of an event than it is an object.
The final peril is even less surprising than the first - quite simply, it is SUCCESS - and it does not happen all by itself, for free. The main difference between DISTORTION and SUCCESS is sustainability. The emergent creature needs a supportive environment, one that would be insufferable, even hostile, to any Real I bold enough to unmask itself.
The relation between ATROPHY and SUCCESS is no less arresting. If the former is a vampire, the latter is a zombie. Sustained ATROPHY results in the death of the affected mass, which in this case must be one or more of the three psychic centers of gravity - gestation, emotion and/or mentation.
This is what partial death of the human spirit looks like. If you watch for them, you may begin to notice
the undead walking among us, making friends, making laws, even making children. SUCCESS paints so shocking a picture that most folks prefer not to see it, which is wholly voluntary on their part.
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the undead walking among us, making friends, making laws, even making children. SUCCESS paints so shocking a picture that most folks prefer not to see it, which is wholly voluntary on their part.
The admonition to be careful
what you wish for is well remembered when it comes to SUCCESS. If you work to bury
yourself in lies, even though you may succeed, human potential will only elude you all
the more. That I do not recommend such a course apparently makes me unpopular, at least superficially.
The foregoing may be placed around the enneagram for ease of reference and further study.
The risk of ultimate SUCCESS is only one of the several reasons why my work with the enneagram does not pursue personal growth as its aim. A private distaste for insufferability is another - lack of mystery is another still. Rather than languish among the undead, though, I prefer to conclude these impressions on more hopeful, if no less critical, a note.
I will be brief.
Disclosing my lack of psychological credentials and admitting my distrust of Academia in the same sentence, let me also humbly offer my recommendations toward an antidote to excessive personal growth. Just as there is a three-fold logic to the perils, so too are there countermeasures to these urges - to DECEIVE, IDENTIFY and FORGET. Unsurprisingly, they are oppositely oriented and punctuated first by a personal discomfort and then by an authentic reawakenening of the Real I.
This new triad comprises the terms REMEMBER, DISCRIMINATE and VERIFY. As before, the terms have familiar and unfamiliar meanings. As always, the order is nonrandom.
REMEMBER is necessarily the first. Beyond the opposite of FORGET, it must also be the opposite of SQUANDER. This I take loosely as -reassemble, a reconstitution of the members, so to speak.
It can be a long and tedious road with no shortcuts, lasting for a duration proportional to the degree of personal growth heretofore.
DISCRIMINATE is necessarily the second, and can neither be rushed nor begun early. The common acceptable use of the term is to mean distinguish, otherwise it is considered rude if not sociopathic. Why the language has been seeded with political correctness is a thrilling story for another day - for now, ask yourself if you ever hear or use the word discriminate followed by against, as in discriminate against someone on the basis of age or gender, ethnicity or culture, location or religious affiliation, political orientation or economic condition, etc.
The tendency to consider discrimination as an unjust act is merely evidence of personal growth within culture itself, since its true meaning is to do the opposite of incriminate.
Finally, VERIFY hints at something more than -ascertain. Beyond simply double-checking or making sure, VERIFY has the sense of -make true or -make real. There is more to verity than the absence of doubt.
Again, everything depends upon intention - what do you aim to realize?
The foregoing may be placed around the enneagram for ease of reference and further study.
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| P E R I L S O F P E R S O N A L G R O W T H |
The risk of ultimate SUCCESS is only one of the several reasons why my work with the enneagram does not pursue personal growth as its aim. A private distaste for insufferability is another - lack of mystery is another still. Rather than languish among the undead, though, I prefer to conclude these impressions on more hopeful, if no less critical, a note.
I will be brief.
Disclosing my lack of psychological credentials and admitting my distrust of Academia in the same sentence, let me also humbly offer my recommendations toward an antidote to excessive personal growth. Just as there is a three-fold logic to the perils, so too are there countermeasures to these urges - to DECEIVE, IDENTIFY and FORGET. Unsurprisingly, they are oppositely oriented and punctuated first by a personal discomfort and then by an authentic reawakenening of the Real I.
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| T O W A R D A N A N T I D O T E |
This new triad comprises the terms REMEMBER, DISCRIMINATE and VERIFY. As before, the terms have familiar and unfamiliar meanings. As always, the order is nonrandom.
REMEMBER is necessarily the first. Beyond the opposite of FORGET, it must also be the opposite of SQUANDER. This I take loosely as -reassemble, a reconstitution of the members, so to speak.
It can be a long and tedious road with no shortcuts, lasting for a duration proportional to the degree of personal growth heretofore.
DISCRIMINATE is necessarily the second, and can neither be rushed nor begun early. The common acceptable use of the term is to mean distinguish, otherwise it is considered rude if not sociopathic. Why the language has been seeded with political correctness is a thrilling story for another day - for now, ask yourself if you ever hear or use the word discriminate followed by against, as in discriminate against someone on the basis of age or gender, ethnicity or culture, location or religious affiliation, political orientation or economic condition, etc.
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| R E M E M B E R - D I S C R I M I N A T E - V E R I F Y |
The tendency to consider discrimination as an unjust act is merely evidence of personal growth within culture itself, since its true meaning is to do the opposite of incriminate.
Finally, VERIFY hints at something more than -ascertain. Beyond simply double-checking or making sure, VERIFY has the sense of -make true or -make real. There is more to verity than the absence of doubt.
Again, everything depends upon intention - what do you aim to realize?
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Questions are heartily encouraged. I will review and publish yours as soon as I receive it and respond as soon as I am able. Meanwhile, please reconsider the suggested guidelines and attempt to include at least one question. Many thanks.