As we form the False Self, in reaction to having forgotten fundamental Unity, one of the primary elements we experience are a collection of feelings or emotions called the Passions. We activate the energy of these Passions to try and aid our survival. They are:
Sloth
Fear
Deceit
Lust
Avarice
Gluttony
Anger
Envy
Pride
Not a pretty list!
However, we each have each of these feelings within us and recognizing them is part of the path of these teachings. The fact that we all have these Passions can make it a little easier to accept. We’re definitely not alone. They are so universal that different spiritual traditions acknowledge many of these traits as requiring awareness and effort to overcome as part of the spiritual work. For example, the Enneagram Passions overlap substantially with the “Seven Deadly Sins” (originally eight or nine) identified by the earliest Christian monastics, the Desert Fathers and Mothers in third-century Syria. Of course, it’s easier to see these traits in others than ourselves! What we can see and acknowledge in ourselves can pass through, what we ignore and deny can get “stuck” and may cause us unnecessary problems.
While all of us have all of these Passions and will need to work with each on the path, one of them in particular will be especially strong in us. This is because of our experience of loss with the Holy Truths. While we lose awareness of all of the Holy Truths, each of us is especially sensitized to the loss of one particular Truth. The loss of one of these hits us particularly hard. Which one of these losses is most difficult varies from person to person and these teachings don’t posit a reason for why this is true. The impact though is that the Passion associated with that Truth will become a central motivator in our lives, it will become the emotional core of the False Self.
We can see these Passions at work already in the pattern of our original loss of awareness of the Divine and the Holy Truths (see prior post here). The initial forgetting is related to Sloth – the original “falling asleep” to our True Selves and indicative of the difficulty we’ll have rousing ourselves to engage in the path of waking up. The second stage of existential terror is part of the Passion of Fear. The forming of the False Self is a function of the Passion of Deceit. We each have each of these Passions, along with the rest, and as we traverse that path we will need to engage with each of them in their time and place. Engaging with them honestly and clearly (more on this later) can make room for their energy within us to dissipate, allowing us to open more to life as it is.
Thank you for reading this post, I welcome your comments and questions below. Please do share this with anyone you think may be interested. If you’re interested in classes, one-on-one consultation, or a conversation to help you clarify your likely Personality Type, please contact me at keith at theawakenedenneagram.com.