What is the Awakened Enneagram?
Exploring the spiritual teachings of the Enneagram
Most people who know about the Enneagram are familiar with its nine Personality Types. This knowledge is tremendously supportive of our personal development; yet, there is more wisdom within the Enneagram tradition available to us, teachings that are less often discussed. This wisdom includes the spiritual teachings of the Enneagram.
At its most basic, the word “Enneagram” refers to the nine-pointed (“ennea”) symbol (“gram”) below. This symbol can be used as a map of various aspects of human experience. In these writings I am interested in tracking those enneagram maps that help us awaken to the true nature of our existence. These maps can help us see what a liberated life looks like, the impediments to our experience of that life, and how we can be free of those impediments so we can experience a life of liberation.
The core map we’ll be exploring is the Enneagram of Holy Truths (also referred to as Holy Ideas). These are deep truths about the ultimate nature of reality, our own true nature, and our lived experience of each of these. The Holy Truths are:
Holy Unity
Holy Omniscience, Holy Transparency
Holy Wisdom, Holy Plan, Holy Work
Holy Perfection
Holy Origin
Holy Will, Holy Freedom
Holy Law, Holy Harmony, Holy Hope
Holy Faith, Holy Strength
Holy Love, Holy Peace
The spiritual teachings of the Enneagram say that we have fallen asleep to these Truths. This falling asleep is painful and distressing and as a result we naturally have strong emotional reactions to our situation and develop inaccurate ideas about what our lives are in reality and how they actually unfold.
These emotional reactions are detailed in the Enneagram of Passions and the inaccurate ideas are articulated in the Enneagram of Fixations. These Passions and Fixations constellate in consistent patterns that drive our perceptions, feelings, thinking and behavior which together form our Personality Type. The Enneagram of Personality Types is what is commonly known as “The Enneagram” in contemporary circles and has received the most attention in popular culture. The Personality Type is a survival strategy and, asleep as it is to the Holy Truths, it is called the False Self.
The spiritual path of the Enneagram is for each of us to be released from the False Self and to rest more deeply in the True Self. The approach is to observe the functioning of the False Self and to witness its Passions and Fixations and assorted other habits and patterns. Through this process these things naturally release their grip on us. We will more and more consistently experience the True Self. This True Self is more often awake to the Holy Truths, more often experiences helpful traits (elucidated in the Enneagram of Virtues) and is more open to life as it happens in the present moment. The True Self realizes its wholeness with all things and, awake to this unity, is free.
For easier reference, here are the enneagrams I’ve mentioned and that we’ll be exploring in future articles:
Enneagram of Holy Truths – fundamental facts about existence
Enneagram of Passions – the charged emotions that arise as a result of us falling asleep to the Truths
Enneagram of Fixations – the inaccurate ideas that arise as a result of falling asleep to the Truths
Enneagram of Personality Types – the constellations of Passions, Fixations and resulting patterns that form who we take ourselves to be, our False Self
Enneagram of Virtues – the qualities that naturally arise as the influence of the False Self recedes
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.