Zen & the Enneagram Assignments

PLEASE REMEMBER:
Submissions over the 50-word limit will be deleted unread. Count “egocentrickarmicconditioning/self-hate” as one word. Do not include “R/L” in your word count.
 
Zen and the Enneagram: We Are All Nine Types
Wednesday, August 9
Class 4
 
Practicing with the orientation of Enneatype 3 reveals the extent to which we are conditioned to abandon Authenticity and look to “the fantasies of external authority” for our sense of wellbeing. This looking to become what the “externals” demand leaves us feeling hollow and empty. As we practice tuning into Life and calibrating to what is so, we discover a joy and satisfaction that completely fulfills.
 
Let’s move to Enneatype 4
 
Type Four – The Romantic
 
Worldview: Something essential is missing from life; I’ll be complete if I can just find it.
 
Belief: I’m different from other people. No one can truly understand me or the depth of my longing. Authenticity is found in deep emotional connection. Other people have what I am missing.
 
Focus of Attention: What I desire is distant; what’s here and now is not what I really want.
 
Characteristics: Romantics feel something is missing in their life. Other people have it, but they don’t.
 
Fours believe they are different from other people. Deep inside they feel defective, as if something essential were lacking. Longing desperately to feel whole again, they search for the missing elements that will fulfill them. “If only I could find that perfect job, love, whatever, I would be complete.” But as the object of the Romantics desire comes closer, they see its flaws and realize it doesn’t make them feel whole after all. So they push it away. Then as it moves away from them, it begins to be desirable again. “Maybe that was it after all,” Fours tell themselves. A push-pull pattern can develop as they continue to search for the missing piece. They are destined to be disappointed.
 
Fours are often melancholic and their longing feels bittersweet. They yearn for a deep connection where they will be met emotionally. “Authenticity” is found in intense emotional states so they return there again and again. Romantics abhor anything ordinary and would rather embrace being different that be just like all the rest. And they would rather be disappointed that settle for less.
 
Exercise
How are you an Enneatype Four? How do some of the qualities, processes and characteristics of the Romantic show up in you? How does the focus on what’s missing prevent you from experiencing contentment? How does the pursuit for what is absent in your life stop you from receiving and enjoying what you do have?
 
In 50 words or fewer, write to us about your process. Here is the link to use:
https://www.livingcompassion.org/class-4
 
Submit your response after 9.00 a.m. PDT on Saturday, Aug. 12. Submissions received before 9:00 a.m. PDT on Saturday, Aug. 12 will not be accepted. 

All submissions and responses will be posted as Cheri finishes with them. As we begin posting Cheri’s responses for each class, we will send a notice.  All of the assignments can also be found here.https://www.livingcompassion.org/enneagram-class-assignments

NOTE
When writing your responses, please pay attention to spelling and punctuation. This will help Cheri to more easily discern your meaning.

We recommend recording the class, listening to it, responding, and recording your response before submitting it. Remember to include “R/L” with your response to indicate that you are Recording & Listening.
 
Gassho

Zen and the Enneagram: We Are All Nine Types
Sunday, August 6
Class 3
 
Practicing with the orientation of Enneatype 2 reveals the extent to which we are conditioned to seek conditional love and acceptance. We learn how labels such as selfish and selfless have been co-opted by egocentric karmic conditioning/self-hate to serve it at the expense of the human incarnation. Practice assists us to turn attention from what divides the world into self and other, and toward more awareness of what is compassionate for all.
 
Let’s move to Enneatype 3
 
Type Three – The Performer
 
Worldview: Life is about presenting a successful image.
 
Beliefs: I am my accomplishments. I am the image I present. I can change my image to fit the circumstances. Everybody wants to be known as a winner.
 
Focus of Attention: Approval for productivity or image
 
Characteristics
People of this personality type need to be validated in order to feel worthy; they pursue success and want to be admired. They are frequently hard working, competitive, and highly focused in the pursuit of their goals. They know how to present themselves, are self-confident, practical, and driven. Threes have a lot of energy and often seem to embody a kind of zest for life that others find contagious. They are good networkers who know how to rise through the ranks. But, while Threes tend to succeed in whatever realm they focus their energies, they are often secretly afraid of being or becoming "losers."
 
Threes can sometimes find intimacy difficult. Their need to be validated for their image often hides a deep sense of shame about who they really are, a shame they unconsciously fear will be unmasked if another gets too close. Threes are often generous and likable, but are difficult to really know. 
 
Because it is central to the Performer to require external validation, they often, consciously and unconsciously, attempt to embody the image of success that is promoted by their culture. Threes get in trouble when they confuse true happiness, which depends on inner states, with the image of happiness that society has promoted. If a Three has a "good" job and an "attractive" mate, they might be willing, through an act of self-deception which is also self-betrayal, to ignore the inner promptings that tell them that neither their job nor their mate are fulfilling deeper needs. Even the most "successful" Threes, who generally appear quite happy, often hide a deeply felt sense of meaninglessness. The attainment of the image never quite satisfies.
 
Exercise
How are you an Enneatype Three? How do some of the qualities, processes, and characteristics of the Performer show up in you? How does the focus on meeting “external expectations” stop you from following your heart’s desire?
 
In 50 words or fewer, write to us about your process. Here is the link to use:
https://www.livingcompassion.org/class-3
 
Submit your response after 9.00 a.m. PDT, Wednesday, August 9. Submissions received before 9:00 a.m. PDT, Wednesday, August 9, will not be accepted.  

All submissions and responses will be posted as Cheri finishes with them. As we begin posting Cheri’s responses for each class, we will send a notice.  All of the assignments can also be found here. https://www.livingcompassion.org/enneagram-class-assignments

NOTE
When writing your responses, please pay attention to spelling and punctuation. This will help Cheri to more easily discern your meaning.

We recommend recording the class, listening to it, responding, and recording your response before submitting it. Remember to include “R/L” with your response to indicate that you are Recording & Listening.
 
Gassho

Zen and the Enneagram: We Are All Nine Types
Thursday, August 3
Class 2
 
In the first class, we saw how suffering is created and maintained when the focus of attention is on “what’s wrong.”  All of us were able to identify with the Perfectionist personality in some way. This assists us to see how egocentric karmic conditioning/self-hate is not personal.  Anyone identified with ego sees the world through the “something wrong” lens.  Our opportunity when we feel resentment, judgment, and criticism is to practice unconditionally accepting the perfection of life as it is.
 
So let’s continue our exploration that “we are all types” by turning our attention to Enneatype Two.
 
Type Two – the Helper
 
Worldview:  My love makes the world go around.
 
Beliefs: I am indispensable to my loved ones, employer, client, etc. I sense what people need and give it to them. I can help others achieve their highest potential. I don’t really have needs.
 
Focus of Attention: Approval of self as helper
 
Characteristics
Helpers are worthy insofar as they are helpful to others. Love is their highest ideal. Selflessness is their duty. Giving to others is their reason for being.
 
Helping others makes Twos feel good about themselves; being needed makes them feel important; being selfless makes them feel virtuous. Much of a Two's self-image revolves around these issues, and any threat to that self-image is scarcely tolerated. Twos are thoroughly convinced of their selflessness, and it is true that they are frequently genuinely helpful and concerned about others. It is equally true, however, that Twos require appreciation; they need to be needed. Their love is not without ulterior motive.
 
Because they have extended themselves for others, they begin to feel that gratitude is owed to them. They can become intrusive and demanding if their often unacknowledged emotional needs go unmet. They can be bossy and manipulative, feeling entirely justified in being so, because they "have earned the right" and their intentions are good.
 
The darkest side of the type Two personality appears when the Two begins to feel that they will never receive the love they deserve for all of their efforts. Under such circumstances, they can become hysterical, irrational and even abusive.
 
Because Twos are generally helping others meet their needs, they can forget to take care of their own. This can lead to physical burnout, emotional exhaustion and emotional volatility.
 
--- Excerpted from www.ecelecticenergies.com & Everyday Enneagram by Lynette Sheppard
 
Exercise
How are you an Enneatype Two? How do some of the qualities, processes, and characteristics of the Helper manifest in you? How do seeking approval and the need to receive appreciation at the expense of taking care of yourself show up in your life?
 
In 50 words or fewer, write to us about your process. Here is the link to use:
https://www.livingcompassion.org/class-2
 
Submit your response after 9.00 a.m. PDT on Sunday, August 6. Submissions received before 9:00 a.m. PDT Sunday will not be accepted. 

All submissions and responses will be posted as Cheri finishes with them. As we begin posting Cheri’s responses for each class, we will send a notice.  All of the assignments can also be found here.
https://www.livingcompassion.org/enneagram-class-assignments

NOTE
When writing your responses, please pay attention to spelling and punctuation. This will help Cheri to more easily discern your meaning.

We recommend recording the class, listening to it, responding, and recording your response before submitting it. Remember to include “R/L” with your response to indicate that you are Recording & Listening.
 
Gassho
 

Zen and the Enneagram: We Are All Nine Types
Tuesday, August 1
Class 1
 
Welcome to the class.
 
Please note that there is no requirement to be an expert on the Enneagram to participate in this class. All the information you need to know about an Enneatype to do the assignment will be provided.
 
Your enneatype is what you are not! --Lynette Sheppard
 
In essence, every person is perfect, fearless, and in a loving unity with the entire cosmos; there is no conflict within the person between head, heart, and stomach, or between the person and others. Then something happens. The ego begins to develop, karma accumulates, and there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity. The person falls from Essence into personality.
-- Oscar Ichazo, a seminal contributor to the development of the Enneagram
 
The Enneagram is popularly known as a personality typing system, but it’s much more than that. It’s a model that assists in spiritual awakening. The Enneagram describes nine ways by which we fall “from Essence into personality.” In previous Enneagram-based email classes, we explored this fall through the lens of our dominant enneatype. However, as we all know, the process of suffering is not personal, and how suffering is caused in each of us is applicable to all of us. 
 
In this and successive classes, we will bring awareness to how each of us falls from Essence in each of the nine ways.
 
We will begin with Enneatype One and with successive assignments move through the nine types, giving a brief overview of each. (It is worth noting that the numbering system of the nine Enneatypes is for convenience only and does not suggest a hierarchy of any sort.)
 
Type One – the Perfectionist
 
Worldview: Life is about correcting error and striving for improvement.
 
Focus of Attention: What is right or wrong
 
Characteristics:

• Compulsive need to act on what seems correct
• One right way, black and white thinking
• Relentless stream of self-criticizing thoughts
• Mentally comparing oneself to others and concern about criticism
• Belief in one’s own moral and ethical superiority
• Procrastination stemming from fear of making a mistake
• Do gooder--do what should be done rather than what one wants to do
• Pleasure as an escape valve

 
Emotion: Anger Internalized
Ones contain the internalized version of anger – resentment. Anger is stuffed deep inside and seeps out in the guise of irritation, frustration and resentment. Ones are angry at having to circumvent their own desires for that which should be done. Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be any reward for being virtuous and responsible. Ones are angry at the inherent unfairness of the situation. Others just skate by, shirking responsibility or cutting corners and aren’t penalized for it. In fact, others seem to be enjoying pleasures and indulging desires without necessarily having earned them! 
-- Excerpted from The Everyday Enneagram by Lynne Sheppard
 
Exercise:  
How are you a Perfectionist One? How do some of the qualities, processes and characteristics of the One show up in you? How does a focus on what’s wrong with how things are cause you to miss the Perfection of all that is?
 
In 50 words or fewer, write to us about your process. Here is the link to use:
https://www.livingcompassion.org/class-1
 
Submit your response after 9.00 a.m. PST on Thursday, August 3. Submissions received before 9:00 a.m. PST Thursday will not be accepted. We allow for time zone differences.

All submissions and responses will be posted as Cheri finishes with them. As we begin posting Cheri’s responses for each class, we will send a notice.  All of the assignments can also be found here.
https://www.livingcompassion.org/enneagram-class-assignments

NOTE
When writing your responses, please pay attention to spelling and punctuation. This will help Cheri to more easily discern your meaning.

We recommend recording the class, listening to it, responding, and recording your response before submitting it. Remember to include “R/L” with your response to indicate that you are Recording & Listening.
 
Gassho