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.
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.
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