07-30-2010, 02:43 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-30-2010, 02:43 PM by Questioner.)
C-- and ffg, I realize that I might have left off at a somewhat baffling point. I apologize for any confusion. I'm going back and forth between this writing project, trying to start a new business, and dealing with a personal crisis, so I apologize that sometimes this project gets shortchanged. Now I've pretty much shown two cliff faces - much of the Enneagram, plus some material about trauma and healing - and implied but not yet shown that there is a bridge between them which provides safe connection across the chasm. Let me see if I can put in some missing links here.
I do believe that there is a bridge between these concepts, and that it can provide a helpful path for healing. When I've completed my introduction to all nine types, I'm going to link to a brilliant article by Riso and Hudson that ties this all together in some spiritual psychology. Meanwhile, here are some of my own interpretations of how this fits together.
Ichazo referred to the negative aspect of each type as its fixation. In navigation, a fixation is a navigator's or instrument's measurement compared to a standard that lets the vessel be located in space and time. This can include anything from noticing the location of the pole star, up to today's GPS receivers. In dance, a fixation is looking at one point while the body spins around, to avoid dizziness. These can be positive. The Enneagram can help us see positive places to focus our attention, inspire our growth, and navigate life's difficult passages.
In Ichazo's work on fixation, he was referring to the negative aspect of fixation. He was specifically referring to the psychological dysfunction a Wikipedia editor aptly defined as "the state in which an individual becomes obsessed with an attachment to another person, being or object."
The interesting thing about the Enneagram fixations is that they are an addictive psychological state which desperately, anxiously, compulsively craves another psychological state. For example, the negative type 2 craves the feeling that they're lovable for their helpfulness while the negative type 3 craves the feeling that they're admirable for their self-development.
Each of these cravings is an attempt to get into a particular psychological state, a state of feeling, a state of mind. Each of these cravings imagines that if we do something in particular, we'll get rewarded with that psychological state. Each of these cravings imagines that if we fail to do our part, we can still get that state as the payoff of being manipulative and hurtful.
Each of these cravings justifies any negative means to that end state by this theory, seldom verbalized: IF I get into that state THEN I can be sure that God loves me, cares for me, and has not abandoned me. Studying the Enneagram can help us slow down racing thoughts and submerged emotional reactions. Imagine a magician performing a track on a train that speeds past us. The Enneagram offers a way to put a near-instant train of thought into super slow motion, so we can step through it, frame by frame, until we notice where the slight of hand made the hidden switcheroo. Then we can make the subconscious drives conscious, and stop being driven by them.
All the manipulations are about getting us into the psychological state (unique to each type) that is claimed to be the proof that we're not separated from our Divine heritage of life and growth. If we are already connected with the Divine, through the Law of One, then we have no need to manipulate ourselves and others until we get a fixated state that substitutes for God's love within us.
We can then use the positive side of the fixations just as a navigator might choose to sail one direction for a while, and then sail a different direction for the next phase of the journey. All the types then become tools for self-growth, healing and love, and our own innate type becomes a unique internal compass towards our innate capacity to reach the unified white light of God's love through our vivid affinity with one particular color, drawing us closer to the Source.
The Enneagram points show fixations that may afflict our fellow human beings. Again, after I've introduced all nine types I'll present the directional theory and how I think that relates to the traumatized inner child fixating on some proof that they're loved. As we understand more about how this works, we have more ways to understand and show love to those around us who can benefit from our informed caring.
Next up for me in this series is my essays about the Gods of types 5 and 8. Then the overview and God posts for the remaining types: 7, 4, and 1. With all nine types in play we can then explore some of the juicy interactions between then, including the complex line of integration between six of the types. There's quite a bit of connection between Enneagram theory and balancing the energy centers, that hunch was right on and I want to look at that too as soon as we get there.
I do believe that there is a bridge between these concepts, and that it can provide a helpful path for healing. When I've completed my introduction to all nine types, I'm going to link to a brilliant article by Riso and Hudson that ties this all together in some spiritual psychology. Meanwhile, here are some of my own interpretations of how this fits together.
Ichazo referred to the negative aspect of each type as its fixation. In navigation, a fixation is a navigator's or instrument's measurement compared to a standard that lets the vessel be located in space and time. This can include anything from noticing the location of the pole star, up to today's GPS receivers. In dance, a fixation is looking at one point while the body spins around, to avoid dizziness. These can be positive. The Enneagram can help us see positive places to focus our attention, inspire our growth, and navigate life's difficult passages.
In Ichazo's work on fixation, he was referring to the negative aspect of fixation. He was specifically referring to the psychological dysfunction a Wikipedia editor aptly defined as "the state in which an individual becomes obsessed with an attachment to another person, being or object."
The interesting thing about the Enneagram fixations is that they are an addictive psychological state which desperately, anxiously, compulsively craves another psychological state. For example, the negative type 2 craves the feeling that they're lovable for their helpfulness while the negative type 3 craves the feeling that they're admirable for their self-development.
Each of these cravings is an attempt to get into a particular psychological state, a state of feeling, a state of mind. Each of these cravings imagines that if we do something in particular, we'll get rewarded with that psychological state. Each of these cravings imagines that if we fail to do our part, we can still get that state as the payoff of being manipulative and hurtful.
Each of these cravings justifies any negative means to that end state by this theory, seldom verbalized: IF I get into that state THEN I can be sure that God loves me, cares for me, and has not abandoned me. Studying the Enneagram can help us slow down racing thoughts and submerged emotional reactions. Imagine a magician performing a track on a train that speeds past us. The Enneagram offers a way to put a near-instant train of thought into super slow motion, so we can step through it, frame by frame, until we notice where the slight of hand made the hidden switcheroo. Then we can make the subconscious drives conscious, and stop being driven by them.
All the manipulations are about getting us into the psychological state (unique to each type) that is claimed to be the proof that we're not separated from our Divine heritage of life and growth. If we are already connected with the Divine, through the Law of One, then we have no need to manipulate ourselves and others until we get a fixated state that substitutes for God's love within us.
We can then use the positive side of the fixations just as a navigator might choose to sail one direction for a while, and then sail a different direction for the next phase of the journey. All the types then become tools for self-growth, healing and love, and our own innate type becomes a unique internal compass towards our innate capacity to reach the unified white light of God's love through our vivid affinity with one particular color, drawing us closer to the Source.
The Enneagram points show fixations that may afflict our fellow human beings. Again, after I've introduced all nine types I'll present the directional theory and how I think that relates to the traumatized inner child fixating on some proof that they're loved. As we understand more about how this works, we have more ways to understand and show love to those around us who can benefit from our informed caring.
Next up for me in this series is my essays about the Gods of types 5 and 8. Then the overview and God posts for the remaining types: 7, 4, and 1. With all nine types in play we can then explore some of the juicy interactions between then, including the complex line of integration between six of the types. There's quite a bit of connection between Enneagram theory and balancing the energy centers, that hunch was right on and I want to look at that too as soon as we get there.