Enneagram Book

Today I was searching around Yahoo Answers and decided to see if I could help answer any questions about the Enneagram. So, I looked up the terms and came across this question:

“What do you think of the Enneagram?”

I thought- “Oh, this is easy. I’ll help this guy out”

Then, clicking to go in, I discovered two other people who had already answered. Here, I relay to you in quotes, what these two “experts” had to say.

I saw them originally about a dozen years ago, even have the text book somewhere. I found them confusing to use and not necessarily accurate.

Using the term Enneagram as a plural makes me question whether we’re even talking about the same thing.

And the next “expert” up has this to say:

It’s another case of somebody taking some concepts and forcing them into a figure that does not quite fit.

There is also some pseudo-science pulp-psychology attraction to anything that shows a circle and geometric patterns - as if they had discovered some ’secret of the mind and universe’

Remember - the figre existed for thousands of years and has been associated with various teachers, including Gurdjeff. Why soes this sudently explain personality models?

I class it with those teachings that somehow fall into mnemonics - all the elements start with the same letter (alliteration), or all the elements’ first letters spell out some cute word (anagrams). When ever I see this kind of thing the teaching becomes doubly suspect - how much did you have to bend the concept to fit your teaching/communication model?

I won’t even post my reaction to that statement here, but I’m leaving that up to you in the comments section below.

Anywho, I did end up leaving an answer that I hoped would give the poor questioner a better idea of what the enneagram is. It’s right here:

I’m not sure where these other answerers are getting their information…

Having spent a couple of years studying the enneagram, I’ve found it to be a very reliable and accurate map of different people’s personalities.

The current study of the enneagram of personality (which is what I suspect you are referring to) asserts that there are nine different types of people- much in the same way that Astrology asserts that there are 12 different types of people.

However, the Enneagram of Personality is based on your motivations, the way you see the world, your fears, etc. The enneagram is also the most accurate of the personality typing systems that I have come across.

I will admit that there are a lot of people using the word “Enneagram” to sell a hoax, or to get you to sign-on with their life-coaching or to buy their book.

If you would like to get a grasp on what the Enneagram really asserts, the best way to do it would be to go to a weekend workshop. My favorite teacher of the study is Helen Palmer.

A bunch of people will try to tell you that they know something about the enneagram. It’s likely that they don’t. The study really has almost nothing to do with the symbol itself, nor does it have anything to do with religion.

Thanks,

Brad

Let’s right the misinformation!

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