Why Is Everyone Talking About the Enneagram? And What the Hell Is It? | Susan Piver
Susan Piver, a longtime Dharma teacher and author of "The Buddhist Enneagram: Nine Paths to Warriorship," demystifies the Enneagram, a personality system she finds crucial for personal development. She explains how it helps understand blind spots and fosters compassion, especially when combined with Buddhist principles.
Deep Dive Analysis
16 Topic Outline
Introduction to the Enneagram and Susan Piver
What is the Enneagram and its Mysterious Origins
Addressing Skepticism: Enneagram as a Mystical Tradition
Susan Piver's Personal Experience with the Enneagram
Enneagram as a Tool for Self-Knowledge and Compassion
Overview of the Nine Enneagram Types and Their Attention Points
Discovering Your Enneagram Type: The Role of Subtypes
Reasons for the Enneagram's Recent Popularity
Self-Hatred as a Barrier to Compassion and Enneagram's Role
Enneagram Terminology: Idealization, Avoidance, Passion, Virtue
Can Your Enneagram Type Change? Integration and Disintegration
Defining Liberation in the Context of Enneagram and Buddhism
Reconciling Enneagram Types with the Buddhist Concept of No-Self
Misuses and 'Breaking' the Enneagram System
Warriorship: Not Being Afraid of Oneself
Susan Piver's Books and Online Community
9 Key Concepts
Enneagram
A tool that posits nine fundamental ways of being in the world, often called personality types, which describe different things that get people's attention and values. It is viewed as a map of blind spots, helping individuals understand their wiring and projections.
Instinctual Drives (Subtypes)
Subdivisions within each Enneagram type based on three fundamental drives: self-preservation (concerns for basic needs/comfort), social (desire to belong/connect with groups), and sexual/intimate (focus on one-to-one connections). One drive predominates and colors the main type, making it easier to identify.
Terma (Tibetan Buddhism)
Teachings in the Tibetan tradition that are 'discovered' rather than authored, appearing fully formed and complete, making their origin difficult to attribute. The Enneagram system is discussed as potentially being a Terma due to its mysterious origins and comprehensive nature.
Idealization (Enneagram)
The core aspiration or 'best thing you can be' for each Enneagram type. For example, a Type 9's idealization is 'I am comfortable,' a Type 4's is 'I am special,' and a Type 1's is 'I am right.'
Avoidance (Enneagram)
The primary thing each Enneagram type seeks to avoid. For a Type 9, it's conflict; for a Type 4, it's ordinariness; and for a Type 1, it's being incorrect. This highlights what triggers defensive reactions for each type.
Passion (Enneagram)
Refers to the core grasping or fixation for each type, not in a positive sense, but as an attachment or compulsion (e.g., sloth/laziness for Type 9). It represents the habitual pattern that needs to be liberated from.
Virtue (Enneagram)
The quality that emerges when the 'passion' or grasping of a type is relaxed and liberated, not through force of will (e.g., right action for Type 9). It represents the healthy, unconditioned expression of the type.
Relative vs. Absolute Truth (Buddhism)
Relative truth refers to the day-to-day consensual reality where individuals and objects appear distinct and real, requiring practical engagement. Absolute truth refers to the ultimate reality, often described as emptiness or non-separate existence, where phenomena lack inherent, independent existence, leading to liberation from suffering.
Warriorship (Buddhist Enneagram)
In the Buddhist tradition, warriorship is not about battle but about telling the truth with compassion and advocating for sanity. The prerequisite for being a warrior is to not be afraid of oneself, and the Enneagram helps identify nine ways to achieve this self-acceptance.
10 Questions Answered
The Enneagram is a tool that describes nine fundamental ways of being in the world, often referred to as personality types, which highlight different values and what captures a person's attention. It serves as a map of one's blind spots.
The exact origin of the Enneagram is unknown, with the first recorded teacher being George Gurdjieff in the mid-20th century, who discussed it as cycles of nature, not personality. Later, Oscar Icazo and Claudio Naranjo developed it as a personality system.
No, it is not a cult because it lacks a single leader or specific structure to point to. Susan Piver views it as a mystical tradition, akin to esoteric branches in other wisdom traditions.
It helps individuals understand their own triggers and blind spots, and by recognizing the motivations and attention points of others, it allows for seeing people through their own lens rather than one's own, fostering genuine compassion.
Unlike other personality systems, there is no definitive test. It requires self-reflection and investigation, often starting by identifying one's predominant 'instinctual drive' or 'subtype' (self-preservation, social, or sexual/intimate), which then colors the main type.
It had a resurgence after being embraced by the Protestant Christian world, spreading through various circles. It explains human behavior well and helps people reframe perceived flaws as gifts, offering a path to self-acceptance.
No, you cannot change your core Enneagram type; you are one type. However, there is movement within the system through 'arrows of integration and disintegration,' allowing for improvement, self-development, and cultivation of virtues within one's type and even taking on high qualities of other types.
The Enneagram operates on the 'relative plane' of truth, helping individuals understand their conventional self and its patterns. This self-investigation serves as a starting point to navigate towards a deeper, 'absolute' understanding of no-self, which recognizes that the self does not exist independently of causes and conditions.
Yes, it can be misused if employed to label, ghettoize, or manipulate others, or for self-aggrandizement. The rule is not to type other people, but rather to feel the 'energy' of a type.
Warriorship, in this tradition, refers to someone who tells the truth with compassion and advocates for sanity. The prerequisite is to not be afraid of oneself, and the Enneagram offers nine ways to overcome this fear and embrace oneself.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Compassion with Enneagram
Use the Enneagram as a skillful means to increase compassion for yourself and others by understanding your own wiring and projections, and by discerning others’ underlying motivations and triggers.
2. Align Communication by Type
In interactions or conflicts, identify and address others’ primary ‘points of attention’ (e.g., right/wrong, meaning, danger) to foster understanding and de-escalate situations effectively.
3. Embrace Your Enneagram Type
Reduce self-hatred and foster self-acceptance by recognizing that your inherent patterns and ways of being are not malfunctions, but rather a unique expression of one of the nine Enneagram types.
4. Uncover Your Blind Spots
Utilize the Enneagram to identify your personal blind spots and ingrained patterns, which helps you understand ‘who you are not’ and fosters deeper self-awareness.
5. Prioritize Self-Compassion
Begin your compassion practice by genuinely wishing yourself well, as this foundational self-softening is essential for authentically extending compassion to others.
6. Discover Your Enneagram Subtype
To find your Enneagram type, first identify your strongest instinctual drive (self-preservation, social, or sexual/intimate), then cross-reference this with potential types suggested by online tests.
7. Self-Reflect to Find Type
Discover your Enneagram type through deep self-reflection and personal investigation, rather than relying solely on external tests, as the system emphasizes self-discovery.
8. Communicate Relationship Strengths
Understand and communicate your Enneagram type’s unique relationship strengths and limitations to loved ones, fostering authentic connections and managing expectations.
9. Enneagram for Liberation Journey
View your Enneagram type as a starting point for a journey towards liberation from the confines of personality, enabling the first step towards a broader, more absolute understanding of self.
10. Cultivate Growth Within Type
Accept your Enneagram type as fixed, but actively pursue self-development to embody its highest qualities and virtues, and integrate positive aspects from other types.
11. Avoid Enneagram Misuse
Do not use the Enneagram to label, ghettoize, or manipulate others; instead, apply it for genuine self-understanding and awareness.
12. Contemplate Life Without Fear
Engage in contemplation by asking, ‘What might things look like if I was not afraid of myself?’ to uncover how your daily actions and interactions could transform.
13. Observe Self-Fear in Meditation
Use meditation practice to develop the capacity to directly observe and acknowledge your fears about yourself, rather than avoiding or navigating around them.
14. Don’t Type Others
Refrain from definitively assigning Enneagram types to others; instead, acknowledge that you ‘feel the energy’ of a type, recognizing that only individuals can truly know their own.
15. Explore Susan Piver’s Resources
Deepen your understanding by exploring Susan Piver’s books (e.g., ‘The Buddhist Enneagram’) and joining her online community, The Open Heart Project.
16. Listen to ‘No Excuses’ Podcast
Tune into DJ Kashmir’s podcast ‘No Excuses’ on the Educate podcast feed or via the show notes for a compelling story on inner-city education reform.
7 Key Quotes
For me personally, nothing has been more helpful in embodying those teachings than the Enneagram.
Susan Piver
I stopped seeing them through my own lens and see them for themselves. There is no such thing as compassion without that.
Susan Piver
It's an astonishingly accurate roadmap.
Susan Piver
Compassion, as you know, must begin with yourself. You have find a way to feel compassion for yourself.
Susan Piver
I'm in a box. I already am in a box. And I would rather see it than say, don't give me a box. Let me see the box I already put myself in.
Susan Piver
A warrior is one who is not afraid of themselves.
Susan Piver
With the Enneagram, we untether ourselves from the merciless treadmill of self-improvement to see what is already perfect in ourselves, in others, and in every moment. This is a warrior's journey. It takes courage to look at what we cannot see under normal circumstances.
Susan Piver
1 Protocols
Finding Your Enneagram Type
Susan Piver- Take all available free online Enneagram tests to see if some numbers consistently appear.
- Put the test results aside and identify your strongest instinctual drive (self-preservation, social, or sexual/intimate).
- Combine the numbers that came up in tests with your identified subtype, then read about that specific subtype (e.g., 'social seven') to find your type.