Spiritual Domains of the Enneagram
An earlier version of this article appeared as a blog post entitled Nine Domains of Spirituality.
In its most familiar form, we treat the Enneagram as a symbol of personality. We use the Enneagram to map out the nine basic personality types and describe their traits in a variety of ways. However, these traits do not represent the essence of who we really are. They arise from our distortions and misunderstandings of the archetypes, or spiritual domains, that underlie each of the spaces on the Enneagram.
Where does this come from?
The spiritual domains of the Enneagram is a very rich topic and I don’t know of any books that discuss it. I learned about the domains through oral tradition, taught by David Walsh in 2003 and again in 2012. It has since become a staple of teaching in both the Inscapes community and the Prairie Jubilee Program.
David learned about the domains from Bob Ochs in Berkeley back in the 1970s. I don’t know, but I presume that Ochs learned it from Claudio Naranjo, who first taught the Enneagram in North America. (Ochs was one of Naranjo’s students.) In turn, Naranjo may have learned it from Óscar Ichazo, the Bolivian philosopher and mystic who developed the modern formulation of the Enneagram.
There is some reference on the internet to a teaching of Ichazo’s called The Domains of Consciousness that looks to be very similar, though not identical, to the teaching of the spiritual domains that I received from David. I do not know in detail how closely Ichazo’s teaching resembles David’s.
The Law of Three and the Spiritual Domains
The domains of the Enneagram arise from the Law of Three as applied to each Enneagram space. You can read about the basics of the Law of Three on an earlier page of this website. Cynthia Bourgeault’s book, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, contains a great deal more detail on this topic.
According to the Law of Three, each Enneagram space has a pair of polarities that, if not held in balance, distort the underlying archetype of the space and result in various manifestations of personality. One pole can be thought of as the affirming force, the other pole as the denying force.
When these poles are held in balance, a third force (the reconciling force) is able to emerge, which takes the energy of that particular Enneagram space to a higher level of consciousness. The reconciling force can only be invited, not commanded, and can only be received as a grace.
Structure of the Domains
To illustrate the general idea, let’s examine spiritual domain of the One space. I won’t explain much about the domain at this point; this is just to show general structures of the domains. Details of this and the other domains appear on later pages of this website.
Affirming, Denying, and Reconciling Forces
The One space can be characterized as the Domain of Sentiment. This domain has a tension at the level of ego between the poles of Sentimentality and Rigidity. At one pole, we are overly affected by the sense impressions we receive from our environment. At the opposite pole we armour ourselves against their impacts. These can be thought of as the affirming and denying forces of the One space.
It is not necessary to assign either of the polarities as the affirming or denying force; this relationship depends on the situation in which they interact and can change places under different circumstances [see Bourgeault, chapter 2]. The important thing is that they are held in tension, with no judgment about one of the forces being “good” and the other “bad”. Such judgments impede our ability to hold both equally.
In the One space, it is important to allow our sensory impressions to affect us and equally important to know where to draw boundaries. If the two forces are held to be equally valid, there is room for a reconciling force to bring the affirming and denying forces together at a higher level of consciousness. When this happens, the new arising can be characterized as a spirit that presides over this domain; in the case of the One space, this is the Spirit of Intuition.
Attachment to One of the Two Poles
If, in the One space, we become attached to either the polarity of Rigidity or Sentimentality, we fall under the spell of the Inhabitants of the space, characteristics that block our spiritual growth. In the One space, these are called The Jealousies. The Inhabitants of the spaces are characterized as plural because, as David Walsh used to say, “their name is Legion”. Once we’re in the soup, we find them everywhere. Of course, there is more to say about this, but we will leave that for another article.
The Nine Spiritual Domains
The table below lists the domain name, polarities, spirit, and inhabitants of each space. Below the table, there is an Enneagram symbol for each of these categories.
| Domain | Polarities | Spirit of… | Inhabitants |
|---|---|---|---|
| One: Sentiment | Rigidity vs. Sentimentality | Intuition | The Jealousies |
| Two: Life and Security | Independence vs. Dependence | Peace | The Fears |
| Three: Imagination | Skill vs. Fantasy | Creativity | The Lies |
| Four: The Intellect | Common Sense vs. Bewilderment | Clarity | The Envies |
| Five: The Social | Public vs. Private | Enchantment | The Hates |
| Six: Work | Push vs. Surrender | Contemplation | The Worries |
| Seven: Hierarchy | Superior vs. Inferior | Presence | The Arrogances |
| Eight: Culture and Behaviour | Rules vs. Tendencies | Will | The Obligations |
| Nine: Spirituality | Sacred vs. Profane | Enlightenment | The Prejudices |
Nine as the Summary of the Domains
Notice that the Nine space is the Domain of the Spiritual; as such, this space incorporates the spiritualities of all the other spaces, much as a nation incorporates its constituent states or provinces. The Nine space is comprised of the Spirit of Intuition, the Spirit of Peace, the Spirit of Creativity, and so on for all the others. This does not mean that people whose personality type is Nine are “more spiritual” than others. (Believe me, I know this from personal experience.) All the domains apply to all of us; we need to incorporate the wisdom from all of the domains to be complete human beings. The domain of Nine is the summary of this work.
Why are these Domain Names So Counterintuitive?
If you have done introductory work with the Enneagram, some of the listed attributes of each space may seem confusing or counterintuitive. (Four is the domain of the intellect? Five is the domain of the social? Really???) These attributes seem unfamiliar because they are closer to our essential selves than the Enneagram types you may have learned about in books or introductory courses.
The domains and polarities speak to the underlying origins of behaviours, thoughts, and feelings that we think of as personality. Our personality traits are mental, emotional, and behavioural structures we have developed to cope with difficult experiences in our early lives. They do not look like the domains because they developed from distortions of the domains.
These personality structures are not bad — they are what developed to allow us to navigate the material world — but they are not enough. They only become a problem when they masquerade as our whole selves.
An Email Dialog about the Spiritual Domains
A while ago, I was privy to an email correspondence between George, who has taught the Enneagram for many years, and Carole, also an Enneagram teacher. George learned about the spiritual domains of the Enneagram from David Walsh and Carol Ann Gotch many years ago, as have Carole and I.
George has recently returned to studying the spiritual domains to better understand the topic and incorporate it into his own work. He had some questions that many of us have had when first encountering this material. The questions were so well-stated and Carole’s response was so clarifying (to me, anyway) that I asked both of them for permission to publicly share parts of their conversation. They have both graciously agreed to do so. I have edited the correspondence to include only their dialog about the domains. Where there is slightly different terminology than I previously used in this post, I have changed it to be consistent with my terminology and indicated the change with [square brackets].
Hello Carole,
Thank you for your e-mail.
One of the things that I appreciate most about the enneagram of personality, and an important motivation for me to continue teaching it through the years, is that the material is entirely verifiable in real life. Whether we talk about “Fixations” or “Passions” or the “three Centres” or “instinctive subtypes” – with time and effort people can become conscious of these “behaviours” that have become automatic – the elements that make up the false personality. I like being able to encourage people who are struggling in the beginning to stick with it, by telling them that they will be able to see, feel, experience this reality in themselves and others.
When I go back and look at my notes from David and Carol Ann on “Spirituality”, my reaction to the nine “Kingdoms”, or domains, is that I do not recognize these “traits” or “voices” in the people that I know, and that I know very well.
To say it in another way, this does not strike me as material that people will recognize in themselves in the same way as the elements of the enneagram of personality.
To be more concrete, I am a Type 8 (E8). The voices in my Spiritual kingdom are “rules and tendencies”. I can identify with that (much more so with tendencies than rules). But I identify just as much with [“sacred and profane”], “rigidity and sentimentality”, [“independence and dependence”], [“public and private”] and perhaps even more with [“push and surrender”] and “superior and inferior”.
I know that I probably sound like those persons just being introduced to the nine enneatypes who see themselves everywhere. But to me, the nine kingdoms seem a bit arbitrary. As I said before, I know dozens and dozens of people in all the nine enneatypes and the relationship between personality type and the corresponding kingdoms just doesn’t strike me as evident. I do not find myself saying, “Well sure, it is obvious that the E4 belongs in the Kingdom of Intellect. That just fits in with all that I know about my friends who are Type 4.”
“Au contraire”, as they say over here in France. It is not at all obvious to me how the Spiritual Kingdom of the E4 is the Kingdom of Intellect.
So, my first question is, “How is this introduced (transmitted) to others”. Would you say, with your knowledge and experience, that the teaching of the Spiritual Kingdoms is also entirely verifiable in our life? That with a little work (or a lot of work) we can become conscious that our particular Spiritual Kingdom is precisely the one that is ours more than all the rest? That it is exactly there that we need to work? Because when I look at them, it seems to me that I need to work in all of them.
My second question has to do with the Law of Three. I have studied the Law of Three a little bit and what I have been taught is that there is a first force (affirming force) and a second force (denying force) and a third force (reconciling force). The third force is non-dual, it is beyond the world of opposites, either-or. When the third force, or reconciling force enters into the situation, the result is sometimes called a “new arising” which can be a new understanding, or a new dimension, a transformation…
How would you talk about the “new arising” resulting from the interaction of the three forces in the Spiritual domains?
Thank you for your time and interest, Carole
Gratefully,
George
Hi George,
Carol Ann had shared some of your story with me and I am grateful to you for filling in the gaps, thank-you.
As for the domains of the enneagram they reflect both the material (dualistic) and spiritual (non-dual) experience of being human. Working with them connects the material (personality) with the spiritual (soul) world. The reason why you can relate to them all is because they are all aspects of spirituality. The enneagram energies are cosmological, meaning they apply to both material (personality) and spiritual (soul) and beyond. The particular is contained in the universal and vice-versa. The Domains are the 8 different ways we live spirituality – Spirituality being the domain of 9, which contains all.
By example in the Domain of 8 we are working in the domain or kingdom of Behaviour or Culture.
This is the domain that rules how we act. Not just those of us who carry dominant-8 energy but all of us.
This domain carries the polarities of action that follow the rules/break the rules; punish bad/reward good; follow expectations/follow desires. We can usually identify where we tend to act more but we do move between the two polarities. By example I may feel the need for rules, if only to break them. I may apply rules to others and yet exempt myself from them. I expect you to be a Puritan but I desire to be a Hedonist.
All soul work is in the struggle and learning to hold a relaxed attention of the two polarities without a solution. Create a field of possibility so that the grace or spirit of the domain has fertile soil in which to land. In the domain of 8 this grace is WILL. Not my little will but the greater will. When I am polarized the [inhabitants] invade and I fall into OBLIGATIONS. These are a tyranny of “shoulds” and I punish myself and others.
Can you recognize the material (personality) energy that drives the 8 in compulsion? The justice-making, imposition of will, rejection of weakness?
The spirit of will is an interplay of both strength and weakness, a radical acceptance of both. Light, grace and life permeate the world. Spirit contains all pain, sorrow and joy. Nothing is left out.
Certainly, if you are a dominant-8 enneagram type you may have a greater connection with the work in this kingdom because it is familiar to you, but it is not “your” domain. You are a human whose destiny is to become whole and that requires work in all of the spiritual domains. If spirit is the nation, the domains are provinces and all need to function for the nation to be whole.
The third force in the domains is the spirit or grace of the domain. The arrival of this third creative force opens us up to a new way of being in the world allowing us to choose the most loving action to take in each moment.
Carole