Working with the Enneagram Symbol
The Enneagram as a Symbol of Inner Work and Transformation
Once you have discerned your Enneagram type, what do you do with it? To turn Enneagram information into personal transformation, you need to learn spiritual practices that will move you beyond a fixed idea of your personality type. Understanding and applying the symbolic nature of the Enneagram will help you do this.
For centuries, wise men and women have observed their own and other peoples’ interactions with the Divine. Through these observations and experiences, they have formulated systems and symbols that describe patterns of human thought, emotion, and behaviour.
Symbols work at a deeper level than the conscious thought of the cerebral cortex. Using spiritual practices to unpack the wisdom in symbols such as the Enneagram allows us to bring it to the level of conscious thought. This reveals to us our inmost desires and allows us to choose how we act in the world.
Stress and Security Points
A common approach to working with the Enneagram symbol is to look to your so-called stress and security points. These are the two points on the Enneagram that are connected directly by a line to your discerned personality type. The points on the inner hexagram of the Enneagram are ordered 1-4-2-8-5-7-1 and the points on the triangle are ordered 9-6-3-9. These connections are shown by arrows on the interconnecting lines.
Conventionally, if you follow the arrow from your Enneagram type, you “disintegrate to” your stress point. In other words, you take on some of the negative characteristics of that point. If you go against the arrow, you are said to “integrate to” your security point, taking on some of the positive aspects of the security point.
So, a Two disintegrates to Eight in stress, perhaps acting hostile and bossy to someone who is insufficiently grateful for their help. A Two would integrate to Four in security, learning to go inwards, look after their own needs, and appreciate their own unique way of being. The Two doesn’t “become” an Eight or a Four. Their inner motivations don’t change, but they may pick up coping strategies from these other types and express them in a Two-ish way.
The Stress-and-Security Model is an Oversimplification
This is OK, as far as it goes, but it’s an oversimplification. It is possible to go to either point connected to your type, either consciously or unconsciously and take on either the best or worst of that type – it’s your choice. Abi Robins has renamed the stress and security points refuge and vantage (derived from a concept by Frank Lloyd Wright) and has described how you can access each of these points consciously or unconsciously.
Leslie Hershberger has also pointed out on Twitter that the stress/security dynamic is not enough. You must develop an inner practice to make use of the Enneagram.
You can’t write a prescription for each Enneagram type as in “6s need to go to 9 or 4s go to 1.” It’s not how it works. We’re too different and culture is too big a factor. What you CAN do is learn to manage your INNER state on the spot, in the moment. That takes inner practice.
It also takes the capacity for some good self-observation of how the patterns show up in YOU. If you’re a 9, you don’t do self-forgetting like every other 9. One 9 may go for a run as a way to numb, another may zone out on Twitter. 4s play out disdain for the ordinary differently.
It’s why a daily breath practice or meditation is so important. You’re building the capacity to be in the present moment and not react in your automatic way when the pressure is on. It’s like strength training for INNER clarity and stillness when the stakes are high.
Leslie Hershberger (@LeslieHersh) / Twitter, May 8, 2019
Going Beyond Stress and Security
If you want to use the Enneagram for spiritual practice, it helps to understand the laws of the Enneagram. These laws take inner development further than the stress-or-security dynamic. The three components of the Enneagram – the circle, the triangle, and the hexagram – each represent a principle or law. Each of these principles describes one way that Spirit interacts with us in the world.
Law of One (Circle)
The circle represents the Law of One, the idea that all things are connected and that separateness is an illusion. The successive spaces around the Enneagram circle show a path to spiritual development. When we undertake this journey, we successively pass through the spaces from One to Nine on our journey, no matter what Enneagram type we most identify with. The path becomes a spiral as we ascend to higher levels with each turn of the circle.
Law of Three (Triangle)
The triangle represents the Law of Three. This law describes how two different ideas, feelings, or actions (“forces”) can be held in tension. When we do this contemplatively, we invite a third force that transcends and includes the other two.
Law of Seven (Hexagram)
The construction of the hexagram component of the Enneagram derives from the sequence of numbers generated by the fraction 1/7. Try dividing 1 by 7 on a calculator. The result is a repeating decimal. The calculator displays 0.142857142857, repeating as many times as the displayed digits will allow. (There may be some rounding involved, but we can ignore this approximation.) We can write the number sequence as 0.142857…, indicating that it repeats indefinitely. Lines joining the points 1-4-2-8-5-7-1 in this order generate the hexagram figure.
The hexagram symbolizes the Law of Seven, the “processing numbers” of the Enneagram. We can use this as a tool to navigate our reactions and the polarities we meet in our Enneagram type.
These are not the only ways to work with the Enneagram, but they are a good foundational place to start. These structures are important in and of themselves, but they also form the basis for further development. Many other constructs, such as wings, harmony triads, social stances, and spiritual domains build on one or more of these structures.