I have found the Enneagram to be a great resource in helping me find and unlock myself, from the what Brennan Manning, called 'The Imposter'! The true me, hidden inside the false image(s), that I have grown up with, and in some way made my own! I think it was Henri Nouwen who helped me see outside of the mask. He suggested that we all find ourselves wrestling with three lies we believe about our identity: I am what I have, I am what I do and I am what other people say or think about me!
The enneagram has helped me rediscover my real self and undo and detangle me from these lies...or it has at least set me on a road of renewal and reconstruction, that has started to untangle all the knots and hiding places where I was stuck or had hidden for most of my life!
"The enneagram is much more than just another popular formula to pair people to the collection of their personality foibles and eccentricities. It explains the "why" of how we think, act, and feel. It helps us come to terms with our gifts as well as the addictive patterns that tether us to our greatest interpersonal, spiritual, and emotional challenges. The enneagram invites us to deeper self awareness as a doorway to spiritual growth." (Quote from The Sacred Enneagram by Christopher L Heuertz.)
In the enneagram there are nine types and these have strengths and weaknesses. The nine can be divided into three discernment type centers. Type 8, 9 and1 are seen as being in the 'Body' Centre. 2, 3 and 4 are seen as being in the 'Heart' Centre and 5, 6 and 7 are seen in the 'Head' Centre. You can say, 'Instinctive' - 8, 9, and 1; 'Feeling' - 2, 3 and 4; 'Thinking' 5, 6 and 7. But this is just the start! The types 1 to 9, have their needs and virtues as well as their passions and addictions. The needs, virtues and passions of each type are explained as you go deeper with the enneagram. The deeper you go the more uncomfortable and yet more renewing and rewarding it is, as it strips away the masks we live behind, to reveal the real you and shows how beautiful we really are! To see yourself as the Beloved, is to see with the eyes of God! Through the enneagram you find yourself looking into the perfect mirror, that removes all the distortions and shows you naked and most beautiful in the eyes of your creator!
The enneagram is a tool of revelation!
I thoroughly recommend it!
BM
Recommended Reading:
The Sacred Enneagram. By Christopher L Heuertz.
The Complete Enneagram. B Beatrice Chestnut
The ABC of the Enneagram. By Eric Salmon
The Enneagram. By Richard Rohr and Andreas Ebert.
Also YouTube has a number of good videos on the Enneagram, including talks by Richard Rohr and Christopher Heuertz.