THE ENNEAGRAM

Questions that need answered

 

Was the "ancient" enneagram invented 30 years ago?

This Jesuit scholar thinks it might have been, and that's only one of his questions 

about this vaunted tool for self-knowledge.

 

By Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ

After finishing my philosophy studies at the university of Detroit in April 1972, a classmate and I went to Chicago to find out more about the  reigning rage of our Jesuit theologate that year: the enneagram. Father Robert Ochs, SJ had returned from a sabbatical with this new system of nine personality types that many found useful in spiritual direction and self-knowledge. In the workshop I attended we learned in detail about the enneagram, along with yoga, Zen, and Sufi meditation techniques, and a theory of personal growth to under gird the whole process. This system helped us see more clearly that people have different ways of viewing reality and acting. I enthusiastically embraced the system, because it gave me a new self-knowledge and helped me accept negative personal qualities

Occultic Roots
Father Ochs did not teach us about the occultic aspect of the enneagram personality system. He, like many of today’s Catholic teachers of the enneagram, tried to use the ideas in the theory that are consistent with our Catholic faith.  

Gurdijieff Believed that “only what a man is able to put into the enneagram does he actually know, that is, understand. What he cannot put into the enneagram he does not know.” He used it to interpret processes of cooking food, scientific research, and life itself, even though these applications appear contrived. Gurdjieff’s belief in “demiurgic essences,” spirits, who are in charge of harmony on earth, also influenced Ichazo’s theory of personality types. In his book Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, Gurdjieff warns that the work of the demiurgic essences “is not necessarily favorable to the liberation of individuals from the cosmic mechanism. Oscar Ichazo’soccult orientation is also unmistakable. At age six he began having out-of-body experiences, which led to his disillusionment with the Catholic Church. He could not accept Catholic teachings on heaven or hell, because he believed he had been there and therefore knew more about it than Christ and the church. Later, he decided that living in one’s ego was the real hell.
To gain control of his consciousness, Ichazo studied Oriental martial arts, Zen, Andes Indian psychedelic drugs and shamanism, yoga, hypnotism, and psychology. He joined esoteric groups in Bolivia and Argentina, and traveled to Hong Kong, India, and Tibet to study mysticism.
Ichazo has received instructions from a higher entity called “Metatron, the prince of the archangels,” and members of his group contact lower spirits through meditation and mantras. He is now a “master” in contact with all the previous masters of the esoteric school, including those who have died. The members of his are helped and guided by an interior master, the Green Qu’Tub, who makes himself known when a student reaches a sufficiently high stage of development. Knowing these spiritistic and occultic involvements of the man who developed the enneagram personality system should signal serious concern for Christians, since such involvement are gravely sinful.
Somewhere in his spiritual search Oscar Ichazo learned about the enneagram, and in the 1960s he developed a system of none personality types to correspond to the nine points of the symbol. Though enneagram teachers like to stress the antiquity of the enneagram personality theory, it is at most 30 years old. The symbol itself may date back to 2500 BC, but I have never found any evidence supporting this claim. Ichazo wrote short descriptions of the nine types, employed animal symbols or “totems” for each type, and correctly placed the personality types on the enneagram symbol. One of his disciples, Claudio Naranjo, took the next step of placing the enneagram into the context of psychological concept, like Freud’s defense mechanisms.
Significantly, Ichazo's enneagram em­ploys the numerological background of the Sufi decimal point symbolism in under­standing personality dynamics. For exam­ple, according to the system, the number one gets worse by following the arrows to type four, four gets worse by becoming like a two, and so on. A person improves by moving in the opposite direction, that is, a one gets better by becoming like a seven, a seven should become like a five, and so on. Remember that this inner dynamic of the six-point figure and of the triangle is rooted in occultism.
  
Scientific Questions
Distinct from the spiritual questions about the enneagram are the scientific questions it raises. I am concerned about the lack of objec­tive scientific research into the enneagram. I know of eight dissertations on the enneagram (one of them is from a non-accredited school). Four of them seek to develop testing tools to determine which of the nine personality types fits a person or to relate it to existing tests like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Millon-Illinois Self-Report Indicator. Two dis­sertations study the effects of Ichazo's Arica training (his program for teaching the enneagram) and another studies the enneagram's relation to depth psychology. Yet none of them answers questions about certain key points, and I believe that more empirical testing and verification are needed to answer them: How do we know that there are only nine key personality , types? How do we know that the types are'' centered on nine distinct prides or ideals? Can we prove empirically that the nine types found in Ichazo's enneagram are the correct nine types? Are the nine types in Ichazo's enneagram authentic character structures? How do we know'that the ways of getting worse or getting better are correctly defined by Ichazo's enneagram? Bear in mind that I am not saying that the information about the types, their descriptions, their regress, or their pro­gress is wrong.
I am saying that we just do not know how correct or incorrect the system is, or if it is right or not. Psycholo­gists subject their hypotheses to tests that allow the results to be repeated in scientif­ically controlled situations and criticized by their colleagues and peers. Ichazo's enneagram of personality types should be considered one more hypothesis requiring such scientifically rigorous tests and peer examination to be applied to it.
  
Social Problems
When I first learned the enneagram of personality it was the rage of our semi­nary community, and it eventually affected the whole province, though to a lesser degree' One recurrent problem with its popularity was its use as a personality "shorthand." Knowing the personality types of friends and acquaintances or speculating about the type of strangers became quite common: "I'm a three." "You're a two." "Ones drive me crazy." This problem has a number of facets. There is the danger of believing that once we "know" someone's personality, we can understand his or her inner drives and compulsive behaviors. This was supposed to enable us to better appreciate the real differences between people, but it actually short-circuits authentic interpersonal relationships. One person thinks he or she knows about another person before that person .has chosen to reveal private and intimate information. This dynamic can make some devotees of the enneagram believe that they are privy to secrets about others which, in fact, they can only guess at. A related problem is that many ennea­gram books and teachers use historical characters as examples for understanding the various types. Hitler is an eight, the ego-venge type seeking power, while the philosopher and Nazi Martin Heidegger is a five, ego-stinge, seeking wisdom. Yet, another supposed strength of the ennea­gram is that each person learns about the types from those who already know their enneagram number and then chooses his or her own place among the ego-trips. But Hitler, Heidegger, and other dead people did not have the opportunity to identify their own types. When the enneagram practitioners-identify the personality types of famous people they never knew, their example encourages their students to do the same with people they do not know very well.
In our workshop in 1972 certain members of my province were typed without their knowledge. Their types were written into one student's notes, which were pho­tocopied in Canada, passed out to re-treatants, and years later reappeared in the Chicago area in the hands of a priest from another order. When one priest described in the notes did learn about the enneagram, he identified himself with a completely different number! I was guilty of similar misidentifications, which at times I tried to foist on my friends. In three summers of contact with enneagram workshop participants, one of my students was typed all the way around the circle of nine by one person after another. He resented the invasion of his privacy and the attempt at control by means of supposed knowledge,
as well he should. When enneagram workshops are opened up to whole parish groups, the same problem will inevitably appear.
  
Enneagram Myths
Much of the enneagram personality theory's authority in our lives depended on its antiquity and the presumed wealth of experience behind it. As noted earlier, however, the enneagram literature pro­vides no evidence that it antedates Oscar Ichazo. This myth of antiquity must be dispelled. The enneagram's personality theory must be verified scientifically, oth­erwise it has no authority except the per­sonal experience of those who give and take the workshops. Another myth comes from the attempt to relate the enneagram to religious lan­guage. Some teachers state that the nine types are the nine faces of God, or, upside down they are the nine faces of the devil. Apparently this is based on Ichazo's idea that when we were born, we lived in our essence, or real nature. Around age three or four, he says, we developed defenses to cope with our society, and that process gave us our ego, whose existence is the main problem the enneagram workshops try to solve. Remove the ego, Ichazo believes, and one can return to the essence, which he seems to think is divine. No reputable school of psychology sup­ports his theories about the ego. Ichazo further believes that the ego is the Satan in our lives, and living accord­ing to the ego is hell. Therefore it follows that the reversal of the ego, turning it upside down, is divine. This is a myth. We humans are not God. God is an infinite being, three persons in one being. God is our Father, revealed by his Son, Jesus Christ, and confirmed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus our Lord made no men­tion of nine faces of either God or the devil. I see no need to add an enncagram myth to our faith.
A related myth is that Jesus our Lord must have had all nine personality types perfected within him. We will believe this myth only if we first believe that perfec­tion requires the possession of all nine types. Is there a basis for accepting that myth? I think not. We also need to remember that the Gospels do not give us information about our Lord's personality type. As a Scripture scholar, I maintain that the evangelists did not intend to give us biographies of Jesus but proclamations of their faith in him. They announced his divinity, humanity, his death and Resur­rection,, and the teachings we need for sal­vation. It is a mistake to look to the Gospels for information about Jesus' inner personal dynamics. Any attempt to do so ends up creating a myth about him. One of my former teachers, and a fel­low student in the 1972 enneagram work­shop, came to my house for dinner a few years ago. In the middle of our conversa­tion he suddenly pronounced: "Original sin begins at age three or four." The com­ment came from out of left field. He appar­ently has been so influenced by Ichazo's idea that we stop living in our "essence" at age three or four that my friend now iden­tifies original sin with the process. This, too, is a myth. Original sin is not an offense committed by each individual. It is each human's lack of sanctifying grace (not essence), which we all inherit from our first parents. Whenever enneagram devotees make mythic statements, one should question the myth. Examine their assumptions; see if their theology is orthodox Christian belief or orthodox Ichazo and Gurdjieff belief. In the face of any conflict between the two, I opt for faith in Christ Jesus and his church. Remember the warning in Second Timothy: "There will be a time when they will not endure sound teaching but will gather for themselves teachers who tickle their ears. They will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
  
Theological Problems"
Most of my theological problems with enneagram workshops are based on my critique of the occultic and mythic aspects of the teachings of GurdjiefT, Ichazo, and other teachers. I do not accept GurdjiefFs claim to teach esoteric Christianity; Chris­tianity is not secret or esoteric. Our faith is open to anyone who wishes to examine Scripture and church teaching. Esoteric religion is usually a cover for a doctrine at odds with authentic Christianity.
Nor do I accept Ichazo's denial that there is "any creed or dogma" in his Arica training. He includes many religious and occultic items within his system, including the belief that his students can only receive the "grace" of getting better when they remain members of the group. In fact, if a student does not meet Ichazo's and the group's expectations, he or she can be rejected. Ichazo says this could lead to becoming "crystallized in ego for all future generations" with no chance of entering pure essence. In other words, non-mem­bership can lead to eternal damnation. This sounds very dogmatic to me.We must reject all contacts with spirits like the Metatron, the Green Qu'Tub, the past masters of Sufism, and so on. Nor should we accept Ichazo's use of the Cabala of medieval Jewish esotericism, the I Ching, a Chinese divination tool, his astrological connections with the enneagram, or any other occult item. Scripture and the church repeatedly condemn mediumship, divination, familiar spirits, and the like (see Lev. 19:31; 20:6, 27; Dcut. 18:10-11). Likewise should we reject Ichazo's belief in reincarnation, out-of-body experi­ences, and his belief in the importance of drugs as a way to begin experiencing higher altered states of consciousness (an idea Gurdjieff also held). None of these practices is consistent with Christianity.
There are serious theological problems with the notion of salvation in the enneagram system. In general, these ideas
are inconsistent with Christianity and should not be taught in retreats or parish work­shops.
  
First, the human dilemma according to Ichazo and Gurdjieff is vastly different from the human dilemma according to Christian teaching. The Catholic Church and Ichazo and Gurdjieff agree that humans do much wrong and are trapped in negative patterns. However, many enneagram teachers like Ichazo and Gurdjieff say that we are born in our essence but fall into our ego trips as a response to society's expectations. The Catholic faith states that we are born with original sin. St. Paul says in Romans 5:12, Therefore, since sin entered the world through one man and through sin came death, so also does death pass to all men, since all have sinned." The offense is not merely the acquisition of compulsions but the lack of sanctifying grace, which predisposes us to continue to disobey God. Sin is not an ego trip but a turning away from Ged, rebel­lion by humans with free wills against God's freely given commandments.
  
Second,
Gurdjieff and Ichazo hold con­tradictory ideas about our free will that influence the enneagram personality sys­tem.
On one hand, they deny that we have free will until we attain certain stages of enlightenment, which we gain through the "work" of learning from the enneagram. On the other hand, they teach that we should take control of our own lives to save ourselves. Catholic doctrine is different. We admit that the human free will is impaired by original sin, but it is not destroyed. We have to make choices, and God will hold us responsible for them. Otherwise, Jesus Christ's teaching that he will judge us to reward or condemn us is utter nonsense. We also admit that we do not rid ourselves of our sins merely by an act of our wills. Jesus Christ died on a cross and redeemed humanity by this free act of God made flesh. We do not even take the initiative to be redeemed; God does. The Father chose to send his Son and the Holy Spirit before we were born. God chooses to give us the gifts of saving faith, hope for eternal life, and love of God and neighbor, and we have the free will to accept these graces and cooperate with them. The Scriptures teach both the existence of our free will and the absolute need of humans to be saved by God. Enneagram workshops or retreats must teach these truths to remain authentically Catholic.
  
Finally, the goal of the enneagram is different from the goal of Christianity. Gurdjieff and Ichazo believe that the goal
of meditation and self work is enlighten­ment, or an altered state of consciousness. One attains these goals through breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, Sufi dancing, the martial arts, and so on. One must do the enneagram work to destroy the ego trip associated with one's number and return to one's essence. This is freedom from subjectivity and perhaps the kind of dissolution of the self into nirvana or brahma that is taught in Buddhism and Hinduism. If need be, they say, one will return to many reincarnations until one gets to essence.
Even though the enneagram system can help people identify their sins, the solution provided by many enneagram
teachers is not to repent and seek God's grace to turn from sin, but to meditate these sins away.
Jesus Christ describes the goal of our salvation in a number of ways. We are to be reborn as the adopted children of God (we are not born in the divine nature, however). Our sins are forgiven in bap­tism, and we become members of the mystical body of Christ, his church. He desires that we remain in interpersonal union with the tri-personal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for all eternity. Our goal is not non-existence or dissolution in the infinite divine ocean of nothingness. Our goal is to live forever in heaven with the God who loves us. God promises to raise us from the dead—to glory if we are righ­teous or to damnation if we turn from him. This is the future God reveals to us in Christ, and we should choose the life Christ died to offer us.
  
Test Everything
I know enough about scientific method to know that you can't say a theory is false until it has been thoroughly tested. But as a priest and pastor, I can draw these con­clusions: The enneagram personality the­ory is steeped in the occult. It has no sci­entific evidence to support its claims of validity. People who get heavily involved with it risk being diverted from the cen­tral aspects of their Christian faith. St. Paul instructs us to "test every­thing; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thess. 5:20-21).
When we test the enneagram, we should use the gospel of Jesus Christ as our norm; we do not use