Everyone is curious about themselves and how their mind works. Embracing the spiritual transformation process of the Enneagram is one of the best types of psychometric tools for understanding ourselves. You can learn how to control the mechanisms of personality and instinct.
The Enneagram personality transformation journey is a spiritual and psychological tool. It is written in easy-to-understand language yet deep enough to meet the demands of clinical use. This process is appropriate for self-study or group use, making it a powerful tool for self-exploration and healing.
Discover The Best Types of Psychometric Tools
Psychometric tools are the fancy title given to questionnaires and analytical calculators that analyze how we think and how the mind works. People have always been fascinated by how the mind works, and these methods give us insight into why we think what we think.
Several tools are available online, in books, seminars, and groups. All you need to do is select the right tool for what you want to assess or analyze. There are three basic types of psychometric tools for embracing the spiritual transformation process. First, there are those for specific situations, such as assessing readiness to learn. The second is cognitive ability tests, which focus on problem-solving skills like the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test. The last group evaluates personality and instincts like the Enneagram.
We use a suite of psychometrics tools to assess readiness to learn. This allows us to identify key factors that affect a person’s ability to participate in a blended learning environment. These tools provide data to help people overcome obstacles that hinder their learning and eliminate any issues when working with people from different backgrounds and belief systems. We also conduct Enneagram workshops for self-discovery which give everyone the opportunity to learn about the system and themselves.
Embracing The Spiritual Transformation Process
Today, several psychometric tools are available for assessing personality. The Big Five Personality Test and the Enneagram self-discovery process are the most reliable and accurate. The Big Five breaks down personality into five traits, while the Enneagram breaks down personality into nine categories associated with motivations, fears, and behaviors.
Another popular tool is the Meyers-Briggs Personality Indicator. The Meyer-Briggs Indicator does not assess personality. Rather, assess how you feel about things today. Since what you feel is subject to change, it is not accurate for assessing personality or instinctual variants. Even though it is inaccurate, it is simple, and good marketing has made it popular.
The Enneagram goes beyond typing personality and instinct. It shows us how to move beyond the default settings. It gives us the power to change thought patterns and values. The Ego is not our enemy but a necessary tool. The Ego connects our consciousness to our bodies, so we cannot eliminate it. We need to learn how to use it correctly.
Enneagram Personality Transformation Journey Definitions
The Enneagram is more than a personality typing tool. It is a complete system cognitive science tool that divides the mind’s components to make them easier to understand. Here are some definitions to help you understand this system.
What does embracing the spiritual transformation process of the Enneagram mean? It involves the using the Enneagram system as a means for exploring consciousness and expanding awareness. The Enneagram is one of the primary spiritual exploration tools in spiritual exploration.
What is Ego? The Ego is the home of personality and instinct; it’s that sense of I, which is the default setting of awareness. It is a necessary tool that connects consciousness to our bodies. The Ego is the tool hiding the real you. It hides the read Observer until we are present. When we are present, the real can show up, and then the Ego becomes a subordinate tool for us to use, and that’s where it should be.
What is Personality? Our personality is a group of traits we exhibit through mannerisms, demeanor, thinking, and speaking patterns. It is the home of behaviors and values. The Enneagram self-discovery process identifies nine separate types.
What is instinct? Our instincts are the three behavioral modes of the primitive mind, which operate at the subconscious level. These modes are sexual, social, and self-preservation. They control what we like and dislike. These instinctual variants are also reflected in our personality.
What is the Observer? The Observer is the real you. It’s the awareness of experiencing your life. When you talk to yourself, it’s the awareness that listens. It experiences your dreams when you sleep. Some traditions refer to the concept of the Observer as the Soul or Spirit.
Transformation Process of the Enneagram
The origins of the Enneagram name come from the Greek word “nine.” These nine points on the circle represent a personality type. The Enneagram symbol has three main parts: the outer circle, an inner triangle, and a nine-sided hexagonal periodic figure, the lines between which show how our personalities connect.
Questionnaires are the heart of this cognitive science tool. These tools identify the default settings of your personality and instinctual traits, but testing is only the beginning of this rich system. There are many levels of knowledge, and this system can take you as deeply as any other system of psychology. Testing is only one facet of this process, but it is a very important part of the method.
The Origins of the Enneagram
Others may have also used Gurdjieff’s writings to develop the system further. Claudio Naranjo (5) and John Lilly studied with Oscar Ichazo in Bolivia in the late 1960s. Most people give Naranjo credit for bringing the system to the West in the 1970s.
The origins of the Enneagram reflect the ageless wisdom of many cultures. It gives us a rich and diverse heritage, but they are also a source of controversy. Some people have a hard time acknowledging that a system born before out of spiritual practices and the advent of science has any merit. Despite these objections, the system’s research and development continue. The Tri-type is another evolution in understanding personality.
Enneagram Self-Discovery Process Q and A
Embracing the spiritual transformation process of the Enneagram is much more than a way to identify your personality type. It opens the door for deeper investigation. This system reveals the mechanisms of the subconscious mind, which enable us to move beyond the boundaries of the Ego. The Enneagram is a doorway to the virtues of the spirit. These are the superior aspects of our hearts. They are the legacy of our ancestors, locked within our DNA.
Self-Study
Of all the different types of psychometric tools, the Enneagram is by far the best suited for self-study. The system is straightforward and well-structured, so you can learn a lot at your own pace and take the time to absorb the data through self-study. Inner work is hard work, and an Enneagram is a powerful tool for the terrain of the mind.
Enneagram Workshops for Self-Discovery
Enneagram self-discovery process seminars and workshops are an excellent way to accelerate your understanding. You learn from the speaker and fellow participants. The best teachers use small and large group exercises in their lectures. These activities increase the level of learning and enjoyment.
The exercises you’ll find at these seminars are not unique to the Enneagram, but they fit well and complement it. You will see activities like the repeating question exercise, moving mudras for each personality type, and small group sharing.
Through these kinds of exercises, you learn about yourself. You explore the inner critic and self-talk, so you’ll also see your biases and prejudices. Similarly, many teachers also use panel-type discussions. Here, you divide people into groups by personality or instinctual type, and they talk about various experiences based on the filter of these mechanisms.
Enneagram Personality Transformation Journey Takeaways
It doesn’t take long to find some valuable insights when using the Enneagram. The personality profile opens the door to a number of integrated topics of trades and wings. These structural elements are beginning.
The first big takeaway is learning that we are not our personalities. Our personality is just a tool of the Ego. We are not our Ego. We are the Observer. The real You is who you talk to inside your head. It is the person who experiences your life.
Once we digest that we are not our Ego, we can learn to move beyond it. We discover how to reprogram our inner critic and cultural narrative self-talk scripts and so change the trajectory of our lives.
Another takeaway is seeing how much our instincts affect our personality. It is often easier to see instinct shapes behavior than our personality type.
Last is how presence and mindfulness can help us regain control of our awareness from the Ego. Even a one-minute break can make all the difference. But it also underscores the importance of meditating. We recommend using Japa or its more commercially available form, Transcendental Meditation (TM). They are both the same technique.
Enhancing Critical Thinking
There are many other tools for exploring consciousness, but the Enneagram self-discovery process shows us how the Ego works. It’s like looking under the hood of a car. You get to see all the moving parts. Thus, it gives us a new perspective on the mechanisms of the mind. When you can see why you think what you think, you can improve your thinking by correcting any deficiencies.
Using this process and other core analytical tools will improve your ability to think more clearly. Two other tools help enhance critical thinking, logical reasoning, and comparative analysis. Together they ensure you can determine the facts from the fiction.
Seeing The Mechanisms of the Mind
When we reveal our mind’s programming, our thought patterns and values become visible. If we can see them, we can change them. This perspective enhances our critical thinking ability. We begin the Enneagram personality transformation journey early in our group meetings. Starting with the questionnaires for personality and instincts, we build a platform for understanding our psyche.
Identifying the Cultural Narrative
The Enneagram is one of the types of psychometric tools that enhances our observational skills. By enhancing our ability to observe, we can see the unhealthy aspects of the cultural narrative. When we don’t see these harmful scripts, they can override the hard wiring of our Ego. It’s powerful stuff. The cultural narrative can supersede the programming of personality and instinct. So, it’s powerful; it can make people behave in ways they would not think of doing.
That’s why it’s imperative to question the cultural narrative. We do this by learning to question our own beliefs and values. This process can help us see beyond the barriers that keep this programming hidden. On the positive side, if we can see the programming, we can change it.
Changing your cultural narrative’s programming isn’t easy, but you can do it. Once you’ve identified the negative values, biases, and prejudices, it becomes a choice. Do you want to get rid of the garbage? Healthy people do.
Exposing the Cultural Narrative
So, as we work with the Enneagram self-discovery process, we learn how this system exposes programming on two levels. It reveals the programming mechanisms of the Ego. Once we can see the programming, we begin to understand the cultural narrative’s impact. Some people have more negative programming than others.
However, the cultural narrative is a different story. No matter where you live, you must learn to question cultural folklore. Learning to develop a skeptical mindset is healthy. It places you closer to those who are freethinkers and skeptics.
The Cultural Narrative Disguised as Truth
Our cultural narrative is just a story. This story is what culture wants us to accept. Here’s how it works. If we live in the jungle, we must know if a harmful predator is nearby. In a tropical rainforest, other animals become quiet when danger is near. If we didn’t learn this sign, we might get eaten by a leopard. The pioneers of the origins of the Enneagram knew this would be a problem that future generations would need to address.
Many religions program the cultural narrative with their harmful bias and prejudice, which overrides our natural inclination as social beings to help others in need. If you aren’t a part of the religious tribe, you are branded as an enemy. Religion disguises itself as the champion of goodness and truth when it harbors harmful bias and prejudice.
Exposing Programming of the Ego for More Clarity
When we uncover the programming of the Ego and the cultural narrative, we increase our awareness. Greater awareness gives us more choices to make a positive impact. For instance, what you learn from understanding how your personality works also helps you understand others. Similarly, it shows us the fundamental drivers that influence our culture. When we can see them, then we can avoid them.
Discerning facts from fiction makes you less likely to accept spurious or unfounded propositions. This skill is helpful, especially in the spirituality arena, which is full of people making bogus claims. However, they work because people buy false arguments.
It’s the Enneagram that exposes the bias, prejudices and fictions within our programming. Embracing the spiritual transformation process is like a home remodeling project. It involves the demolition and removal the harmful programming to make room for healthy thinking.
On the other hand, being pro-facts doesn’t mean you should be anti-religious. Many ancient researchers of the psyche use religious terms to describe their processes. They passed along their research in stories. Sometimes, these stories became myths, and mythology became a religion.
Three religions dominate almost half of the world’s population: the Abrahamic religions (6), Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. These religions aren’t new. They are the rebranding of earlier traditions from the Mediterranean region, specifically the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Assyrian mystery religions. These paradigms contain religious, ethnic, racial, and gender bias and prejudice.
Concerns about using the Enneagram
Those who have concerns about using this process come from two main points of view. There are those who question the origins of the Enneagram as being Satanic or evil. The second group is those who distrust all forms of psychology and science. Both camps are misinformed and do so based on illogical bias and prejudice.
This system has undergone many years of scientific testing. It is as valid a method of the psyche as any form of psychology. Its practical has been used for generations, and its clinical applications have been in use for over 50 years. The Enneagram is a solid cognitive science tool, and many mental health clinicians use it. We don’t think the origins of the Enneagram, or its scientific validity should be a stumbling block to its use.
Graph of The Enneagram Self-Discovery Process
Below is a visual graph showing one way to describe the psyche and how the Enneagram fits into the picture. The Observer is at the center. Inner work tools like meditation and the Enneagram make more familiar with the territory of the subconscious mind.
Our instincts are drivers of our fundamental values. These are the gut feelings that tell us what is right and evil. Most people are surprised to learn how much instinct colors their thinking and value judgments.
Personality provides the default settings of our demeanor, colors, values, and emotions. It is a specific set of traits and a framework for thinking.
When our thinking is healthy, we reflect humanity’s positive values in our actions. This outward effect is generally protective, nurturing, and overall non-judgmental. We are social beings, even if we are introverted.
The outer layer contains the programming from the cultural folklore. Here is where we get the propaganda from Eck. This kind of programming overrides our natural tendencies of instinct and personality. All of this stuff contains harmful bias and prejudice. It’s easy to spot because it justifies greed, discrimination, and violence.
Resources
One of our favorite resources is Russ Hudson, co-creator of The Enneagram Institute (7) with the late Don Riso. Russ knows this system well. He is an expert and an excellent seminar instructor. He provides Enneagram workshops for self-discovery that can expand your knowledge of the system. If you are interested in personal instruction on the Enneagram, check out their site for workshops near you. In fact, we recommend any of the instructors certified to teach by their institute.
In Conclusion
To summarize, embracing the spiritual transformation of the Enneagram is a systematic cognitive science tool that shows how our mind works. It illuminates the mechanisms of the mind so that we can understand and regain proper control of our personality and instincts. It does this by illuminating thinking processes, symbols, and typologies that influence our thinking and values. It is a powerful tool for learning about the mind. If you are curious about how your mind works, then this is the tool you need.
References
(1) The Kabbalah: Wikipedia
(2) Jungian Psychology: Therapy Types psychologytoday.com
(3) Oscar Ichazo: Wikipedia
(4) George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, Fourth Way Work: ggurdjeff.com
(5) Claudio Naranjo: Wikipedia
(5) John Lilly: Wikipedia
(6) Abrahamic Religions: Wikipedia
(7) The Enneagram Institute:enneagraminstitute.com