The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth

Riso and Hudson suggest, “Frustration relates to our feelings that our comfort and needs are not being sufficiently attended to.… None of these types ever seems to be able to find what it is looking for.”11

The English word personality is derived from the Latin word for “mask.” Simply put, our personality is the mask we wear. Taking off that mask, trying to get behind the mask, is the work of the spiritual journey.

Listening to thoughts (head), feelings (heart), or instincts (gut) based on your dominant Intelligence Center is the beginning of learning to hear how God has always been speaking to you.

our path of disintegration is that innate self-survival reflex that stops our fall by reaching out to the lower-level manipulation techniques of another type as a way of getting our attention—letting us know we are falling and if we don’t catch ourselves we’ll “break our arm” or worse.

Think of it as a warning sign or flare signal, designed not to condemn a person but to guide them back home.

However, if an online test is your preferred method of typing, I’d suggest paying for the Enneagram Institute’s RHETI test because it is widely regarded as the most accurate, thorough, and time-tested.

There, engraved on the top of the diamond, was an exquisite flower, and the crack down the middle of the stone was its stem. The king was astonished; the diamond was actually more stunning than before and more beautiful than anyone could have dreamed.

Actively participating in intentional stillness will bring the Nine’s practice an alertness that animates their own inner energies.

St. John of the Cross wrote, “Silence is God’s first language.”