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Conventional psychological theories of personality can often be helpful in giving us insights into why we act and feel as we do. Less frequently, they actually allow us to change some parts of our selves that are causing us unnecessary suffering.
Further, all theories about personality are only partially true, so something that seems insightful and makes sense in the system may not apply in reality, or may actually be an obstacle to self-change. Too, aspects of our personality that aren’t interested in real self-understanding (an inflated image of ourselves, for example) may block really effective application of any system of personality. And sometimes intellectual insight isn’t enough: we need the emotional insight that usually only comes with the help of a skilled counselor or therapist or the shock of an intense life event.
The successful malcontent knows that he or she is “happy” by ordinary standards but seeks therapy because he or she finds that life is nevertheless “empty.” Isn’t there more to life than money, career, consumer goods, social life? Where is the meaning?
The major exception was Jung: his idea of the collective unconscious was an opening into the spiritual dimensions of our existence.
Gurdjieff, well aware of the useless suffering created by flaws in our personalities, taught that each of us had a chief feature that was the central axis around which the delusional aspects of our personalities revolved.
Even more important, I could see the central way in which my approach to life was defective and I had a general outline of the ways to work on changing it. I understood the behavior of many of my friends once I could type them and was able to interact more effectively with them and be a better friend. Years of personal growth work following that initial set of insights identifying my Enneagram type continued to validate the usefulness of the system to me.
The Enneagram is an ancient Sufi teaching that describes nine different personality types and their interrelationships. The teaching can help us to recognize our own type and how to cope with our issues; understand our work associates, lovers, family, and friends; and to appreciate the predisposition that each type has for higher human capacities such as empathy, omniscience, and love.
The power of the system lies in the fact that ordinary patterns of personality, those very habits of heart and mind that we tend to dismiss as merely neurotic, are seen as potential access points into higher states of awareness.
When your attention shifts from surface cues, you can recognize type by falling into an appreciation of the aspirations and the difficulties that the members of a type will share.
When you see the world from the point of view of other types of mind, you are immediately made aware that each type is limited by a systematic bias.
AI Summary
The Enneagram by Helen Palmer presents key insights from the Gurdjieff tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.