Have you ever heard of the Enneagram?
If not, you might go here for a little background. Simply stated, the Enneagram is a personality typing system, but it is not like Myers-Briggs Type. Most personality systems look at cognition — how do you think and how do others think differently. That information can be immensely helpful as you go through life, but I think that the Enneagram goes a bit further…into the realm of the spiritual.
The Enneagram looks primarily at our motivation. What are the fears and desires that drive us in the course of our lives? To ask this question sincerely, we have to go to some uncomfortable places and face our darkest demons. The Enneagram is also concerned with personal growth — not just learning to accept our own personality quirks. We are called to a journey of becoming a whole person. Whether you call it individuation, self-actualization, enlightenment, or redemption, that journey is what the Enneagram is all about.
Interested?
If you are interested, I would like to recommend some guides for the journey. The biggest names in this field are Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson, and their magnum opus is The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types. This book approaches the issue comprehensively and fairly, but there is a distinct preference for Buddhist categories once you get to issues of spiritual development. If you would prefer a distinctly Christian take on the subject, you might supplement Riso and Hudson with The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective by Fr. Richard Rohr OFM and Andreas Ebert, who are Catholic and Lutheran clergy, respectively.
As you can probably guess from the rest of this website, I am a very big supporter of using spiritual practices in your own religious journey. However, it is just as important to know your origin point. Where do you begin the journey? That has been a difficult issue for me but well worth the time spent. I stridently urge you to consider that question as well.
Where do you come from (and why)?