![]() Chestnut states that “together these symbols communicate the idea that we live in a universe that is perpetually developing and that there is an essential unity behind the multiplicity of forms evolving in the natural world.” When you put the symbols together, you get the Enneagram. ![]() You can see the significance of nine in several classic texts, including the Kabbalah Tree of Life, the nine lands visited and the archetypal journey of the Odyssey, and in the sins or unconscious patterns that prevented people from reaching heaven in Dante’s Divine Comedy.Īre You Ready for Transformation? Synthesizing the Three Elements The ancient Greeks also called nine “the horizon” as it represented for them that which encloses or binds the essential elements into a whole. Nine is the final number in the base-10 mathematical system and it symbolizes the highest achievement in a specific endeavor. You can see examples of the Law of Seven in the Western musical octaves, the Periodic Table, and the days of the week. Nothing is static, everything evolves or devolves, but in ways that are predictable by their nature or by the forces at play. It symbolize the dynamic and always changing nature of being. The hexad shape illustrates that nothing in life happens in a straight line, but there are always highs and lows along the way. Thus, according to this law, using our defense mechanisms to protect ourselves will only interfere with the natural flow or rhythm of life. Personality can be seen as a form of getting stuck or fixated at one point on a natural path of change. The boat is the passive force, the wind is the active force, and the sail is the reconciling force. Trinitarian ideas show up is most world religions, but you can think about this more simply through the idea of a sailboat. ![]() The inner triangle represents the three forces that must enter into all acts of creation - the active, passive, and reconciling (or neutral). In other words, if the interior of the Enneagram symbol describes nine ways of being in the world, then the circle is there to remind us that we can choose to step outside of those into something bigger and more expansive and mysterious. It creates a boundary around the personality described in its interior, and opens up the possibility to move beyond the conditioned self outside of the circle. The circle is the underlying unity in all things, even when that unity isn’t visible.Īccording to Beatrice Chestnut in The Complete Enneagram, “The Law of One as represented by the circle was a metaphor for the cosmic creation process beginning from a dimensionless center and expanding out equally in all directions.” ![]() For millennia, religious have seen it as the oneness and eternal nature of God. It represents infinity, wholeness, and the natural order of the universal. The circle is the foundation of the Enneagram symbol. Beatrice Chestnut, The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge “The symbolic power of the Enneagram comes out of ancient tradition that views geometry as sacred - as revealing an archetypal patterning or order that structures the growth process of living things, whether it be the petals of a flower, the unfurling of a fern, the dimensions of a seashell, or the development of the human psyche.” Put together, they offer powerful knowledge of ourselves and a path of transformation that is unique to our wiring. The three pieces of the symbol represent specific laws that govern our existence. What you might not know is that the Enneagram is as much a model of natural processes as it is a psychological typing tool. My hope is that it will help you see some of the internal logic of the system and appreciate the depth of wisdom contained in that funny symbol. Let's dive into the symbol and what each of the pieces represents. The way we use the Enneagram today blends modern psychology with the wisdom of ancient cultures to reveal why we are the way we are and how to make lasting change. The symbol as we currently know it illustrates nine different aspects of human consciousness and personality, each representing different automatic habits of thinking, feeling, and behaving. ![]() Thus it refers to the nine pointed symbol that has been used as a map of natural processes and human nature for thousands of years. The Enneagram comes from the greek words, ennea (meaning nine) and gram (meaning something written or drawn). ![]()
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