The Enneagram.
If you’re someone who enjoys the enneagram and is already actively learning about it, you may be excited about this series. If you are someone who has heard about it ad nauseam from us enneagram fanatics, you’re probably thinking “here we go again”. There may be even be a small group of you that have yet to hear about this tool. Wherever you are, this post is simply an introduction to a series that I am going to write about where I explore the enneagram and how it can be used as a tool for growing creatively. I’ve written about this topic before and I thought it would be fun to go deeper with each number. This will be a series that I post the last week of each month so be on the lookout for your number!
As I have said before, the Enneagram is not a personality test. It isn’t a trivial way to categorize people. It isn’t kitchy memes on the internet. The Enneagram is a very complex tool for understanding ourselves as humans and each other. It’s through the enneagram that I’ve been able to learn about myself in a more complex way. I have a better understanding of how my instincts work, what it looks like for me to be joyful, and the things I need to engage in order to grow. It can be used in so many ways and what I am very interested in is exploring how it can help us in our creative journey.
Creativity is about so much more than just learning the technical aspects of a craft. Whatever the medium we choose, the first part of it is to learn the technical aspects. It’s important to learn about how the art form is used aa a tool for communication to the viewer. Interestingly enough, much of those tools are based on our understandings of humans. The reason the Rule of Thirds is a compositional tool is because humans respond to a RoT composition more so than to a center composition. It’s through our understanding of what humans are attracted to that we have learned how to perfect the technical aspects of our craft.
My thought is that in knowing where our inherent weaknesses lie, we can learn what we need to practice in order to become more creative. In the book The Artists Way, Julia Cameron has us explore the ways our creative growth may have been stunted through negative experiences in our lives. Each chapter uncovers elements that hold us back from living our most authentic, creative life. I think the enneagram is a tool that we can use to explore to even greater depths because it shows us things about ourselves that we may not notice without seeing it in others.
The 9 Types
There are 9 types, numbered from 1-9. Each number has a core motivation, a core fear, and a core “fruit of the spirit” as Richard Rohr calls it in his book. The types are named;
1 – The Reformer
2 – The Helper
3 – The Achiever
5 – The Investigator
6 – The Loyalist
7 – The Enthusiast
8 – The Challenger
9 – The Peacemaker
Learning your type is difficult because many of the tests are behavior based. The thing is, all of these numbers can have similar behavior but the motivation behind the behavior is different. I thought I was a 4 for a long time, realized I was actually a 7, considered that I might be a 4, and now truly understand I’m a 7. It can take a long time to type yourself so be patient and understand that.
There are other aspects of the enneagram that go beyond your number. One aspect to consider is which center you are a part of, the gut, heart, or head. Another is your instinctual variant, one to one, social, and self preservation. Lastly, the spaces in which you both integrate and disintegrate. Those are not important now but I will mention them as I explore numbers and how these aspects of the enneagram affect our creativity.
If you like to read and want to explore the enneagram through books, my favorites are:
Richard Rohr – The Enneagram, A Christian Perspective
Riso and Hudson – The Wisdom of the Enneagram
Beatrice Chestnut – The Complete Enneagram
These are all links to Thriftbooks which I love – but I’d REALLY love if you went to your local bookstore and bought these there!
If you prefer to listen to podcast, these are my favorite:
The Enneagram Journey with Suzanne Stabile
You can also message me with any questions. I don’t think tests work that well BUT if you want to try a test, these are the only ones I recommend:
The Enneagram Institute Rhett Test – it has a cost, but honestly, it’s worth the $12 in my opinion
The next post will be about Type 1 – The Need to be Perfect
I will explore some information about the numbers but also how these type 1s can incorporate creativity into their lives.
Thanks so much for reading! Please feel free to message me with any questions.
