[Traditional Enneagram] Point me out to the correct direction with enneagram

[Ghost of the dead horse]

This is a new area for me, but I have the mind of the scientist. I can take it. Just answer me few things:
- What is some good reading material in the topic?
- What does this self-examination include?
- What are the main points, in your opinion, in favor of this system?

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Huh, just blurt out something. I can benefit from all things short the eternal truth or something like that. A passerby asks you something: which way to the toilet? Consider me a passerby, you can blurt me something.

 

[/DG/]

Which way to the toilet?

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

The men's room are the first corridor left.

Well, I might be wrong, maybe they are the right way, or maybe from the second corridor, but at least I said something.

Now, which way to the enneagram understanding?

 

[/DG/]

I don't even know, man.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

I can appreciate understanding is difficult. I understand many delicate subjects. Some of them are about Assyrian or Babylonian leaders. Some are about encoding schemes about video console data. I'd just like to have fast forward to "truth" or to a similar concept with enneagram. I've known people who can fast forward another one to a subject like that, so of course I would like to have that done for me. Being fastforwarded to knowledge.

If I can't have that, I will surely throw a beanbag at you. Or a water balloon. Or something like that. Like a rotten brat would do.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

You can find lot of articles here on this forum about the enneagram and you can read up lot of threads...no need to make a topic about it. Just go on main page and click the links... or read what people have to say in other threads.

 

[Brains]

This is a new area for me, but I have the mind of the scientist. I can take it. Just answer me few things:
- What is some good reading material in the topic?
- What does this self-examination include?
- What are the main points, in your opinion, in favor of this system?

The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Riso & Hudson is a good starter book. It's comprehensive and goes into "how it feels to be this type" more than many other sources, many of which can feel like "this type comes off as XYZ or this type does XYZ" without actually tocuhing on the driving motivation. It should get a decent draft of the system in your head.

If just going by free resources:
A good explanation of the mechanics of the system. They also have some rudimentary descriptions which a bit "outsider looking in", but overall okay.

Some other decent descriptions:
Enneagram Explorations
Ocean Moonshine

The primary purpose is to highlight possible automations and attitudes you don't necessarily realize you're doing or colour your worldview, then ask if those automations and ego structures really serve you. Often they do, sometimes they don't. The point of catching yourself in the act is to allow you to choose.

The biggest way the enneagram is useful compared to eg. Keirsey temperaments and Jungian typology is that it touches on somewhat different things. There's some overlap, but a lot is also just different. Besides which slapping tags on people is fun.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Yeah ain't I a fucker for asking something that's previously been said in the internets.

Seriously, I'm reading the sources pointed out to me. It's different to know a source exists rather than to know someone endorses a source.

Edit:
Thanks, [MENTION=27416]Brains[/MENTION].
Edit 2: Wait, your link isn't working now. I believe it worked earlier.

 

[Brains]

Yeah ain't I a fucker for asking something that's previously been said in the internets.

Seriously, I'm reading the sources pointed out to me. It's different to know a source exists rather than to know someone endorses a source.

Edit:
Thanks, [MENTION=27416]Brains[/MENTION].
Edit 2: Wait, your link isn't working now. I believe it worked earlier.

Yeah they're doing a website upgrade, should be up later.

 

[kirsten]

- What is some good reading material in the topic?

-The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul by Sandra Maitri
-The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home by Sandra Maitri
-The Complete Enneagram: the 27 Paths to Self-Knowledge by Beatrice Chestnut
-Facets of Unity by A. H. Almaas

They can all be found for cheap on Amazon used, I'm pretty sure.

What does this self-examination include?

Noticing patterns in your own behavior that you've been repeating your whole life without realizing it.

What are the main points, in your opinion, in favor of this system?

It goes deeper than the other systems, and it's all about your own inertia and how to change it (everyone lives with inertia, even if you don't think you do). It can really change your life.
It also really helps you understand other people.

 

[highlander]

-The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul by Sandra Maitri
-The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home by Sandra Maitri
-The Complete Enneagram: the 27 Paths to Self-Knowledge by Beatrice Chestnut
-Facets of Unity by A. H. Almaas

They can all be found for cheap on Amazon used, I'm pretty sure.



Noticing patterns in your own behavior that you've been repeating your whole life without realizing it.



It goes deeper than the other systems, and it's all about your own inertia and how to change it (everyone lives with inertia, even if you don't think you do). It can really change your life.
It also really helps you understand other people.

Those are excellent recommendations!

 

[Brains]

-The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul by Sandra Maitri
-The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home by Sandra Maitri
-The Complete Enneagram: the 27 Paths to Self-Knowledge by Beatrice Chestnut
-Facets of Unity by A. H. Almaas

Those are excellent recommendations!

Excellent for some, but I think he's the wrong kind of customer for recommending Almaas and Maitri. Chestnut and R&H books are probably the better bet. Depending on allergy levels to certain kinds of content, Naranjo.

 

[highlander]

Excellent for some, but I think he's the wrong kind of customer for recommending Almaas and Maitri. Chestnut and R&H books are probably the better bet. Depending on allergy levels to certain kinds of content, Naranjo.

I guess it depends on the level of sophistication. Chestnut to me is the best one because it has great depth and coverage of content plus it is easy and straightforward to read. Naranjo is one of those things I think it's just good to read as it's foundational. Facets of Unity is excellent but more on the sophisticated end. As to Maitri, I tend to be a little more allergic to that but there is some good stuff in there. I haven't read the Passions and Virtues book - just the Spiritual Dimension one. Riso and Hudson is a pretty good basic beginners book yes. I bought the CDs and the descriptions of each of the types. It was nice hearing Don Riso cover them all and somehow stuck in my brain a bit more.

 

[Brains]

I guess it depends on the level of sophistication. Chestnut to me is the best one because it has great depth and coverage of content plus it is easy and straightforward to read. Naranjo is one of those things I think it's just good to read as it's foundational. Facets of Unity is excellent but more on the sophisticated end. As to Maitri, I tend to be a little more allergic to that but there is some good stuff in there. I haven't read the Passions and Virtues book - just the Spiritual Dimension one. Riso and Hudson is a pretty good basic beginners book yes. I bought the CDs and the descriptions of each of the types. It was nice hearing Don Riso cover them all and somehow stuck in my brain a bit more.

I find it hard to see people in a good number of Chestnut's type profiles - Wisdom of the Enneagram has been more consistent for me on that front.

 

[highlander]

I find it hard to see people in a good number of Chestnut's type profiles - Wisdom of the Enneagram has been more consistent for me on that front.

That's very interesting. Chestnut's book is pretty new. What I liked is she had each of the 9 types with details on the instinctual variants for each. There's not as much material out there on this.

Do you you have any examples of where you don't think it's accurate? Is it because of that additional detail or are you talking about the core description of each of the 9 types?