{"id":2106,"date":"2018-02-05T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.enneagramme-marie.fr\/?p=2106"},"modified":"2018-02-23T13:23:14","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T11:23:14","slug":"turning-to-the-source-enneagram-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.enneagramme-marie.fr\/en\/blog\/2018\/02\/05\/turning-to-the-source-enneagram-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning to the Source: Enneagram Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

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missing pictures and illustration sorry, some bugs<\/p>\n

Mahmoud Farshian, Iranian painter, arrangment<\/span><\/p>\n

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Turning to the Source: Enneagram Revisited<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Bernadette Bollero-Schmitt et Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Schmit MD homeopath<\/p>\n

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We would like to introduce you to a novel reading of the Enneagram. The Enneagram is like a puzzle, and each player must bring their own piece to the puzzle whatever it may be.<\/p>\n

If we have only one or a few pieces it will not allow us to see the entire puzzle, and it will remain necessarily incomplete.<\/p>\n

One of the more blocking factors to the evolution of science is the adhesion to incomplete theories as if they represented the entire reality. It\u2019s called dogma. In dogma there is also an unconscious tyranny imposed over the followers: \u201cYou cannot deviate from the script, because I am the Truth\u201d. So we have an unconscious fear of deviating and of punishment; that is blocking one’s creativity.<\/p>\n

In the Taoist cycle of evolution, each time when yang becomes old, the young yin begins to appear, and vice versa. Or yang in its extreme turns into Yin and Yin in its extreme turns into Yang.<\/p>\n

We strongly feel that the Enneagram has reached a point of maturity where it necessarily will move towards a new beginning of a yin rebirth. These two phases of the cycle cannot exist one without the other, and mutually complete each other.<\/p>\n

So we are pleased to propose to the enneagram community a new paradigm, not only a few new pieces of the puzzle, but also new and open angles of vision.<\/p>\n

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Our work is based on transdisciplinarity as defined by Basarab Nicolescu, the theoretical physicist from Romania. “Disciplinary research concerns, at most, one and the same level of Reality; moreover, in most cases, it only concerns fragments of one level of Reality. On the contrary, transdisciplinarity concerns the dynamics engendered by the action of several levels of Reality at once. Disciplinary and transdisciplinary research are not antagonistic but complementary\u201d[i]<\/a> (Ref:).<\/p>\n

\u201cRigor, openness, and tolerance are the fundamental characteristics of the transdisciplinary attitude and vision. Rigor in argument, taking into account all existing data, is the best defense against possible distortions. Openness involves an acceptance of the unknown, the unexpected and the unforeseeable. Tolerance implies acknowledging the right to ideas and truths opposed to our own\u201d[ii]<\/a> (ref:.<\/p>\n

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History of the Enneagram<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before all else, we need to make a clear distinction between the schema of enneagram and the theories applied to it.<\/p>\n

As far as we know, nobody was able to find the schema of enneagram before Gurdjieff produced it the first time in Russia in 1919. So in a pragmatic way, we can say that he initiated it, wherever he took it without mentioning the sources.<\/p>\n

Needless to say that using the particular schema of enneagram does not imply that one adhere to a particular theory nor that one theory is better than another.<\/p>\n

In the following schema we mention chronologically the major different interpretations of the figure of enneagram.<\/p>\n

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Of course we cannot mention all of the searchers and teachers that follow the main stream of Enneagram of Personality, and everyone has certainly added a brick to this edifice.<\/p>\n

The case of Laleh Bakhtiar is particular in a sense that there is a debate about the Sufis as the origin of the enneagram. We do not want to enter such a discussion. Let\u2019s just say that Mrs Bakhtiar produced a really interesting body of research on connecting the enneagram to traditional Sufi sources.<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Concerning the Theory of the Three Centers<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

If we try to find historic sources, we come quickly to the Greeks (Plato and Aristotle) then to the Indian and Buddhist traditions.<\/p>\n

There are many similarities between the three enneagram centers, and the tripartite theory of the soul by Plato and Aristotle [iv]<\/a>(concupiscible, irascible and rational i.e. desire, ire and reason).<\/p>\n

This tripartite view of the soul is very close to the three poisons well known in Buddhism: ignorance, hatred-aversion and craving-attachment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
sector of the soul<\/td>\nBuddhist psychic poison<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Concupiscible<\/td>\nDesire-attachment<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Irascible<\/td>\nHatred-aversion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rational<\/td>\nIgnorance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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In term of anthropology, the historical filiation from Indian to Greek and Arabian culture have been widely known and certified in many domains. That’s why certain plants used in Indian Ayurveda medicine are also found in the Arabic pharmacopeia. The same can be said about Alchemy principles that came from China, to India, then to Arabia and to the Western world during the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n

The tripartite view of the soul was also known to the Desert Fathers and the Christian Orthodox Church[v]<\/a> .<\/p>\n

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Concerning the Nine Points<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

For Aristotle, the virtue is a state of balance between the opposed vices of excess and deficiency: too much and too little in quantity. But to find a mention of nine vices, we need to come back to Tusi (1201\u20141274) an Islamic philosopher, who for the first time propounded the view that the deviation is not only quantitative but also qualitative. To this new type of deviation he gave the name of perversion<\/em>. Consequently, a moral disease may have one of three causes:-(1) excess, (2) deficiency, or (3) perversion\u201d[vi]<\/a>. (ref.). This give the possibility for nine types of vices.<\/p>\n

But most striking among similarities, undoubtedly, is in Tibetan medicine. According to Tibetan medicine (Yuthok Yontan Gonpo (708 \u2013 833 AD), the three Buddhist psychic poisons (ignorance, anger and desire) are connected to the three somatic humors (Kapha, Pitta, Vata) of\u00a0 Ayurvedic Indian medicine. Space does not permit to go deeper into explaining the theory of the three humors.<\/p>\n

Each humor can manifest three types of imbalance: in terms of quantity (lack<\/em> or excess)<\/em> or in terms of quality, <\/em>giving 9 types of imbalances. This trifold dysfunction of the three humors fits exactly the nine vices of Tusi.<\/p>\n

During one of our stays in India, we showed a model of the Enneagram to Prof. Sempa Dorje (Varanasi University), one of the greatest scholars of Buddhism of international fame. According to him the science of the nine points may have been transmitted by the Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha (a great saint) Kambalpa to Arabic physicians in the 3rd or 4th century AD. Furthermore, Prof. Sempa Dorje thought that this knowledge later, in the 6th century AD, made its way to Afghanistan where it was picked up by certain Sufi communities.<\/p>\n

We could think quite rightly that the enneagram, as a knowledge of the nine points, was already known in India and Tibet, and was afterward passed on to the Greek, then Arabian world and particularly to Sufism.<\/p>\n

That theory of enneagram coming from Buddhist, Greek and Sufi origins represents the basis of all our research and work of reconstruction of more than 10 years.<\/p>\n

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History of Our Research<\/strong><\/p>\n

I (Frederic) am a medical doctor, and have been practicing classical homeopathy since 30 years. When I met enneagram in the year 2000, I very soon intuited that the enneagram could be applied to the homeopathic diagnosis.<\/p>\n

In order to verify this hypothesis, my wife Bernadette and I knew that we needed a rigorous work methodology. The first justification of this suppositions was founded, on the similarities, according to us, of the anthropological models between homeopathy and the enneagram.<\/p>\n

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The Anthropological Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

While it is understood that the enneagram came out of the Eastern traditions, the paradigm it is based upon is founded on the trifold nature of the human being as body, energy and spirit. This paradigm is also upon which homeopathy is resting. From that point on, the juxtaposition of the enneagram with homeopathy is justified and possible.<\/p>\n

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Body, Energy, Spirit<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to ancient medical traditions like traditional Chinese or Ayurvedic medicine, human beings are composed of a body, a spirit and an energetic system. To use a metaphor the body is like a TV set, the information that arrives through the airwaves is like the spirit and electricity powering it is the energy. In order for you to receive a program, three elements are necessary. For a human being in order to live one needs a physical\u00a0 support, the body, a spirit or consciousness and an interface between the two, an energetic system.<\/p>\n

Western culture has since Descartes, progressively split the human being in two, spirituality on one and materialism on the other side.<\/p>\n

Feminine values of sensitivity, receptivity, passivity and introversion that were traditionally associated with the spiritual domain, have been devalued, criticized and therefore repressed in the collective unconscious.<\/p>\n

Masculine values of logic, activity, materialism and extroversion have been over-valued. Excessive development of those masculine values has led to the current materialist society or as Jung writes, “Money has replaced God in the temple of Wall Street\u201d where individualism has replaced solidarity, and the search for comfort at all cost has replaced the spiritual quest.<\/p>\n

With materialism, access to the world of energy has become restricted; man is only matter and consciousness is produced by the body.\u00a0 This dramatic split has ended in an irrational vision of the world disconnected from reality, for example the dogma of infinite growth that has been artificially maintained.<\/p>\n

The flip-side of this coin is the vision of a psychology disconnected from the constitution of the body and of the energy.<\/p>\n

The Eastern man lives in a different paradigm, where the spirit and body are seen as needing to be in good harmony and energy is the dynamics that animates this complex; body, spirit and energy are one.<\/p>\n

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Esprit = Mind, Corps = Body<\/p>\n

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We have thus “re-placed” the enneagram within this context: all memory, thought, emotion, and belief, are connected to an energetic field and a constitutional structure that conditions it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Maybe you had the opportunity to experiment with iron filings on a sheet of paper placed on a magnet. We can see in the image above the result. In a similar manner, our thoughts, emotions and beliefs are organized, like the iron filings, around the constitutional energetic field.<\/p>\n

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Each enneagram type is a kind of \u201cmagnetic\u201d field around which the personality is organized<\/em>. The shape of the field varies depending on the type. This is true as much for the type as it is for the subtype.<\/p>\n

According to this paradigm it’s incorrect to envision an enneagram type, its cognition, its motivation and its emotions only on a psychological level.<\/p>\n

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Constitution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each individual possesses a predetermined constitution at the moment of conception (we call it the enneagrammatic constellation in our diamond model) which represents the basis of the structure of the functioning for his or her body and spirit. There are different kinds of constitutions and we are born with it.<\/p>\n

This concept of constitution is fundamental to understanding our journey. The West has a vision of the world and the person as linear and binary, one where cause leads to an effect, if one suppresses the cause, the effect disappears. This rather simplistic vision, of direct cause for every reaction has a\u00a0 lock on the Western mind since centuries.<\/p>\n

The Eastern mind has a more global and complex, circular and systemic vision. Every system is composed of parts that among themselves are in an interdependent relation and also engaged in a dynamic exchange with other external complex systems. So that all “symptoms” reflected in the overall functioning of the whole, are merely indications of the imbalance in the entire system.<\/p>\n

Constitution is the term that expresses this systemic view of the global system, that in homeopathy is often called the constitutional terrain<\/em>. The constitution is innate, which means it’s unique and specific to each individual. We are talking about the ideosyncratic imprint. This imprint or stamp can be related to genetics and is going to express itself in the course of life under the influence of the environment making us what we are today. Using a metaphor, the constitution is a grain of rice and the environment is the earth, sun, air and water that will determine if the stalk of rice can develop harmoniously.<\/p>\n

So we can say that we are combination composed of a genetic<\/em> constitution\u00a0 influenced by an\u00a0 environment (epigenetic).<\/p>\n

The type and the enneagram subtype are therefore fully and innately constitutional. Like a grain of rice that can never become a stalk of corn regardless of the external environment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In other words, a Type 1 individual, subtype social (Air), can not change into a Type 2\u00a0 or 6, nor into a subtype self-pres. (Earth)or sexual (Water)<\/p>\n

As we said above, the constitution is inscribed in the three levels of body, energy and spirit. Therefore each type and subtype of the enneagram presents three levels, somatic, energetic and psychic.<\/p>\n

Let’s take some very concrete examples from our observation: Type 1 is connected to the neurovegetative system corresponding to the Taoist Fire<\/em> energy and a mindset that oscillates between passion and control.<\/p>\n

The self-pres subtype corresponds to Sheldon’s endomorph; <\/em>and the concrete, practical and epicurean temperament of earth<\/em> in Ayurveda.<\/p>\n

The sexual subtype Mars, (see EM<\/em> article in issue #199) corresponds to Sheldon’s mesomorph<\/em>; and the anger and impulsivity temperament of fire<\/em> in Ayurveda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSomatic<\/strong><\/td>\nEnergy<\/strong><\/td>\nPsychic<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Type 1<\/strong><\/td>\nNeurovegetative system<\/td>\nTaoist Fire element<\/td>\nPassion\/control<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Self preservation subtype<\/strong><\/td>\nEndomorph somatotype<\/td>\nAyurvedic Earth element<\/td>\nConcrete, practical, epicurean<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sexual subtype Mars<\/strong><\/td>\nMesomorph somatotype<\/td>\nAyurvedic Fire element<\/td>\nAnger, impulsivity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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To reinforce this thesis we used observations and our Typing records of about 1000 families (parents and children) that have shown that the enneagram type of a child is in nearly 85% of the cases correlated to the type of the father or mother, or with the arrows. It means that a Type 7 child will have one or both parents be a 5, 7, or 1 in a statistically significantly way. Those same observations have also shown that there is a prevalence of certain types in certain countries. In northern Europe and North America there is a high prevalence of women in Type 1 and men Type 7. According to our statistics, nearly 80% of women of Type 1 are coupled with men of Type 7. Which statistically would give girls of Type 1 and\u00a0 boys of Type 7.<\/p>\n

We prefer to suppress that part, can give rise to oppositionsHealth and Sickness<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order for “body and soul” to function correctly it is necessary for the energy to be in balance. If our energy is out of balance, the body and the spirit will manifest signs and symptoms of illness. The goal of homeopathy and eastern medicine is to maintain health by balancing the energy. The structural commonalities between homeopathy, eastern medicine and enneagram allowed us to use our research and to apply the enneagram to aid in the constitutional diagnosis in homeopathy.<\/p>\n

Methods of Type Diagnosis<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to apply enneagram typing to homeopathic medicine we had to make sure to have accurate methodology of E-type and subtype diagnosis, that fit both reliability and reproducibility.<\/p>\n

Reliability<\/h4>\n

Reliability relates the magnitude of the measurement error in observed measurements to the inherent variability in the \u2018error-free,\u2019 \u2018true,\u2019 or underlying level of the quantity between subjects. If reliability is high, measurement errors are small in comparison to the true differences between subjects, so that subjects can be relatively well distinguished. Low reliability indicates that large variations in scores can be expected upon retesting.<\/p>\n

Reproducibility<\/h4>\n

Reproducibility is the variability of the measurement system caused by differences in operator behavior.<\/p>\n

In terms of enneagram what needs to be measured is the type or subtype. The \u201ctyper\u201d is of course a human being who measures subjectively according to his or her perceptive abilities. In this case the accuracy (reliability) depends on the percentage of error and the degree of precision in typing. The reproducibility factor is determined by the variation in the degree of consistency in typing when repeated under different conditions and by different typers. Several typers should be able to type the same subject consistently, without having conferred with each other. We will consider a typing method to be scientific if it fulfills the following criteria:<\/p>\n