What do you think?
Rate this book
An Introduction to the Enneagram
The book is about The Enneagram, a nine-pointed star drawn inside a circle. It has many meanings and uses,currently, it is best known as a system of personality types, where each of the nine points
corresponds to a different type.
corresponds to a different type.
26 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2007
2 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 20, 2018
I saw an email from Stephen Barnes talking about how the personality part is just the tip of the Enneagram iceberg. Wait, I thought, I’ve got a book about that. Run off to search my ebook folder and voila.
Sadly, the link to the free test no longer works. This HAS been in my ebook folder for a while.
The Enneagram has nine numbers and three sectors: body, head, and heart.
[ugh. Now my brain is spouting Captain Planet lines. Cut it out…]
The sectors relate to intelligence, not in the IQ sense, but in the matching groups of thinking, doing, and relating. You can probably think of a few people you know who match each group. Three numbers fit in each sector.
The point of knowing your type is so that you can challenge yourself and open up your box. Your personality is not necessarily your essence.
McGuinness suggests using the type recognition to make it easier for you to work with others, or to avoid conflict in the workplace, and get a mixed group of types to achieve a team goal. This is his day job.
I’ve also seen suggestions that writers use the types to generate characters.
I guess that’d work. Joe Hill uses the four Beatles, for instance. [I heard him say this in a podcast and I’m still not entirely sure if he was joking] My rough interpretation of that would be: the plodder, the smartass, the genius and the clown.
Oh, look - it’s the Raven Boys (if you make the last one the ghost.)
Your lover didn’t change, the way you look at them did.
Relationship counsellor is another hat McGuinness wears.
I signed up for Stephen’s course… a bit more self awareness can’t hurt. WWW.DIAMONDHOUR.COM
4 stars
Sadly, the link to the free test no longer works. This HAS been in my ebook folder for a while.
The Enneagram has nine numbers and three sectors: body, head, and heart.
[ugh. Now my brain is spouting Captain Planet lines. Cut it out…]
The sectors relate to intelligence, not in the IQ sense, but in the matching groups of thinking, doing, and relating. You can probably think of a few people you know who match each group. Three numbers fit in each sector.
I’ll reiterate the reminder that no types are better or worse than the others. Each type has strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and obstacles. And the Enneagram is not about putting people in boxes - we all have the potential to occupy any position on the Enneagram, and in different situations we can take on the characteristics of any of the nine types.
The point of knowing your type is so that you can challenge yourself and open up your box. Your personality is not necessarily your essence.
McGuinness suggests using the type recognition to make it easier for you to work with others, or to avoid conflict in the workplace, and get a mixed group of types to achieve a team goal. This is his day job.
I’ve also seen suggestions that writers use the types to generate characters.
I guess that’d work. Joe Hill uses the four Beatles, for instance. [I heard him say this in a podcast and I’m still not entirely sure if he was joking] My rough interpretation of that would be: the plodder, the smartass, the genius and the clown.
Oh, look - it’s the Raven Boys (if you make the last one the ghost.)
…the Enneagram encourages us to relate to others - by looking for the source of conflict in our own skewed perceptions and assumptions, rather than seeing it as a fault in the other person.
Your lover didn’t change, the way you look at them did.
So for example, a Three (Performer) and a Five (Observer) might fall in love - the Three entranced by the ‘mystery’ of the unfathomable Five, and the Five bowled over by the ‘glamour’ of the confident, successful Three. But conflict will arise whenever the Three fails to understand why the Five doesn’t ‘push herself forward more’ and gain more rewards and recognition for her knowledge and insights. Equally, the Five needs to watch out for her tendency to judge the Three as ‘shallow and materialistic’ in his pursuit of worldly success.
Relationship counsellor is another hat McGuinness wears.
I signed up for Stephen’s course… a bit more self awareness can’t hurt. WWW.DIAMONDHOUR.COM
4 stars
Displaying 1 of 1 review