31 min
Evolution of Love pt. 2 The Unfolding Enneagram
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- Self-Improvement
A person's Level of Development (the SPIRAL) is the framework with which they understand the world. Their Level of Health within their Enneagram Type is the way in which they are present within their WORLDVIEW.
**One’s level of Development does not equate with one’s level of Health - in other words - you can be at any level on the Spiral and be healthy or unhealthy in your Enneagram type. Your NUMBER doesn’t change but your worldview can.**!
The manifestation of our type is our desire to be loved. As the Spiral shows, it’s our awareness that brings about EXPANSION of consciousness and becomes a more inclusive and loving way of seeing each other and ourselves.
Within the Enneagram we see our personal development through the Levels of Health.
As it is with our evolution in our worldview, it is with our own personal evolution. While we move up in our levels of health through life challenges, growing in awareness, questioning old boundaries and beliefs and behaviors, we can also regress at times. We are fluid but the further UP we go the easier it is to recognize the ways we’ve fallen into old patterns of behavior.
At our must fundamental (I might say Archaic) level we have what we call our Superego Message. This is all about our instinctual need for Survival or for LOVE. "...if we listen more closely, we may see that they are not only arbitrary and subjective but also coercive or damaging. They present us with increasingly impossible standards to live up to, for which we always pay a heavy price. If we feel anxious, depressed, lost, hopeless, fearful, wretched or weak, we can be sure that our superego is on duty.” (Riso and Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram)
“I AM LOVED if.....”
Type 1: I am Loved if I am good and do what is right.
Type 2: I am Loved if I am loving and close to others.
Type 3: I am loved if I am successful and others think well of me.
Type 4: I am loved if I feel something and am true to myself.
Type 5: I am loved if I know and have mastered something.
Type 6: I am loved if I am responsible and do what’s expected.
Type 7: I am loved if I am happy and get what I need.
Type 8: I am loved if I am strong and in control of the situation.
Type 9: I am loved if I am at peace and those around me are okay.
These are our EGO’s boundaries that we attach to that we believe ensures LOVE and SECURITY. Isn’t that what a boundary is for anyway - to protect? And so in lower levels of health we defend that boundary like a WARRIOR so we don’t set our self up for destruction. This is the EGO’s job - to make sure we are not destroyed.
As we encounter resistance in our habitual patterns of old behaviors we begin to ask..."can I be loved if____?"
Type 1: Can I be loved if I make a mistake?
Type 3: Can I be loved if people don't see me as successful?
Type 7: Can I be loved if I'm not joyful...or even depressed?
*View PDF of The Levels of Development (Health) in our Enneagram Type
A person's Level of Development (the SPIRAL) is the framework with which they understand the world. Their Level of Health within their Enneagram Type is the way in which they are present within their WORLDVIEW.
**One’s level of Development does not equate with one’s level of Health - in other words - you can be at any level on the Spiral and be healthy or unhealthy in your Enneagram type. Your NUMBER doesn’t change but your worldview can.**!
The manifestation of our type is our desire to be loved. As the Spiral shows, it’s our awareness that brings about EXPANSION of consciousness and becomes a more inclusive and loving way of seeing each other and ourselves.
Within the Enneagram we see our personal development through the Levels of Health.
As it is with our evolution in our worldview, it is with our own personal evolution. While we move up in our levels of health through life challenges, growing in awareness, questioning old boundaries and beliefs and behaviors, we can also regress at times. We are fluid but the further UP we go the easier it is to recognize the ways we’ve fallen into old patterns of behavior.
At our must fundamental (I might say Archaic) level we have what we call our Superego Message. This is all about our instinctual need for Survival or for LOVE. "...if we listen more closely, we may see that they are not only arbitrary and subjective but also coercive or damaging. They present us with increasingly impossible standards to live up to, for which we always pay a heavy price. If we feel anxious, depressed, lost, hopeless, fearful, wretched or weak, we can be sure that our superego is on duty.” (Riso and Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram)
“I AM LOVED if.....”
Type 1: I am Loved if I am good and do what is right.
Type 2: I am Loved if I am loving and close to others.
Type 3: I am loved if I am successful and others think well of me.
Type 4: I am loved if I feel something and am true to myself.
Type 5: I am loved if I know and have mastered something.
Type 6: I am loved if I am responsible and do what’s expected.
Type 7: I am loved if I am happy and get what I need.
Type 8: I am loved if I am strong and in control of the situation.
Type 9: I am loved if I am at peace and those around me are okay.
These are our EGO’s boundaries that we attach to that we believe ensures LOVE and SECURITY. Isn’t that what a boundary is for anyway - to protect? And so in lower levels of health we defend that boundary like a WARRIOR so we don’t set our self up for destruction. This is the EGO’s job - to make sure we are not destroyed.
As we encounter resistance in our habitual patterns of old behaviors we begin to ask..."can I be loved if____?"
Type 1: Can I be loved if I make a mistake?
Type 3: Can I be loved if people don't see me as successful?
Type 7: Can I be loved if I'm not joyful...or even depressed?
*View PDF of The Levels of Development (Health) in our Enneagram Type
31 min