Enneagram (pronounced ANY-A-GRAM) is a nine-point personality system, used by psychology and other areas. The name itself comes from the Greek words "enna" = nine and "gram" = word or point. It defines personality types (Perfecter, Carer, Achiever, Creator, Observer, Affiliator, Cheerer, Challenger, and Accepter) and gives you advices about your life, about dealing with these types, how different types react under pressure or whilst having fun, and generally Making Your Life Happier (TM). Might be a hype, just another way to pull money out of your pocket like (imho) dianetics, but it can be your way to find your happiness. It's truly a great social activity to go through your friends and decide which group he/she belongs to, but I'm not sure it makes any more sense... Whatever, if you're interested, there're tons of official and un-official, commercial and non-commercial sites, a webring, have fun...

Although recently used as a personality system, the enneagram is actually an ancient example of sacred geometry. The enneagram is a nine-poined star. Not in the same fashion as a pentagram or the Star of David wherein all the points are connected uniformly, but in a special pattern to reflect special things.

Originally brought to the attention of the western world by P. D. Ouspensky while he was detailing the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff in his book In Search of the Miraculous, the enneagram is said to contain a huge measure of universal truth.

Most easily described as a graphical representation of the union of The Law of Three and The Law of Seven(though perhaps not like people commonly understand them) the enneagram is commonly associated with esoteric spiritual teachings such as Sufism and The Fourth Way.

I suppose it is a personality system too, but that's like saying an orange is known primarily for having counties named after it.
Unlike other personality systems, the Enneagram shows a dynamic path for personality growth. The point is not to fix a position of one´s personality "you are an artist", but to track one´s way of being along life´s situations.

The nine positions are "starting" positions, frames where one feels kind of "at home", in balance with one´s own strenghts and weaknesses. But the nine positions of the Enneagram form a fulfilling picture of human personality, often called "god´s faces", in an attempt to help human growth to the divine.

Following the dynamics of integration along the arrows, "the artist" is challenged by "the perfectionist" to materialice his/her vision; and this by "the joyfull player" in order to open materialiced visions to the enjoyment of all; and this in turn by "the insight seer" not to loose oneself into the others; and so on and so on.

The two paths -the triangle and the six-point star- are to be followed thanks to one´s "wings" right and left of the "starting position". As humans, nothing human should be foreign to us; the model of the Enneagramm can give a very powerful insight into one´s (never static) way of being.

the gunslinger

kabbalah

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