‘Centers of intelligence’ can play a role in creating a worship service
Sandra Smith isn’t sure why the Enneagram has taken off so recently among faith communities.
Maybe it’s because of social media, or perhaps it’s because of the popularity of categorizing one another, she said.
But it’s not a typing system, said Smith, a certified consultant and teacher of the Enneagram.
“It’s about, ‘How do I block my heart from giving and receiving love?’”
On Jan. 30, a group of spiritual directors and clergy gathered at Church Health for a workshop to learn more about the Enneagram, a tool that maps out nine personality types, delving into the strengths, struggles and dominant emotions of each type.
The Enneagram isn’t a new system. Parts of it, including its symbol with nine points in a circle, are ancient.
But in the past few years, the system has taken off among faith communities who are using it in Bible studies, in therapy sessions, on retreats and in individual spiritual practice.
Smith is quick to say that the Enneagram is not a Christian symbol, even though she teaches it in many Christian churches.
The modern system traces largely to Bolivian philosopher Oscar Ichazo in the 1960s and 1970s and later his student Claudio Naranjo, a psychiatrist who brought it to the United States.
The tool was further popularized in the 1990s and early 2000s by Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr who published “The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective” and “Discovering the Enneagram: An Ancient Tool for a New Spiritual Journey.”
“The intersection of personality and spirituality is holy ground for me,” Smith told the group at Church Health as they began.
Then, she asked people to look within their hearts for a kind word.
‘Who am I?’
Jan. 30’s session brought in Smith, who has taught the Enneagram for about 20 years, to speak with a group of clergy, spiritual directors and therapists about how the Enneagram “gets to the core of who we are.”
“A foundational theological question is, ‘Who am I?’” Smith said. “If I don’t know who I am and I can’t be present to myself, I’m not available to me. If I’m not available to me, how can I be available to others or to the Holy One? It really starts with who am I. I don’t know who I am unless I’m present with myself.”
Those present Jan. 30 came for a variety of reasons.
The Rev. Edith Love, a Unitarian Universalist minister, said she hopes to use the Enneagram to help members of the activist community better understand themselves, sometimes wrestling with deep trauma.
The Rev. David Marshall, a pediatric hospital chaplain, said the Enneagram shows him continuity between who he is and why he has chosen the work he does.
The Enneagram involves nine personality types, each depicted as one point on the starlike symbol. Number one is often called the reformer or the perfectionist. Two is often called the helper or the people-pleaser. Three is the achiever, four the individualist, and so on.
But Smith cautioned the group not to allow stereotypes to define a person.
“When we lead with our type, it’s not the whole story of us,” she said. “The Enneagram is not a cage. It gives us a set of keys, and the first key that we can use, which is a very big deal, is knowing where we focus our attention.”
The nine types are also divided into three centers of intelligence, based on whether they are centered on the heart, head or gut, Smith told the group. And that, she said, can play a role in crafting worship services.
For twos, threes and fours, which lead with the heart, mood, tone and feeling is important. It is important for those types to be with others without words or a role, she said, so worship services should include a time of communal silence.
For fives, sixes and sevens, led by the brain, “the journey is outward,” meaning candles, iconography and symbols are helpful, Smith said.
And for eights, nines and ones, stories are useful to give them a sense of worth, Smith said.
“A good circle or worship needs to include those three things,” Smith said.
Katherine Burgess