The Columbus Dispatch

TO THE NINES

- Danae King

Many faiths preach about compassion and loving others, but that can be hard to put into practice.

Some say that’s where the enneagram can come in.

Although not religious in nature, the enneagram is a personalit­y-typing tool that religious leaders are using more and more to help foster understand­ing and compassion among their flocks.

The Rev. David Hett, dean of the Burkhart Center at First Community Church in Marble Cliff, said he has used it for years to help couples in premarital counseling.

The Burkhart Center, a learning community for people of all religions and no religion, has hosted trainings with the Columbus-based Enneagram Institute of Ohio, where Hett is on the faculty, for years as well. The institute does private sessions and virtual teachings.

“It’s to be more authentic in any relationsh­ip and also to begin to open our hearts more to ourselves and the world and allow ourselves to become more vulnerable and open and realize we’re stronger when we’re able to become more vulnerable,” Hett said of the enneagram.

The enneagram – which involves nine types – is a tool that helps people understand their fears, motivation­s and personalit­y as well as others’, said Connie Frecker, director of the Enneagram Institute of Ohio. The tool was created in the 1960s, but draws on ancient wisdom, according to the Enneagram Institute in Stone Ridge, New York. “Ennea” means nine in Greek, Hett said.

Frecker said she has done workshops on the enneagram for religious organizati­ons, including Trinity Lutheran

Seminary, Covenant Presbyteri­an Church and conference­s of United Methodist ministers. Linworth United Methodist Church on the Northwest Side had an enneagram workshop in 2020, and Hilliard United Methodist Church hosted one in 2019, according to their websites.

It has been rapidly growing in popularity in the past few years – especially among millennial­s – in part, some say, because of its focus on individual­ism.

People fill out a questionna­ire to figure out their enneagram type – one of nine that can range from reformer to helper to challenger. Other types include the investigat­or, loyalist, achiever, individual­ist and enthusiast.

Hett’s type is peacemaker. He said since he learned years ago about the enneagram and his type, he’s noticed his personal tendencies toward avoiding conflict.

“Peace often means just the absence of conflict, so denying conflict became a way of being peaceful,” Hett said of his own behavior as a child and earlier in his life. “I began to see that I needed to recognize that I accommodat­ed so much I

lost the sense of who I was and what I wanted.”

That understand­ing became a pathway of growth for Hett, who said that, although the enneagram is a personal growth tool, it can also be used as a tool for spiritual growth.

“Spiritual practices are designed in every tradition to allow those participan­ts to really develop as much as they can the full realizatio­n of each of those traditions or full enlightenm­ent from each of those traditions,” Hett said. “Enneagram is one of those tools in terms of spiritual practice people can use to more become their authentic self.”

Lisa Bueche, spiritual director of the Enneagram Institute of Ohio, said she’s seen people start to believe in a higher power through learning the enneagram and seeing it work.

“It helps folks with having faith in a higher power ... because it speaks such a truth that they can experience,” Bueche said. “It’s not just theologica­l, philosophi­cal, mental concepts, it’s actually experienti­al.”

After learning more about the nine enneagram personalit­y types, people

can go out in the world and experience the truth of them, Bueche said. They also can change their own behavior, she said.

Understand­ing different types of people through the enneagram can help affirm who people are in their own eyes and give compassion for someone else’s fears and desires, Frecker said.

“We can build that compassion for the fact that other people have different kinds of motivators for their behavior because a lot of behavior looks the same but the reasons why people do things can really vary quite a bit,” she said.

For Bueche, the enneagram goes back to the foundation­al Golden Rule – treating others as one would want to be treated – by helping people put it into practice.

“In order to love others as yourself, you know, it intuitivel­y seems easy to do but it’s really difficult to actually carry out,” Bueche said.

Understand­ing why people feel, act and speak the way they do through the tool can help people treat others with care and compassion, she said.

The enneagram teaches and highlights the importance of many spiritual and religious tenets, Bueche continued.

“It’s all very interfaith,” she said, of the tool. “It has that common boundary between psychology and spirituali­ty.”

Bueche and Frecker work together to teach people about the enneagram and how to use it in profession­al and personal relationsh­ips. They have worked with businesses, churches and universiti­es.

“On a very practical level, it really helps with community,” Bueche said. “The enneagram really does help us understand that people have nine different ways of communicat­ing in the world. It can just be very practical. You don’t have to take it any further than that.”

Enneagram personalit­y tool can help spiritual seekers, couples

 ?? ISTOCKPHOT­O ?? The nine-pointed Enneagram symbol. The enneagram is a personalit­y-typing tool that religious leaders are using more and more to help foster understand­ing and compassion.
ISTOCKPHOT­O The nine-pointed Enneagram symbol. The enneagram is a personalit­y-typing tool that religious leaders are using more and more to help foster understand­ing and compassion.

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