It never fails. You’re at dinner, about to reach in for another chip to dip, when suddenly someone announces, “Well because I’m an Enneagram 3…”
Or 8 or 2 or 7. But, let’s be honest, of course it’s the 3.
I kid.
The Enneagram, an ancient self-discovery and development tool, seems to be the topic of just about every conversation these days. There are entire Instagram accounts, podcasts, clothing lines, dedicated to the Enneagram. There are coffee cups, journals, workshops, prints, you name it, all numbered off with quirky sayings and comforting mantras. Christmas is coming up after all, can someone send a girl a 7 travel mug? Because, as you know, Enneagram 7s just love to travel.
The Enneagram, a once mysterious and sacred tool, is now ennea-where and everywhere.
I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. But seriously, how did this little known framework with deeply religious and monastic roots, suddenly explode in popularity? One might argue that anything with a religious, and especially Christian, history wouldn’t or couldn’t take hold in popular culture. And yet I would say that aside from politics, the Enneagram could be one of the most widely discussed topics of conversation. So how did we get here? This tool seems to cross religious boundaries to permeate the hearts and conversations of millions of people. Could it be time to learn not just from the Enneagram’s numbers, but from the Enneagram itself?
What is the Enneagram? Where did it come from?
The Enneagram is a personality test that categorizes personalities into 9 different types with core motivations, fears, and paths for growth. Think Myers-Briggs + Astrological Signs.
As mentioned, the Enneagram is an ancient tool with components and influences from the desert monastic communities, Pythagoreans, Sufis, and mystic Judaism. It was popularized and formalized by Oscar Ichazo, who may have been high as a kite when he finally connected the Enneagram dots. It made its way to America when Claudio Naranjo studied under Ichazo. Naranjo is responsible for bringing the Enneagram to Catholic communities, who quickly embraced and taught the self-realization tool. Cue Father Richard Rohr, currently considered one of the “fathers of the Enneagram.” From the Catholic communities it spread out into evangelical communities (the Catholics always seem to get it first, do they not?) and then into popular culture.
The Enneagram’s history is messy, trippy, and gives us hope.
Hello, yes, hi, did you just read the above? If you skipped please press rewind. Any history is convoluted at best, but we’re talking about the Enneagram’s history potentially tracing back to Jews, Muslims, Christians, (some say Buddhists as well) and a guy tripping on acid. This is phenomenal, the stuff movies are made of. This tool is one of the few things out there with a multi-religious background, something that seems to transcend religious lines and doctrines, to permeate and provide growth. In a world that is increasingly divided, how can something like this not provide us hope?
Sadly, I’m wondering how many Christians will read this and want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We Christians are notorious for doing this. But rather than try to stake a Christian/Catholic claim, or sanitize the Enneagram’s history to make it one that feels more palatable and less mystical, or did away with it completely, what if we embraced the Enneagram’s ability to provide connection? The Enneagram has something, regardless of where it came from, that allows us to connect and grow. Is this not the point, regardless of the faith, regardless of the lines?
The Enneagram works because it’s rooted in compassion, empathy, and love.
The Enneagram starts from a place of connection rather than isolation. All of the numbers are somehow intertwined, they all move towards one another, bolster each other, and need each other. No one number or group has it all figured out, they all equally make the world a better place. And the Enneagram shines a light on shame- those ugly dark sides of each of us that we’ve traditionally locked away. But it doesn’t allow those dark parts to exist or justify themselves, it provides a path of growth. Once the realization of the shame is there, only then can we move forward and start to heal.
I believe that the Enneagram’s success lies in the fact that it chooses to embrace the hard parts, celebrate the good parts, and allow empathy to flow in. C.S. Lewis so famously writes that “friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’ “ Rather than hide alone in our stories, the Enneagram helps give common language to our shared struggles, shared passions, shared desires.
Regardless of how annoyingly popular it might be, thank God for the Enneagram right now.
This is exactly what we need at a time when it’s so much easier to discuss our differences than our similarities. So much better to be able to say “You too?” than to stay alone in our darkness and shame. It’s no wonder that the Enneagram has exploded in popularity. We need this thing right now. Rather than a place of judgment, fear, and shame like many previously held religious notions, the Enneagram provides a tool for connection, empathy, love, and growth. Again, it’s just a tool. It’s not the end all be all. The Enneagram is flawed just like any tool out there (more on that later), but for now I think it’s exactly what we need.
More conversation, less condemnation.
If only my Evangelical upbringing had encouraged me to own my messes rather than hide from them. If only I had learned to look at others in celebration rather than condemnation. I could go on and on, but let’s just think about the fact that for the first time in a long time, people are moving together over something rather than apart. People are having conversations about their trauma, their desire to be better, and finally using a common language to understand each other.
I don’t know about you. But that’s a beautiful thing to me. It’s no shock that the Enneagram is blowing up Instagram. My hope is that we continue the conversation, continue to grow together rather than use this thing to tear each other apart. For those of us with a spiritual leaning, maybe it’s time to take the Enneagram’s lessons of compassion and empathy deeper and farther than just the numbers go.