Every week we see a new book about the Enneagram, and one could think, “Do we need more books about the Enneagram” or “What new is there to write about?”. In this article, I will explain why I wrote the book “The Enneagram and why your blind type matters” and why I think we need more books about the practical use of the Enneagram.
The nature of the Enneagram itself is dynamic and ever-evolving. One of the first to notice that was George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, who actually did not work with the personality types of the Enneagram, but with the very structure of the Enneagram. The structure itself (circle, triangle and hexagon), the dynamics of the structure, including the shock points and the multi-dimensional use of the structure where it is not seen as a circle but an upgoing (or downgoing) spiral, was the dynamism and wisdom/intelligence that interested Gurdjieff. He created music and movements based on the inner wisdom/intelligence and even logic of the structure, and his book describes in mathematical ways how “most of the universe” can be explained by the structure of the Enneagram.
Gurdjieff, Ichazo, Riso, Hudson and more
Others have followed Gurdjieff in exploring the inner dynamics of the Enneagram, and Oscar Ichazo developed his 108 Enneagon’s describing different aspects of our psyche. Later on, studies by Karen Horney found their way into the Enneagram, and the theory behind Object Relations has been part of the basic teaching by the Enneagram Institute since Don Richard Riso, and Russ Hudson started teaching the Enneagram. It was also Don and Russ who created the Levels of Development, and most students know about the Instincts of the Enneagram. So it is to be expected, that we will see more studies and topics being developed in connection with the Enneagram.
No books about your blind Enneagram type
When searching on amazon about the Enneagram, the result is more than 5.000 books, and 93 of them have been released within the last 30 days. Searching for “podcast Enneagram” you will get more than 350 podcasts, and you can find more than 200 blogs about the Enneagram on Google. The variety of topics spans from personal development, spirituality, self-awareness, parenting, relationships over leadership, team building, and coaching to the history and lineages of the Enneagram. It seems like many of the topics has been covered. You might also find topics about the blind spots of the Enneagram, but there are no books about the blind Enneagram types.
Your blind and primary Enneagram type
The blind Enneagram type is the type least developed in you, as where the primary Enneagram type is the most developed. Most of the training about the Enneagram today concentrate on finding your primary Enneagram type and on how to loosen or soften the identification or attachment to your primary Enneagram type. For that, you will need much training in self-awareness and self-insights, and you will need to practice how to “catch yourself” when you are identified or attached to your primary Enneagram type. Without the awareness of the identification and attachment, you will not be able to create a breakthrough in your personal growth and development using the Enneagram.
The vocabulary was founded during the covid-19 pandemic
Not much training today is about finding your blind Enneagram type, but in Denmark, more than 400 students worked on the qualities and capacities of the 9 Enneagram points during the covid-19 pandemic. The studies focused on the qualities and capacities of the Enneagram points and not the types, using the original materials by Gurdjieff and Ichazo. During this training, it became very clear that some students would have no relationship or understanding to some of the qualities of specific Enneagram points, often followed by an aversion, frustration, or even hatred towards the qualities or people demonstrating those qualities. Based on the experiences from this training, a new vocabulary has been created about what it means to be blind to a specific Enneagram type, why we end up being blind, how can it be used for personal growth and development, what is the relationship between your primary and blind Enneagram type and what is the Enneagram Life Theme being produced over the years based on these inner dynamics? Questions like these are part of my new book “The Enneagram and why your blind type matters” and when used in Enneagram training, the feedback is often, “it makes sense that there is one of the types that I don’t understand or I feel frustrated about”, “why did we never see that?”, “that explains why I experience the same difficulties in professional and personal relationships” and “the inner dynamic between my primary type and blind type is the theme of my life”.
So to answer the initial question; “yes” I think we need more books about the Enneagram and especially about new perspectives, inventions, and ways to use the Enneagram. My approach has always been very pragmatic and result-oriented, so when I meet new ways of seeing the Enneagram, I quickly ask the question, “Will that help me grow and develop?” and if not, I move on. The Enneagram is about loosening or softening your identification or attachment to your personality (your primary Enneagram type), so if a new perspective of the Enneagram is not doing that, we are not helping the reader or the listener. In my new book, you will, therefore, find pages for your personal training and development that can be used individually or in book-study groups, learning communities, or as part of a training program.