The type 3 descriptions are often cliche, stereotypical. Everyone’s just ambitious and compatetive. And I was like, that doesn’t match my life experience. But his description talked about this idea of wanting to live as an exemplary human being. And I remember all my life, I thought, if I lived in such a way that if everybody lived like I lived, the world would be a better place. That was like my mantra since I was a kid. And I never equated that with threeness, because the descriptions of threes were horrible.
Interview with Reverend Nhien Vuong
Reverend Nhien Vuong, J.D., M.Div. is an international Enneagram thought leader, spiritual mentor, and the founder of Evolving Enneagram.
She has been teaching the Enneagram since since 2007 and has the Evolving Enneagram podcast and has interviewed Flemming Christensen about the Blind Type.
Nhien Vuong thought she related to type 1 for years until she discovered that type 3 was the right type.
She is writing a book on the Enneagram and at the moment. It is 40-day devotional practice.
Listen to this interesting interview by Flemming concerning Nhien Vuong´s hope for the Enneagram and her personal journey.
She is also guiding Flemming at one point.
Listen to the Enneagram Insights podcast on your favorite podcast app.
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Quotes from Enneagram Insights podcast:
The Wrong Enneagram type?
Nhien Vuong:
“I’ve been teaching the Enneagram since 2007 and told people I related to type 1.
But only several years ago, did I have this moment where I realized that, oh, this inner critic that’s been on my shoulder all of my life until now, I couldn’t feel it anymore.
It was almost like I physically felt like something had been lifted.
And I remember having this, I thought, Nhien, you’ve evolved, but you’re not that evolved.
Like you can’t just have something so core to your personality type structure be gone, like just completely be gone.
And all this time I was on the fence about type 3.
At that point, I revisited the type 3 in a more essential way. And it was actually A. H. Almaas´ description and his description in “Keys to the Enneagram”, that really nailed it for me, because I had never heard anyone describe type 3 so beautifully.
Whereas a lot of the type 3 descriptions are often cliche, stereotype, everyone’s just ambitious and things like that. And I was like, that doesn’t match my life experience.
But his description talked about this idea of wanting to live as an exemplary human being.
And I remember all my life, I thought, if I lived in such a way that if everybody lived like I lived, the world would be a better place. That was like my mantra since I was a kid.
And I never equated that with threeness, because the descriptions of threes are horrible.
They’re competitive, this and that.
Once I saw it, then all these very subtle things that I just naturally do surfaced. Sometimes when you do something well you don’t even see that you’re doing it.”
Loneliness and being a black sheep
“I used to think that I was the loneliest person in the world. I believe that for the first decades of my life. And you would never think that now.
People who meet me now are like “Really?” I was one of the shyest kids ever. I was deeply lonely.
I was the black sheep in my family. Of course, when we moved to America, I was the black sheep in that I wasn’t white, and there were very few Asians where we were.
Therefore this sense of companioning people today, helping them to feel that they’re not alone. Each time they make the journey into something new and cross a threshold it is very, very meaningful to me.”
The Enneagram as the background framework
“For me Enneagram is the background framework that the territory of our lives and of our being should always be what leads. Not the other way around.
The Enneagram can support us.
If we lead with the Enneagram it’s almost like we’re putting forth that box whether it’s a religious box or an Enneagram type box of like we’re trying to make you fit into something.
Instead let’s see the reality of the territory of being that actually presents.
And with the greatest compassion possible let’s bring forth some Enneagram teachings and ideas that might offer some reflection or guidance on our journey.”
Book: A 40 days guidance
Nhien Vuong has a book coming out in 2024.
She explains:
“When I was young, I had a quest for meaning that was very alive for me just in my childhood.
I had these pressing questions about the meaning of life.
And I was seeking, and I kept seeking through different religions and not finding one in which I fit, and not really understanding the difference between spirituality, which is personal and which can be mine, and trying to fit into the box of some religion.
And so this book is actually an interspiritual approach to the Enneagram.
So it offers what my ministry, my evolving Enneagram work offers, which is a place where everyone gets to belong.
Just by virtue of this shared quest for truth, even if what I believe is different from what
you believe.
My book is basically a 40-day devotional practice. It’s a 40-day practice guide where there are invitations for folks of every number and faith.
I wanted to offer something based on my background that really is open, is interspiritual, that sometimes encompasses Buddhist practices as well as mystical Christian practices.
In that sense, it’s almost like giving a book that I would need. And the other piece is a lot of Enneagram work now is very expensive if you want to find a coach or something.
This book is a 40-day guide so that you can journey on your own, or you can journey with a group of friends through a book study.
It’s a way of almost having the expert at home with you on your personal journey and a spiritual framework.”
More about Nhien Vuong
Nhien Vuong is an Accredited Professional with the International Enneagram Association (IEA).
She is also a Certified Enneagram professional through the Awareness to Action IEA-accredited program.
Nhien is creating inter-spiritual, Enneagram-literate spaces for individuals to cultivate authenticity, wholeness, and belonging.
