The Dangers of Enneagram Practice: An Audio Essay

This "audio essay" is the transcription of one of my quarterly emails. It is a thought experiment, based on Lauren Winner's recent book, The Dangers of Christian Practice, which explores the damages intrinsic to Christian sacred practices. Believing her to have made a compelling case, and believing cautionary tales of techno-critics everywhere, I explore the possible damages sustained at the very site of our attempts to do good work with the enneagram as tool. This isn't an essay to tell you how to do things perfectly, simply an invitation to eyes-wide-openness and honest companionship as we do work which tends towards very particular kinds of damage. For access to the text-based option, just go ahead and sign up to the EFW quarterly email list!

"Hammers, Nail Guns, Maps and Google Maps: Learning Our Tools": Enneagram Magazine Spiritual Formation Issue

The fourth issue of Enneagram Magazine focuses on Spiritual Formation. One of the key issues in the area of Spiritual Formation as it pertains to the Enneagram is that many users of the Enneagram aren't very clear about what it is. That is, we aren't sure what kind of technology it is, and therefore, we aren't sure what we are asking it to do for us, and what it requires for us to learn how to do in order to use it intentionally and ably. Turns out it might be much simpler, and yet much more challenging, than other kinds of technologies to which we've become accustomed.

I had a lot of fun writing this article and it helped me to continue clarifying what it is I do here at Enneagram for Wholeness. We have to understand our tools and the world in which we use them, otherwise we make a lot of assumptions that might move us farther away from the Really Real.

The 27 Subtypes: Enneagram Magazine Primer Edition

The new Enneagram Magazine is bringing together the wisdom of multiple traditions and practitioners to populate its pages. The first edition is a "primer" and in it you can find a great introduction to the Enneagram from multiple angles. In a workbook style, it has space for reflection as you make your way through its beautiful pages.

In the subtype section (which I wrote), you'll find a lot of resonance with what can be found in other subtype resources, but you also might find a few re-namings and re-adjusted nuggets based on work with my clients and friends whose narratives have helped inform what each of these subtypes can look like--especially in our world today!

Be on the lookout for the next few editions as well, which will focus-in on the Enneagram and Creativity, Leadership, Spiritual Formation, and more!

The 27 Subtypes: A 3-Part Podcast with the Liturgists

Science Mike and I had a marathon of a conversation to bring you this 3 part series introducing you to the 27 subtypes, split up between heart, head and gut centers. In Enneagram theory, the Instincts--Self Preservation, Sexual, and Social Structural-- combine with each of the 9 Enneatypes to create 27 subtypes. This podcast takes a descriptive walk through each of the subtypes, highlighting the differences between different instinctual variations of each type. The conversations about each type are bookended with narratives by people of each type as well as by the nine Enneagram Songs by Ryan O'Neal of Sleeping at Last.

If it were me, I'd take it in segments--it's a lot to do all at once! But, if it were me, I'd also not run a marathon. To each their own. But, in case you were wondering, if you were actually to run a marathon listening to it, you'd have to pace your mile at 8:30. Good luck to you in your listening / marathoning endeavors.

Enneagram Games and Memes: A Cost/Benefit Analysis

Originally, this video went out to my email list, but the more questions I get about how to use the Enneagram, the more this video seems helpful. I think you can apply the logic that this video lays out to work on accepting and appreciating the way people engage with the Enneagram, as well as appreciating the kinds of environments such engagements enable and allow (as well as the invitational scope of those environments). I hope it is generous. But I also hope it makes clear what games and memes cannot do. We might have that general sense, but then we are left with the question: What do we do with the Enneagram?

Ask Science Mike: Is the Enneagram Bullshit?

Join Science Mike and I as we explore skepticism about the Enneagram. If you are a skeptic, be prepared to be legitimized and also questioned (as true skeptics would welcome!). We get into the nature of skepticism, philosophy of science, and how to engage with things that are not (yet) scientifically valid or, perhaps, cannot be scientifically validated. It's pretty heady, folks. So, take a listen if you hate the Enneagram or love the Enneagram or love to think about why people hate or love the Enneagram. Or maybe you are like me, and you just love hearing Mike talk. That is also a legitimate reason to take a listen.