SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
SEND US YOUR LIFESTORIES

2005 IEA CONFERENCE
© Belinda Gore, Ph.D.

The keynote speaker at the conference was Dr. Daniel Siegel, author of Parenting from the Inside Out, whose research on attachment theory establishes, among other things, that the human brain is a highly malleable organ.  When parents make sense of their own lives, they achieve an integrated brain and came provide secure attachments for their children.  Said differently, this means that parents can help their children be healthier within their own Enneagram types by helping them learn to function at higher levels of development.  Our predisposition toward the fixation or belief structure of our individual Enneagram type is reinforced through repeated experiences that strengthen those neural connections.  The mind regulates energy and information flow, and develops as experience shapes the brain.  Our beliefs create neural pathways that can override even genetic predisposition. 

However, Dr. Siegel emphasized that we are all “hard-wired” for connection with other people;  mirror neurons in the limbic system and the right hemisphere of the brain are highly cued to the behavior and internal states of other people.  We learn through interacting with others and as children are highly impacted by the behavior of our parents.  We can also change patterns through spiritual practices and psychotherapeutic methods.  Transformational change is accompanied by changes in the synaptic connections in the brain and through practice we can strengthen those new connections, laying down new neural pathways that foster a tendency to new behavior.

We are designed to mature in a natural developmental process.  A system naturally integrates differentiated elements into a large whole, moving toward maximizing complexity and finding greater harmony.  As we weaken the hold of fixations we are naturally able to move toward that greater integration and harmony, creating the state known as well-being.

A.H. Almaas spent an afternoon during the pre-conference session on Thursday exploring the qualities of the liberated Enneagram type as compared with the fixated type.  He spoke about the ego developing structures that become more rigid or fixed so that we have difficulty shifting out of type behavior even when it is not an appropriate response to a given situation.  By the time we have developed the capacity for self-awareness as children, we are already conditioned into the fixation and do not become aware of our true nature, the soul. 

Liberation occurs as we become aware of our inherent spiritual nature.  Spiritual practices are for the purpose of freeing us from patterns of fixation and for broadening our perspective to grow into an increasingly larger worldview.  However, to deepen our spiritual practice we have to recognize and work with our psychology.  The Enneagram map organizes our experiences into a coherent meaningful picture to represent Reality.  The Holy Ideas that are the higher aspect of the fixations can precipitate the experience of realization.  The best reference resource to further explore these ideas is Almaas’ book, Facets of Unity.

The next day Don Riso and Russ Hudson focused in more detail on the development of the Superego as part of the analysis of the psychic structures of each type.  They defined the Superego as a personality function through which a child internalizes parents and society before the capacity for autonomous thinking develops.  Children can begin to develop morality and conscience until they are capable of contact with their own inner guidance.  However, the Superego reinforces identity with lower levels of development and creates anxiety when we go beyond the prescribed boundaries of what our parents taught us we should do or think.

We recognize the presence of the Superego through all of the “should’s” in our lives and we know we have violated the prescribed boundaries when we fear becoming out of control.  No matter how much we may try to assuage the Superego, it keeps raising the bar so that we are never good enough.  The only alternative is acceptance, allowing the experience of the present moment and seeing how to optimize this moment through the fullness of Presence.

Helen Palmer in her intimate chat with a large group on Saturday morning called the Enneagram the best psychology on the planet.  It is a body of methods for spiritual practice that help us relax the structures of our type to allow direct experience of the Reality on which we depend for our existence.  While the ego is inclined to stay with what is known, the soul has an intelligence that is motivated to develop.  Ego structures begin to dissolve in the presence of the receptivity to Reality;  however, the ego resists.  The Desert Fathers in the 4^th century devoted themselves to identifying the patterns of resistance that we know as the ego fixations of the Enneagram types.  What is known as the vices or passions, the Seven Deadly Sins, are emotional coping strategies that we have used to survive.  As we grow spiritually, the vices transform into the Virtues, the qualities of the soul.  Palmer emphasized that the Enneagram is not a religion but a body of method;  religion may provide the images or iconography by which we experience the inner states.

The three centers taught within the Enneagram are the Head Center, the Heart Center, and the Belly Center that all function in an active way, creating defense structures.  There are also three subtle centers of perception that are receptive.  The subtle Head center is the source of inner sight or visualization.  The subtle Heart center is the focal site of intuition rather than emotion, as emotion is not a source of spiritual experience.  The subtle Belly center grounds us as the body is not perceptually there when awareness unifies with the greater Reality.

Palmer reminded us that things get worse before they get better on the inner journey as the ego resists the dissolution of ego structures.  When we understand the nature of the resistance we can choose to release it, developing a healthy or liberated ego that can let go to support received spiritual experience.

The conference was nicely balanced to include somatics, psychology, business, and spirituality.  We concluded with a ritual of movements in the Gurdjieffian tradition known as The Hymn to the Sun.  It was a fitting integration of our learning during the conference that supports the widening of Enneagram knowledge, wisdom, and practice around the world.