Enneagram: a critique.

The Enneagram is a geometric diagram consisting of a circle (used here, I expect, as a symbol of wholeness), marked off into nine equidistant points, which are numbered in sequence in a clockwise direction from 1 to 9. The points 3, 6, 9, are joined in that order by straight lines to form a triangle. The points 1, 4, 2, 8, 5, 7 are joined in that sequence by straight lines to form a hexangle. And then arrows are put on each of the lines following the sequence described. And there we have it, the Enneagram. Mathematical magic Why are the points joined as described? The Pythagorean sect from ancient Greece was fascinated by the mathematics evident in the order they discovered in the universe. The order is certainly there. Scientists have been able to express most of their theories and discoveries in mathematical terms. In fact scientists, to this day, have been able to use mathematics to make new scientific discoveries. The Pythagoreans thought, therefore, that by working backwards from the numbers, they could discover all truth. When they combined this idea with their pantheistic belief that the Universe was God, they began to believe that they could get in touch with, and maybe even tap into, the universal power of God. This is magic; i.e., mathematical wizardry. From these theories came the occult power of Divination through Numerology. . . the power to know what we cannot know by ourselves, particularly about the future. Just as God, to the astrologers, is subject to the power of the stars, so to the Numerologists, God is subject to the powers of the Universe, and to the numbers in their structure. One is the symbol of the oneness and `universe'-ality of God. When it is divided into thirds, it produces values of .333 to infinity (<sup>o</sup>) and 666<sup>o</sup>, and 999<sup>o</sup>, numbers which have mystical meanings for the Numerologists to probe. When one is divided by seven it produces .142857142857<sup>o</sup>. The numbers produced by these calculations become the triangle and the diagram to indicate, I think, the direction for infinity. (1) Modern origins Historically the Enneagram was brought into this century by George Gurdjieff, an infamous sorcerer who died in 1949. He travelled to the Far East seeking every kind of occult experience, which he took to Moscow, and then to Paris. It was brought to the United States by Oscar Ichazo, who was born in Bolivia and baptized as a Catholic, but rejected his faith later on. He had experienced the occult at an early age, and claims to receive messages through New Age channelling from beings called Metatron, the prince of archangels, and Green Qu'Tub. Ichazo founded the Arica Institute in Chile, and, I believe, transferred it to Chicago. (2) He studied the occult and with the help of psychedelic drugs, practised the martial arts, Zen, shamanism, yoga, hypnotism. He also studied psychology, and in the 1960's he developed the nine personality types in the Enneagram, without a doubt having taken them from Numerology, which also has nine personality types nearly identical to those in the Enneagram. One of Ichazo's disciples, Claudio Narango, who also studied psychology, adapted the Ichazo personality types into psychological concepts similar to Freud's defence mechanisms, and took them with him to the Esalen Institute, a New Age centre in Big Sur, California. (3) That is probably where Father Ochs, S.J. learned it, while on sabbatical. It was Father Ochs who taught it to fellow Jesuits Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. and Fr. Patrick O'Leary, S.J., whose books are referenced in the notes. That is how it came into the Catholic church. Fr. Pacwa says that Ichazo has been ordered by his source not to reveal the name of the person or being who gave him the Enneagram. I heard Fr. Pacwa speculate in a taped talk, given since he wrote his book, that the Enneagram information was "channelled" to Ichazo. Supporters of the Enneagram Now channelling (seances) and Divination are both forbidden to Christians (See Deut. 18:10-12, & Catechism of Catholic Church #2116). A review of the practices of the Arica Institute, and review of a booklet by Dorothy Ranahan called A Closer Look at the Enneagram, shows its close relationship to the Sufi's beliefs and how enmeshed the Enneagram workshops are in these forbidden practices. When I put the arrows on the diagram and followed them, I was horrified to discover that this leads to personal destruction. Because the numbers in that direction never become whole numbers, but repeat to infinity, they symbolise eternal destruction. That is why the teachers of the Enneagram recommend that the participants in the workshops work in reverse order to the arrows! Several priests have defended the pagan and occult roots of the Enneagram by pointing out that the Church has in the past adapted pagan customs so that they became accepted Christian customs. I was twice given the example of Aristotle's teaching being adapted by St. Thomas Aquinas into his moral theology. But Aristotle was a good tree, and his work produced good fruit; the rotten parts Aquinas rejected. As for pagan practices--as distinct from pagan thought--I know of no moral or spiritual exercises whose contents were taken over by the Church. If there were such, they would have been radically remade. No scientific basis The developers of the Enneagram have produced many diagrams which show how it can be used to deal with various aspects of personality. For instance there is a diagram which shows what each personality type avoids; what each type takes the most pride in (8); what each type's compulsions are. (4) These are presented quite persuasively. However, Father Pacwa asserts that there has been no scientific work done to establish that these types and their assembled characteristics are actually authentic. (5) They may in fact be merely a reflection of the agenda of the person doing the psychological grouping, with the result that the characteristics are quite arbitrarily assigned to a type. I amused myself by making a couple of Enneagram diagrams to illustrate the personality traits of (a) golfers and (b) golf widows... Anti-Christian The spirituality of the Enneagram seems to be in stark contrast to Christian spirituality. * it leaves God out of the journey towards perfection, and therefore it is involved in the heresy of Pelagianism; (6) * it denies the necessity of redemption for our salvation; * it denies personal responsibility for sin, by calling it a compulsion; * it denies our free will; * and it denies original sin. I searched through the book The Enneagram, a search for self discovery, the book being used by the Catholic Retreat house nearest my home, and I could not find anywhere any program for repentance, or confession of sins, or references to sacraments, or the idea that sin was an offence against God, or the idea of asking forgiveness. The whole meaning of the Our Father is missing from the workshop. St. Paul says: "Without love I become a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal." (7) A Christian view Our journey to perfection is brought about by the gracious gift of God, by Jesus atoning for our sins by dying on the cross for them. "By His wounds you have been healed." (8) We are called to repent for our sins, to ask God to forgive us. The tax collector was justified when he beat his breast saying: "God be merciful to me, a sinner." (9) He didn't need to know his personality type. Christians need to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Jesus, to do what He did. In the gospels, Jesus urges us to forget about ourselves, to love God, to forgive and love our neighbour. Jesus wants us to relate to Him personally and to love one another, as He has loved us. The Enneagram causes us to concentrate on ourselves, which may lead us in the wrong direction, to caring for no one else, to self-indulgence, even to severe addictions. Most of the world has recognized in this century that severe addictions (compulsions) can only be overcome with divine assistance. They cannot be overcome by psychological techniques, enabling us to move from our `9ness' towards being more like a 6. We need to go to confession to receive forgiveness and the strength to amend our lives. We must recognize that we really are dependent on the One who said: "Apart from me you can do nothing," and "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be yours as well." (10) Our happiness can only come from living in the Kingdom where the Father's will is done, and trying to live the Beatitudes. Finally, I was most dismayed to learn that certain common practices can dispose a person to demonic possession They are Transcendental Meditation, spiritual seances (New Age Channelling), Ouija boards, and the Enneagram. (11) These are the things which cause me to suggest that Enneagram workshops can lead to our destruction. (1) Catholics and the New Age by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, page 113. (2) Larsons Book of Cults, #64 by Rev. Bob Larson. (3) Ibid, #67. (4) The Enneagram, by Sr. M. Beesing, Fr. R. Nogosek, Fr. P. O'Leary, pp. 10, 159, 135. (5) Ibid, page 117. (6) Christian Faith, Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church #1987/27/28. (7) 1 Cor: 13:1. (8) 1 Peter, 2:24. (9) Luke, 18:14. (10) John, 15:5, Matt 6:33. (11) Hostage to the Devil, by Fr. Malachi Martin, Introduction, page 21.