The number one resistance I encounter to the concept of being able to identify certain wounding and the personality traits that arise from that wounding, (that are defined by the Enneagrams) are the words: “I don’t want to be put in a box.” (This is particularly true of people who are type fours or who have four wings.)
So does the Enneagram box you in?
Whilst this may appear to be so from the outside, the point of the Enneagram is to help you understand the box you are already in, so that you can get out of it. In other words the intention is the opposite.
You are in a box or cage.
The way you view the world is skewed by your wounding, or to put it in the words of the biblical Paul: “We see but through a glass darkly.” The glass of our world is tinted with our experiences. Whilst we continue to see the world through this wounding tint it will always appear the same way. Simplistically put it in terms of colours, if our glasses are rose tinted, we will view the world optimistically. If blue, the world may appear a sadder place. These viewpoints then are our cages or boxes. Whilst fixated with our coloured tint, we cannot see the full clear spectrum of light but must remain stuck in our skewed vision.
Many of us are not even aware of the constraints of the boxes into which we have placed ourselves. Step one then on the Enneagram path is to recognise our boxes or personality types. Having understood and recognised them then, we are empowered to take the next step in our liberation from them. The habit of doing things a certain way, then becomes the healer.
So, rather than put you in a box, you’re able to free yourself from being in one!
