Enneagram Retreat again and Epiphany
“The good news is we have a God.. who remembers who we are, the person he knit together in our mother’s womb, and he wants to help restore us t our authentic selves.”–Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile in The Road Back to You ( IVP Books 2016), p. 23.
Our former rector at St. Mark’s, Danny Schieffler, once invited the staff to the retreat center for our diocese, Camp Mitchell, for a day to study the enneagram with Presbyterian minister and therapist, Rebecca Spooner. Usually, staff retreats are about planning sessions for the year or exercises, such as the Myers-Briggs personality inventory study, to see how we can relate to each other.
Knowing someone else’s enneagram number can be helpful, but the heart of the enneagram is about personal growth, how to learn about the mask we have developed for survival, and how to find our true self, the person God created us to be. So, our rector gave us a day away from our usual work during a busy liturgical season for our own personal enrichment. I wish I had done that when I worked in the medical field, to let those I was with know how much I cared about their personal growth. Let this remain an example for all of us.
This was my third enneagram study course. The well-known sin of my enneagram number is pride, and it was front and center when I heard about the retreat. Of course, I already knew all this. But to my amazement, I learned how much things came together and how much more I learned. This is my second lesson. Exposure to a spiritual tool such as the enneagram is more awakening each time we go through this process.
We spent a great deal of time on the enneagram during my spiritual direction study. More and more, I see why. This tool helps us know who we are, the mask we have developed that has become our persona, what the world thinks we are to make our way in the world. Rebecca reminded us of Richard Rohr’s famous definition of the enneagram, “the coat and hat we put on to weather the storm.” This persona has helped us survive, but we are now searching for our true self, the person God created us to be. Learning about our enneagram number can lead us to find our relationship with God that this mask we have developed has blocked.
The enneagram is not for everyone. Rebecca reminded us that it is only one tool in our spiritual toolbox. If it is helpful, stick with it. If it is not, there are so many other tools to connect us to God. But if we relate to it, there is more gold there than we can ever imagine.
This is an ancient tool that has been proven to be true over many centuries. Epiphany is a great season to learn more epiphanies about ourselves through the enneagram, especially if we study it with other spiritual friends.
Joanna. Joannaseibert.com
