I have been warned against enneagrams, that they are not solidly grounded in Christian orthodoxy and that there may be negative spiritual influences in them. As a charismatic Catholic, I tend to be careful with both of these possible concerns. So I have read this exercise, and I plan to be very careful in its application.
One thing that I appreciate about the retreat's approach is its insistence that we not try to pigeonhole ourselves into one center or type. As I read, I could look back over the arc of my life and see that I may previously have had a very different center and type from the one that I think most applies to me now. I can especially see the value of being aware of my current type from the standpoint of seeking the grace to grow out of my current areas of struggle and weakness.
That said, I can see that this sort of thing might tend to cause us to be too focused on ourselves and not enough on Jesus Christ. The retreat seems pretty Christocentric, though, so I'm hopeful it will avoid this trap moving forward. I do appreciate their inclusion of fear and deceit along with the traditional seven deadly sins; in my experience, these are often bigger drivers than we realize.
I am not going to share here what I see as my current center and type. They seem obvious to me, and I can see that they are now perhaps quite different from what they may have been at other points in my life. Perhaps readers who think they know me well (and who have time to read the lengthy exercise) might share in a comment what they see in me.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear . . . - Is 11, 1-3
Two things strike me about this passage, the first of two included in this step. The first is that it seems to put the enneagram - or any other analytic personality tool - in its proper perspective. Only the wisdom of the Spirit can provide a suitable lens for transforming the heart from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We tend to put too much value on our analysis; this tendency is an inherent component of our rationality. There is value in analysis, just not so much as we attribute to it.
I nearly forgot the second thing that struck me from this reading, as I was distracted in the middle of my writing by some other tasks I needed to attend to. After two additional times of reading through it, now I remember! I was struck again by our modern misunderstanding of what the fear of the Lord really is. At its best and most useful, it isn't a matter of being wary of divine karma, as one of Flip Wilson's characters proclaimed (and, later, George and Tammy sang) that "God's gonna get'cha for that!" One of my earliest posts was on this topic, actually. (It's hard to believe that I have been recording my thoughts here for nearly 8 years, and also that such an old post seems to stand the test of time.)
As truly provided by the Holy Spirit, the fear of the Lord is indeed a thing to be delighted in. Along with the other gifts from these verses, it is our guide into the life to which God calls us. I delight that God gives me something greater to direct my life than my worldly fears!
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