Peter O'Hanrahan

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The Enneagram & Political Conflict
Peter O'Hanrahan - Nov. 6, 2001
From the newsletter of the International Enneagram Association (IEA)

Can the Enneagram help us respond to the recent violence and conflict? Can it help to promote dialogue and evoke our higher capacities and intelligence? Or is the Enneagram simply a useful tool for inner work? Personally, I believe that we can harness the power of the system to address the current situation, and I suspect I am in good company.

One potential application of the Enneagram quickly comes to mind - the CIA and other intelligence agencies could use it to sharpen their psychological profiles of opponents. Is Bin Laden an Eight, a Six, a Five? That knowledge would likely be helpful in predicting his future behavior. What about other leaders, many of whom we may want as allies? This is a very focused application of the system, and perhaps a controversial one.

In a much broader application the Enneagram may help us find common ground among the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian religious communities. Certainly that was the conclusion of Ramon Lull, the 13th century Franciscan on the island of Majorca who "published" the first version of the Enneagram symbol plus material about the nine vices and virtues in his "Ars Magna." Coming after several centuries of Christian/Muslim warfare (the Crusades) and Christian on Christian violence such as the massacres of the Cathars (the Albigensian heresy) in the south of France, Lull took the bold step of integrating material from the Sufis and the Cabalists with Christian theology. His conclusion was that the nine principles which govern the universe can be known as the nine "Dignities of God." (see "The Harmonious Circle" by James Webb, Putnam, 1980).

Gurdjieff himself no doubt got his Enneagram from similar sources as Lull, or from Lull's philosophical descendents. Gurdjieff also sought to integrate material from the three great monotheistic religions, plus he worked for a while as an intelligence agent (for the Russians). However, most of us are not part of the intelligence community nor active in inter-faith dialogues; we need a more immediate application of the Enneagram. Fortunately, there is one close at hand.

In an Enneagram study group which I lead in the Bay Area, we recently had a fascinating and frustrating discussion about the 9/11 attack and the "right" response. The Nines, true to their peacemaker label, earnestly proposed (with one exception) that everyone join together in a peaceful response. They affirmed that we could resolve the dispute through understanding and dialogue. In contrast, two of our counter-phobic Sixes were fierce in their pro-war feelings while yet another CP Six was just as passionate in asserting a non-violent position.

We quickly realized that our work together was not to agree on a political position, but rather to find our own point biases in our responses. How is our view clouded by our type? What are our automatic reactions, our habits of emotion? How can we see the truth in another's position even if we don't agree?

On my end I found that my immediate reaction was a strong impulse for revenge. No surprise there, I'm an Eight! However I know enough about that part of my character to realize it's not really what I believe in, and not how I want to act in the world. (Although I can well understand the revenge cycle and how it makes sense to people in many parts of the world). Right underneath this I ran into my strong belief about meeting force with counterforce. In talking to the CP Sixes who had similar "strike back" feelings, we found that we had all experienced physical violence directed toward ourselves early in life. Each of us had been on the receiving end of relentless cruelty that seemed immune to pleas for fairness, kindness, etc. If my experience in life is that people will only stop beating me when I fight back, then becoming a fighter makes compelling sense. Of course peace is good and it's too bad when fighting is necessary, but there are people in the world who have to be opposed at all costs. Those peaceniks just don't get it!

Am I right, or am I just being righteous? Am I locked into my position because of my life experience, or might it be possible to shift to another point of view? The Enneagram challenges me to ask these kind of questions. I know there's truth in my point of view. I also know, after 23 years of Enneagram work, that there is truth in those other points of view. And it seems that people who are willing to admit to their "point bias" are much better communicators. Certainly I feel much safer, more trusting, and more respectful of people who are willing to examine their own personality and character structure. This isn't new of course. It's what we have all learned about the value of the Enneagram in relationships of all kinds.

From my life as an Eight I feel I have something to contribute about why people resort to violence (and the particular kind of intelligence that Eights bring to war). I get that there is more than one solution, and we need all points of view. I just want to be assured that my peace-loving friends understand that aggression is hard wired into our species, and that they have looked at their own aggression (even if it's less than mine). It's important to remember that for all our good ideas and intentions, when things get tough, most people resort to pre-programmed instinctual behavior.

For most of us the question is not how to be pacifists but what is the appropriate role for violence? How can we minimize it? How do we avoid getting caught in the cycle of revenge that is so prevalent in places characterized by a harsh climate, poverty, and perceived social injustice? What can we learn from leaders such as Nelson Mandela, who after decades of imprisonment was able to forego revenge on the society which was responsible for his suffering and his people's suffering? (Mandela was part of a revolutionary movement with a military wing, and his organization was branded terrorist by the US Government). What can we learn from the Dalai Lama, or for that matter from the warriors of World War II?

Toynbee said that empires are eventually undone, subverted, or taken over by the new forces and peoples at the periphery, those outside the system. In rough parallel, we may find that inside us our fixations eventually give way to pressure from the edge, the thoughts and feelings that we try to avoid and put outside us. By putting our avoidance patterns squarely in front of us, the Enneagram enables us to face this shadow part. Ones can acknowledge their irrational anger, Threes may face up to their failures, Sixes are brave enough to handle uncertainty and rejection, Eights learn to embrace vulnerability, and Nines, even though they teach us all about harmony, accept conflict as a dynamic presence in life.

The Enneagram provides us with a map for how to cooperate as much as we can, even with our different points of view. However, since the value of self awareness tends to run dry without both support and practice, we might look at what we need to put our Enneagram knowledge into action. For myself, I will try to talk it all over regularly with friends and colleagues, and perhaps I can get back to doing Tai Chi as a way to practice both asserting and yielding. Meanwhile, I feel strongly that all of us make a contribution to a better, more peaceful world when we put the Enneagram to work in our relationships and communities.