The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge QUOTES

1 " Social Nines can look like Type Threes because they work very hard and accomplish a lot without showing the stress of it. But they differ from Threes in that they are much more reluctant to be in the spotlight and they don’t support the group to create an image or to win admiration from others. They may also be mistaken for Twos because they are active in meeting the needs of others, but they have much less need for approval and appreciation than Twos, and are generally more emotionally steady. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

2 " Social Eights are more loyal, more overtly friendly, and less aggressive. They are helpful Eights—people who are nurturing, protective, and concerned with the injustices that happen to people. Male Social Eights can look like Type Nines, and female Social Eights may resemble Type Twos. However, these Eights can be distinguished from Nines and Twos because they act in more direct, powerful ways, engage more readily in conflict, and express more power and control in seeking to protect and support other people. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

3 " Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In the space there is the power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. —Victor Frankl "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

4 " specifically and the perennial philosophy generally. Before we do the conscious work of self-development, we are the seeds of what we may become. To transform from our “acorn-self” into our “oak tree–Self,” we must traverse our underground territory—allow our defenses to crack open and break down—and consciously integrate our disowned feelings, blind spots, and Shadow traits so that we can shake off the limiting outer shell of our personality and grow into all that we are meant to be. Nature brings us part of the way, but to fully manifest our potential, we need to make conscious efforts to grow—and the Enneagram can guide us in this transformation. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

5 " The Shadow represents everything we refuse to acknowledge about ourselves that nonetheless impacts the way we behave. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

6 " Being blind to parts of ourselves means that there is often a difference between the person we think we are—or the person we would like to see ourselves as—and who we really are as we walk through the world. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

7 " One of our deepest unconscious patterns is the false belief that we already know ourselves well enough to understand why we think, feel, and act the way we do. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

8 " We don’t always understand what we don’t understand and we are limited to the degree that we don’t recognize our limitations. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

9 " This “waking sleep” is also the starting point for the crucial process of waking up. The ability to wake up is not only possible, but also an inherent part of being human. We fall asleep as we come into this world and acquire a personality, but the potential for conscious growth and transformation is part of our makeup. In fact, many ancient wisdom traditions say that this task of waking up to become aware of who we are represents the purpose of human life on earth. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

10 " I will argue that, in fact, we don’t; and that thinking we do know who we are is part of the problem. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

11 " My roommate in graduate school once observed that I never got angry. I was surprised by this at first, but then I realized it was true. To serve my main life strategy of getting along with others and avoiding any kind of problem in relationships, I had lost touch with the natural flow of my emotions and the ability to know what I needed and wanted. And, for a long time, I didn’t even know this was happening. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

12 " Once upon a time, in a not-so-far-away land, there was a kingdom of acorns, nestled at the foot of a grand old oak tree. Since the citizens of this kingdom were modern, fully Westernized acorns, they went about their business with purposeful energy; and since they were midlife, baby-boomer acorns, they engaged in a lot of self-help courses. There were seminars called “Getting All You Can out of Your Shell.” There were woundedness and recovery groups for acorns who had been bruised in their original fall from the tree. There were spas for oiling and polishing those shells and various acornopathic therapies to enhance longevity and well-being. One day in the midst of this kingdom there suddenly appeared a knotty little stranger, apparently dropped “out of the blue” by a passing bird. He was capless and dirty, making an immediate negative impression on his fellow acorns. And crouched beneath the oak tree, he stammered out a wild tale. Pointing upward at the tree, he said, “We… are… that!” Delusional thinking, obviously, the other acorns concluded, but one of them continued to engage him in conversation: “So tell us, how would we become that tree?” “Well,” he said, pointing downward, “it has something to do with going into the ground …and cracking open the shell.” “Insane,” they responded. “Totally morbid! Why, then we wouldn’t be acorns anymore.” 3 "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

13 " When I was thirty, I discovered the work of Ken Wilber and found myself ease into a sense of clarity and peace because everything finally "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

14 " how we can transform ourselves to manifest our highest possibilities. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

15 " you are more than just your personality—the personality that you and others associate with your “self” is only part of who you are. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

16 " Author Cynthia Bourgeault presents an instructive parable in her book The Wisdom Way of Knowing that captures the essence of what this ancient knowledge tradition says to us about us: Once upon a time, in a not-so-far-away land, there was a kingdom of acorns, nestled at the foot of a grand old oak tree. Since the citizens of this kingdom were modern, "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

17 " fully Westernized acorns, they went about their business with purposeful energy; and since they were midlife, baby-boomer acorns, they engaged in a lot of self-help courses. There were seminars called “Getting All You Can out of Your Shell.” There were woundedness and recovery groups for acorns who had been bruised in their original fall from the tree. There were spas for oiling and polishing those shells and various acornopathic therapies to enhance longevity and well-being. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

18 " Developing our “true” self requires us to know, accept, and integrate all parts of our selves, including our Shadow elements. "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

19 " fully Westernized acorns, they went about their business with purposeful energy; and since they were midlife, baby-boomer acorns, they engaged in a lot of self-help courses. There were seminars called “Getting All You Can out of Your Shell.” There were woundedness and recovery groups for acorns who had been bruised in their original fall from the tree. There were spas for oiling and polishing those shells and various acornopathic therapies to enhance longevity and well-being. One day in the midst of this kingdom there suddenly appeared a knotty little stranger, apparently dropped “out of the blue” by a passing bird. He was capless and dirty, making an immediate negative impression on his fellow acorns. And crouched beneath the oak tree, he stammered out a wild tale. Pointing upward at the tree, he said, “We…are…that!” "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

20 " Delusional thinking, obviously, the other acorns concluded, but one of them continued to engage him in conversation: “So tell us, how would we become that tree?” “Well,” he said, pointing downward, “it has something to do with going into the ground …and cracking open the shell.” “Insane,” they responded. “Totally morbid! Why, then we wouldn’t be acorns anymore.”3 This “acornology” story spells out our human situation according to the wisdom tradition behind the Enneagram "

― , The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge