HOUTBAAIGEMEENTE: FROM HEAD TO HEART. A 6 Week Spiritual Journey through the Enneagram

Transcription

1 2014 HOUTBAAIGEMEENTE: FROM HEAD TO HEART A 6 Week Spiritual Journey through the Enneagram

2 Heartily welcome to this 6 week Spiritual growth course through the Enneagram. How the Symbol of the Enneagram works: We all are driven by a deep inner restlessness. This has been defined by the great wisdom teachers as spiritual suffering. Deeper insights into modern culture teach that unless we recognize this kind of suffering in ourselves, we would repeatedly stumble towards a life of death. In the tradition of Christian wisdom and discipleship we are taught that we need to die before we can live. Death and rebirth are the two spiritual pillars of the Christian Faith. We may feel this restlessness as a sense that something is missing in us, although it is usually difficult to define exactly what it is. We all have all sorts of different notions about what we think we need or want a better relationship, a better job, a better physique, a better car, etc. We believe that if we acquire that better or perfect it we will be satisfied and complete. But from experience we are taught that this new thing makes us feel better for only a short time. It never fulfils us in the way we thought it would. So what are we really looking for? If we reflect for a moment, we may realize that what our hearts yearn for is to know who we are and why we are here. But little in our culture encourages us to look for answers to these questions. We have really been taught that the quality of life will improve primarily if our external fortunes improve. I believe that many people today are looking for a new faith vision which will bring meaning and direction to their lives, an honest and authentic vision that is realistic and creates a safe and open minded space to explore these questions. Some of our major obstacles to our accepting and responding to the unconditional love of God come from our inherited false images of both God and ourselves. As a Bible reader for 30 years plus, I became fascinated by the range of aspects of the love of God which I presents here. Some years ago I became interested in the Enneagram which holds that we are made in the image of God, and that each one of us reflects one of the nine faces of God. These nine faces correspond in a very enlightening way with those I had found in the Bible. By acknowledging and examining our own experiences, and by reflecting upon them in the light of the Gospels, I seek to take you through this 6 week journey of faith towards intimacy and union with God, who according to John, the Evangelist, is Love. Outside Circle = God is One. The Source of Creation, Sustainer of Life. Inside triangle = God is Three. The Giver of Personal Love, Relationships and Life Purpose. Hexagram = Human beings are created in God s image (Creation Story = 6 days / 6 periods). In God s creation nothing is static but everything is moving and becoming something else, changing, recycling according to their own nature. And this gives us the image of an Enneagram:

3 When we put these three elements together (circle, triangle and the hexad), we get the Enneagram, a symbol with nine points. It works through what the Bible calls the Shalom (Peace of God) principle. God has reconciled everything in the cosmos through Jesus Christ. Through His Spirit, God lives, moves, breathes, sustains and speaks in our lives, creation and the cosmos. God has chosen human beings to be His dwelling place and lives through us. Through the Holy Spirit we awaken to His indwelling and receives God s grace and love. The nine types, is a way to remember their nine divine attributes as they are reflected in human nature. On the other hand though, these nine attributes has also been described as our nine deadly sins. These sins are the roots of our imbalances and the way we have become trapped in our ego fixations. While we have unlimited access to the love and grace of Jesus, one stumbling block in particular crops up over and over again. For instance Type Ones struggles with the sin of anger, repressing it and leading quiet lives of continual frustration and dissatisfaction with themselves and the world. They might have heard hidden childhood messages like it s not Ok to make mistakes, they fear being bad or corrupt, they desire to have integrity, but it deteriorates into critical perfectionism. They are lacking affection and views God as demanding, critical. But The same Ones might be missing and searching for that lost message and experience of you are good. The Holy Spirit guides Ones in this specific journey. They are searching for a God who affirms them and experience His love as forgiving and life giving. They need to see in the face of God One who have the fullness of life and accepts them where they are and does not simply judge them as either right or wrong. Through the Enneagram, Ones can be lead by the Holy Spirit, to a new understanding and experience of this life Giving God. So The Enneagram is not only a powerful way to make us aware of God s wake up calls that we have become trapped in our own stumbling blocks, but also a way to rediscover the call and invitation of Jesus to follow Him on the road of recovery, healing, love and shalom. Designed as a process of Spiritual growth This 6 week course have been designed to help you with many practical feautures on your way: You will discover: -What your life story is actually all about; -The beauty of being you and seeing others in a new way; -The difficulty of being you, your brokenness and understanding others in a new way; -The specific way that God s grace can break through to you by understanding where God is inviting you to right now; -The specific way that God shows up in each person I particular -How the love of God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit works through you to others.

4 Contents Week 1: This is the story of my life writing and understanding your own Autobiography Week 2: Discover your personality Type through the Enneagram Take The Enneagram Test Explaining your Type in Brief: Type 1: The Reformer Type 2: The Helper Type 3: The Achiever Type 4: The Individualist Type 5: The Investigator Type 6: The Loyalist Type 7: The Enthusiast Type 8: The Challenger Type 9: The Peacemaker Contents Week 5: The Presence: A Journey into the Face of God in you Why nine Faces? Face 1: Life Giving God Face 2: Affectionate God Face 3: Providence of God Face 4: Personal God Face 5: Wisdom of God Face 6: Faithfulness of God Face 7: Happiness of God Face 8: God as Lover and Lord Face 9: The Friendship of God Week 3: The Shadow: A Journey through your dark side Week 4: The Light: A Journey towards the invitation of God Week 6: The New Journey: 9 Spiritual Practises Weekend Away: Life and Love.

5 . Week 2: August Discover your Enneagram Type

6 Every human being is a unique essential or true self that cannot be reduced to a category or number. By getting to know yourself better through your own story, you have already created an access point towards understanding this true self. The Enneagram describes nine basic patterns through which people forms a personality or identity and as well as a social persona, to survive and compete and express themselves in this world. Ideally the personality is a way of expressing ourselves in an effective way. But problems arise when our personality starts to overshadow our true selves or covers it up or suppresses it. This results in our perspectives becoming stuck in life situations or we become rigid in our being with others or challenges. Week 2 Discover your Enneagram Type Intro The Enneagram describes the strong and weak points of each type as well as it s shadow sides or problems. It s focus is not to put you box, but wants to make you aware of the box that you unconsciously live in. The box you place yourself in is much bigger than any persona. It broadens your world by making you aware that the way you look at life, yourself and others, might not be the only way. One idea that forms the basis of the Enneagram is that human beings consists of two important aspects of themselves, that is: a true essential self and personality.

7 Week 2: Small group Discussion 1. Download the Enneagram questionnaire here and complete the entire test before the next small group meeting. Questions: Now, Share your Enneagram profiles with one another. What can you affirm about each person that is valuable? What did you find interesting? What else would you say that you find valuable in them? 2. Also Download the full description of your Enneagram here and read it through bring it along to your next small group meeting ding: 3. Watch this Video Link about the Enneagram Scripture Reading: Rom. 16:1-16 (as back ground