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7 years ago, I became interested in the enneagram. At the time I was depressed, and I had quit my job, and I was looking to understand myself psychologically in order to improve me mental state. I was untrusting of the mental health system and stigma of mental illness, and I wanted to manage my feelings myself. So I looked all around on the internet, I did various psychological quizzes, found out my personality type under the Briggs-Myers system. I also started reading up about enneagram types. A friend of mine was interested in the enneagram because her friend was going to enneagram 'classes' and was always talking about it. So I started looking in more depth at the personality types and trying to figure out my type.
My friend then invited me to come to some classes. I learned from the speaker that the enneagram was in fact religious in origin, unlike the Briggs-Myers system which is more scientific in nature. The group running the enneagram classes was hierachical in nature and the guy had people training under him. Each one was on an 'enneagram journey' and they volunteered a lot of their time in the organisation. The leader of the group had a few of the other group members out the front and he interviewed each one in order to exemplify the type that was being studied that day. It was all very intense. Afterwards we all socialised and discussed what types we thought we were. There were books on display which covered everything from working out your type, to enneagram in the workplace and even parenting based on enneagram type.
I started to become a bit obsessed about the enneagram and thoughts about the enneagram used to run through my mind. It became all I could talk about. I heard in the classes that each enneagram type was based on a particular sin, and that figuring out your type was in fact more to do with understanding your sinful nature. The enneagram was in fact a tool for 'conversion', and a tool for whichever group happened to be running it.
I then had a bizzare mental experience which I felt to be spiritual in nature, but friends and family were concerned. I broke off all contact then with the group. Things had gone just a bit too far.
I think had I been in a more resilient mental state that the group and the analysis would not have affected me so much. But be careful how you go.
My friend then invited me to come to some classes. I learned from the speaker that the enneagram was in fact religious in origin, unlike the Briggs-Myers system which is more scientific in nature. The group running the enneagram classes was hierachical in nature and the guy had people training under him. Each one was on an 'enneagram journey' and they volunteered a lot of their time in the organisation. The leader of the group had a few of the other group members out the front and he interviewed each one in order to exemplify the type that was being studied that day. It was all very intense. Afterwards we all socialised and discussed what types we thought we were. There were books on display which covered everything from working out your type, to enneagram in the workplace and even parenting based on enneagram type.
I started to become a bit obsessed about the enneagram and thoughts about the enneagram used to run through my mind. It became all I could talk about. I heard in the classes that each enneagram type was based on a particular sin, and that figuring out your type was in fact more to do with understanding your sinful nature. The enneagram was in fact a tool for 'conversion', and a tool for whichever group happened to be running it.
I then had a bizzare mental experience which I felt to be spiritual in nature, but friends and family were concerned. I broke off all contact then with the group. Things had gone just a bit too far.
I think had I been in a more resilient mental state that the group and the analysis would not have affected me so much. But be careful how you go.
