More Than One Path

I'm an Eight and have read "The 9 Ways of Working" and "The Wisdom of the Enneagram" very thoroughly. Could you give me a list of other books to read on personal growth? 

Rather than reading more about the Enneagram, I suggested this reader focus for a while on the path itself with Inner Knowing (edited by Helen Palmer) and Paths Beyond Ego (edited by Roger Walsh and Frances Vaughan). Both are collections of essays that speak to issues of all three Triadic centers (2-3-4, 5-6-7, 8-9-1). 

Riso and Hudson point out in The Wisdom of the Enneagram that the "Triads are important for transformational work because they specify where our chief imbalance lies... the principal ways in which we contract our awareness and limit ourselves." As an Eight, the reader above is a member of the Instinctive Triad, where transformational work for Eights, Nines, and Ones leads to "a profound sense of fullness, stability, and autonomy or independence." This is in contrast to a false sense of autonomy, setting ego boundaries in an attempt to affect the world without being affected by it. Eights, for example, "are constantly putting out energy so nothing can get too close and hurt them."  

But we all need to do the work of each triad, moving from ego-image to inner direction (2-3-4), from mental chatter to the presence of a quiet mind (5-6-7), and from boundary-setting to grounded connection with life (8-9-1). In other words, we need to open our hearts, quiet our minds, and surrender to the moment in order to come into connection with our Essence.

Essays in Inner Knowing include, "The Heart: Threshold Between Two Worlds," by Kabir Helminski, a Sufi teacher. True knowing is frequently confused by superficial levels of mind, and the Sufi, he writes, "approaches the Divine Reality through the heart." The human heart has the potential to reflect divine qualities, but is typically "veiled" from intuitive knowledge by "habitual thoughts and emotions" (we can substitute "Enneagram styles"). We "clear the mirror of the heart" by establishing rapport with Spirit. "Sufi wisdom offers cures for an ailing heart" through four stages: "The first three stages - minimizing our psychological distortions, overcoming the slavery of our attractions, and seeing beyond the veil of selfishness - prepare us for making our contact with the divine reality of Love." Below are Sufi cures:

• The remembrance of God (bringing light into the heart).

• Contemplating sacred traditions (including inspired art, literature, music).

• Keeping the stomach empty (because with "subtle and not so subtle addictions... we numb ourselves to the experience of heart").

• Vigil and prayer (meditation), reaching the "depths of concentration upon our own unconscious."

• Surrounding ourselves with "heart" people, who remind us of the divine within.

Another essay in Inner Knowing was written by Jean Shinoda Bolen on "Synchronistic Knowing: Understanding Meaningful Coincidence." Jung introduced the term "synchronicity" in 1930, defined by Bolen as "the link between two events that are connected through their meaning, a link that cannot be explained by cause and effect." Where causality "has to do with objective knowledge," synchronicity "has to do with subjective knowledge," an acausal coincidence between mental content and outer events, a dream that coincides with events taking place at a distance, and/or an image about something that later happens. We're strengthened in our "Thinking" center when we let go of having to figure everything out and accept a different kind of knowing.

An essay from Paths Beyond Ego that speaks particularly to being present is Charles Tart's "The Systems Approach to Consciousness."  According to Tart, our cultural filters cause us to ignore many of our potentials and to develop only a few of those we do perceive. By entering an altered state of consciousness we temporarily restructure consciousness. This doesn't require something weird or illegal, only that we find a way to disrupt our habitual responses so we can see things differently. Tart expands on this notion in Waking Up: Overcoming the Obstacles to Human Potential -- based on the teachings of Gurdjieff - where he devotes a section to practices "toward awakening." He writes, for example, that observing "the way in which you experience and use your body can be very helpful in developing body / instinctive intelligence. Take a day... to observe how you sit... On another day... try varying the way you sit very slightly... It is very important not to confuse self-observation with self-analysis, though. The latter is an intellectual activity that easily gets too abstract and may start to distort the facts... Self-observation is like data gathering in science .. to eventually figure out the forces and beliefs and attitudes shaping your experiences, as well as to appreciate them."

Finally, I recommend that anyone on the path of self-discovery find someone who supports you. There are many, like myself, who take the role of coach in this journey, but you may also find support in the loving presence of a friend: not to advise or criticize, but someone who truly listens and provides the mirror to your own heart, mind, and Soul. We can be healers for each other. Some excerpts from Healers on Healing:

• Rosalyn Bruyere - Healing arises out of compassion, which reflects a desire for the surcease of someone's sorrow, no matter the differences or similarities between healer and patient. The healer establishes a sacred space, or temenos.

• Ram Dass - Just as in a garden, we don't "grow" flowers; rather, we create the conditions for flowers to grow. We are healed into truth. In the ultimate depth of being, we find ourselves no longer separate but, rather, part of the unity of the universe. Therefore, all acts of healing are ultimately our selves healing our Self.

• Shakti Gawain - In order to heal themselves, people must recognize, first, they have an inner guidance deep within and, second, they can trust it.

• Louise Hay - Many problems come from self-rejection and self-hatred of one degree or another. I keep trying to show people how they're not loving themselves. Then I ask, "Are you willing to let that go?"

• Gerald Jampolsky - We strive to see only two emotions: love and fear. We choose to retrain our minds not to see the world or those in it as attacking; we choose to see others as either loving or fearful. When fearful, they're giving us a call of help for love.

• Don Hanlon Johnson - There's a healing power in simple presence. We're usually so occupied with our own business, chattering to ourselves, immured in our own pain and worries, we're incapable of simply being there with each other for more than a brief moment.

• Dolores Krieger - Over the years I've found two characteristics to be consistent in the committed healer: compassion and intentionality.

• Stephen Levine - Grace is our true nature; it's the source of healing we carry within us, the human divine within. Many techniques and therapies are useful, but nothing is as effective as daily meditation practice to deepen the well from which the thirst for healing may be slaked.

• Rachel Naomi Remen - Beyond techniques, what truly fosters the healing process is the way we stand in relationship to each other. If I know what suffering is, my woundedness allows me to be with you nonjudgmentally.

• Martin Rossman - The technique called "listening to your symptom" consists of focusing on a symptom, allowing an image to represent it, then engaging the image in dialogue to find out why the symptom is there, what it wants, and how you can meet the needs it represents.

• O. Carl Simonton - I try to work with the person's inner wisdom, to tap the "inner physician." I take the position that everything in the universe is trying to help us regain health and move in that direction. If you're tuned in you can do whatever presents itself at the time. Let joy be your compass heading. 

• John E. Upledger - The therapist must become an accurate reflecting mirror, a medium through which the patient's real self can be perceived more clearly. True healing goes deeper than symptoms; it involves getting clear about your real identity and purpose in life.

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