About the Enneagram and the Nine Types

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The figure consists of a circle within which are two independent and overlapping figures: a triangle with three angles and a figure with six angles. Gurdjieff used the Enneagram as the basis for his esoteric teachings about the musical scale. Nothing is known about the history of the Enneagram. Gurdjieff said: "This symbol cannot be met with anywhere in the study of 'occultism,' either in books or in oral transmission. It was given such significance by those who knew, that they decided to keep the knowledge of it secret" (Ouspensky, p. 287).

In 1970, a Bolivian Occultist named Oscar Ichazo (1931-2020) gave a training in Arica, Chile to a group of mostly Americans in which he presented teachings about nine personality-essence types connected with the Enneagram. This was a teaching that was not known to, or shared by, Gurdjieff. Subsequently, in 1971, Ichazo founded the Arica Institute in New York City, in which many of Ichazo's esoteric teachings were taught, including about the Enneagram. Ichazo's names of the nine types were as follows: (1) over-perfectionist, (2) over-independent, (3) over-efficient, 9) over-reasoner, (5) over-observer, (6) over-adventurer, (7) over-idealist, (8) over-justice-maker, and (9) over-nonconformist.

Also in 1971, Claudio Naranjo MD (1932-2019), who learned knowledge of the Nine Types from Ichazo, started his own organization in Berkeley, California: "Seekers After Truth" (SAT). Using his skills and insights as a psychiatrist, he developed the first detailed descriptions of the nine types that remain the basis for descriptions up to the present day.

As for the origin of the Enneagram and the Nine Types, there is abundant evidence that these have been secret esoteric teachings of European schools of Occultism. I have shown how Gurdjieff and Ichazo were masters of Occultism and not Sufism, which is Islamic mysticism with similarities to Christian and Jewish (non-Kabbalistic) religious mysticism. Claims that these teachings were "esoteric Christianity" (Gurdjieff) or "esoteric Sufism" (Ichazo) are typical ways that secret societies hide and disguise themselves while continuing to have an external impact. My view, however, is that these are not the "property" of the esoteric traditions; rather, this knowledge belongs to all of humanity. The knowldge of the Nine Types is so valuable that it need not be shunned by people of religious faith because it is "tainted" by association with Occultism. The Enneagram is a universal symbol and the Nine Types are objective human categories. I have shown that if this knowledge were somehow to become forgotten, it would always be potentially re-discoverable by highly perceptive individuals. I strongly believe that knowledge of the Nine Types of the Enneagram may be of great benefit to individuals on any spiritual path.

_{Last updated 6/21}