Recap of the January 7th Spirit of the Enneagram Class

For those of you who were there, or who wished you could be there, here is what happened at the January 7th Spirit of the Enneagram class:


First, we introduced ourselves and chatted a little about our previous experience (if any) with the Enneagram. While some folks were old hands, most were relatively new to the system. A lot of people did have experience with the MBTI, though, so we talked a bit about how the two systems differ. I issued my usual dire warnings about how you probably won't be able to determine your Enneagram type by taking a quiz.
Our historian, Mary Beth, went over the events leading to the e-gram as we know it. Click here for a history lesson. Then, I talked about the meaning of the e-gram symbol itself, quite apart from its application to personality. A version of that information (plus a little recap of Star Wars) can be found here.
Next, we did a little self-reflection exercise. Participants were asked to write on the following topic:


Describe a person you know or know of who is very different from you. This person could be a friend, family member, or coworker, or even a character you have read about in a book. Explain how this person is different from you and what you think led to those differences.


We self-reflected for as long as we could stand it, which turned out to be about 20 minutes.
Being unable to put off an actual discussion of personality psychology any longer, we briefly introduced the types by talking about their characteristic sins and virtues. Highlights included Mary Beth's discussion of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a type 3, and David's characterization of type 9 as a "chair warmer."
We assigned the following homework:


Make some attempt to determine your Enneagram type, or to at least narrow it down to a couple of possibilities. Mary Beth's advice on how to go about doing so can be found here.


This lesson corresponded primarily to pages 7 - 26 in The Wisdom of the Enneagram, and we do recommend that you get the book.