Revenge of the Heart

We continue our look at the Enneagram’s repressed centers of intelligence this week by returning to the Heart. Just as some are overdeveloped in the kind of relational and emotional intelligence of the Heart, some are underdeveloped. (These are enneagram Threes, Sevens, and Eights.) This repression of feelings has as much to do with sustaining personality as our dominant center. …

Return of the Body

This week, we began our look at repressed intelligence centers starting with the Body. (Fours, Fives, and Nines on the Enneagram.) The repressed center is the one that is repeatedly wounded, so that we quickly figure out it is not the one to get our needs met. When the Body is repressed, a person will tend to withdraw from the …

The Forgotten One

The last three weeks in Sunday School, we have talked about the three centers of intelligence, the three ways of knowing, presented in the framework of the Enneagram. Of the Body, Heart, and Head, one is dominant. This might sound good, like being strong in the Body makes us an athlete, strong in the Heart gives us good at relationships, …

The Head

The Body wants to be free; the Heart wants to be loved; and the Head wants to be secure. The Head is the source of security. At our best, it gives us a deep, inner knowing that allows us to trust ourselves. However, when the personality gets hold of the Head, our thinking becomes disordered and unproductive. We don’t trust …

The Heart

Just as the Body is the source of presence, the Heart is the source of identity. In the Heart space we ask the big questions of identity: Who am I? What is my value? Unfortunately, we do not believe that we can be loved or valued for ourselves, so our ego forms around the affirmation and attention of the world. …