HBLU Explanation of the Enneagram Operating System. Judith A. Swack, Copyright 2003

Transcription

1 HBLU Explanation of the Enneagram Operating System. Judith A. Swack, Copyright 2003 Many people have wondered how we acquire our enneagram personality. Some authors speculate that an event in utero or during early childhood sets our type. Using the Essence Process as a research tool to interview and study enneagram personality structure, I discovered that the compulsions, wounded sense of ego identity, and distorted world views were practically identical for people of the same enneatype regardless of their life histories. I also found that in several sets of identical twins, each twin had a different enneagram type. These findings suggested that the enneagram personality structure is set prior to birth and is not genetically determined. Interestingly, the negative emotions, limiting beliefs, rationalizations, and avoidance mechanisms found in the enneagram layers closely resembled the standard reactions that people imprint during loss or violence trauma. In discussing these findings with my collaborator and enneagram teacher, Andy Hahn, we concluded that a catastrophic trauma, or wound, sets each person's enneagram type. We hypothesized that this trauma occurred at embodiment, meaning the process by which the soul enters the physical body sometime around conception. This rapid transition in vibrational energy state is so extreme it is like matter going from a gas to solid state without passing liquid. Every embodied human being experiences this transition as a traumatic shock meaning that the reaction to it is exaggeratedly emotional and irrational. The transition trauma codes like a loss trauma and is experienced by everyone in relatively the same way with slightly different wording and emphasis on different layers of the trauma structure unique to each of the 9 points. 1,2 What is the function of an ego? I believe that our soul is embodied in the material world in order to do our soul mission, i.e. make a contribution to the planet, and experience the fullness of life. In order to function on the material plane, we have to be material ourselves. In order to live in the world and be productive (soul throughput ), we need to be equipped with a material body with a sensory system to take in information and act (hardware), a conscious and unconscious minds (software) with certain gifts and skills to process information and make sense of things an ego structure (operating system) that holds a sense of identity and a world view to coordinate the high vibrational soul energy/consciousness with all the functionalities of living in a body. Using a computer analogy, let s say that the higher mind wants to make a contribution to the world in the form of a written document. If the printer is broken, you can get around it by e- mailing the document to another computer and printing there. If the hard drive crashes, however, the higher mind must put in a lot of effort to recreate the document on another computer. If the software has a bug in it, let s say your word processing program doesn t make tables easily, you can always use a different program to make the tables. It is a minor inconvenience. If the operating system has a bug in it such that the mouse doesn t work, the hard drive loses data, or you can t pull up a software program it is a major inconvenience. Bugs in the operating system/ego structure are much more aggravating than bugs in the software. Why do we have different operating systems available for our computers? Some operating systems function better for some applications than do other operating systems. Artists and designers prefer Macintosh operating systems. Engineers prefer Unix. Home and office 1

2 users use Windows. In the same way, we have nine different enneatypes; each type has its strengths and weaknesses. Combining these areas of excellence produces a synergistic effect that benefits all humanity. On an individual basis, however, we don t get to appreciate our gifts because they are compensating strategies to prove a negative identity wrong. How are bugs in the enneagram structure coded? Companies such as Microsoft write an operating system by assigning computer programmers to different departments to write the system code for different functions in the operating system. One department writes the printer drivers. Another department writes the hard drive functions, another writes the user interface, another writes the mouse and keyboard functions, etc. When they are finished, they merge the code into a total operating system and hope that one section of code doesn t break another section of code. They test the operating system and fix any bugs that prevent the system from working properly. Basic structure of one layer of the Enneagram wound. Central I.D. Compensating Energy Negative I m the only truth about you, everybody else, the universe and God (and you are the only person who this is true about). Ha, ha, ha, anything you do to prove me wrong is nothing but a fraud and a sham, because (see above) I m the only truth. Positive It is my job to prove the negative ID is wrong and to hide it or get rid of it. Strategies for doing the job: Arrogances Using other people Avoidance mechanism Justification Miscellaneous Worst Fear: I can t prevail % of the time, and therefore the (negative) Central ID is right, it is the only truth. 2

3 I estimate that we all have 81 layers of buggy code in our operating systems. I arbitrarily multiplied 9 X 9 = 81. When I find my 82 nd layer I ll revise my estimate. Each layer of buggy code is comprised of a minimum of two energies (often in two different locations in your body) that are polarized extremes and the flip side of the same coin. One energy says it is your ego identity (negative or central ID), and it is completely negative. Not only is the negative ID extreme, it says, I m the only truth about you, everybody else, the universe and God (and you are the only person who this is true about). For example, one layer of the enneagram 1 wound says, I m bad. I m worse than Satan. I think we d all kill ourselves if we walked around with layer after layer of naked negative identities. So, at the same time that the negative identity is issued, the compensating energy (CE) (also known as the overcompensation) is issued (i.e. the standard issue compensating energy). The compensating energy feels that, it is my job to prove the negative ID is wrong and to hide it or get rid of it. It attempts to do this using four types of strategies: Arrogances Use other people Avoidance mechanisms Miscellaneous. Arrogances are polarized equal and opposite qualities to the negative ID. The minimum extreme for an arrogance is, I am better at X than everyone else in the universe. The next level of extreme is, I am equal to God in quality X. The maximum and most common form of extreme is, I am better in quality X than God. In the enneagram 1 I m bad layer, the compensating energy says, I m good. I m gooder than God. The universe would be a much nicer place if I had created it. The use other people strategies include using reality examples to build a case or asking other people to do for you what you are not good at. In the enneagram 1 I m bad example, the use other people strategy might be, I m nice to everyone and everyone tells me how nice I am; you (central ID) must be wrong. Avoidance mechanisms include avoidance, denial, confusion, distraction, going to sleep, etc. Miscellaneous strategies may be common to a particular compensating energy, or may be idiosyncratic to the individual. Each layer has a story comprised of polarized extremes with no in between. When you interview the compensating energy it will tell you that its worst fear is that it cannot prevail % of the time, and therefore the (negative) Central ID is right; it is the only truth. Meanwhile the central ID says to the CE, ha, ha, ha. Anything you do to prove me wrong is nothing but a fraud and a sham, because (see above) I m the only truth. Thus, each layer has two polarized energies that weave together through the same rigid story while struggling mightily against each other. In some layers there may be two or more compensating energies all struggling to hide the central ID. No matter how you struggle, you can t win in the wound. What is the energetic composition of each layer? Each section of each layer is composed of fear and shame with (depending on the layer) hopelessness, despair, anger, grief, regret, or emptiness thrown in for flavor. The central ID is so 3

4 emotionally charged that it s like an active volcano, too hot to approach. The compensating energy s job is to keep the ID deeply hidden away from the conscious mind, thus maintaining some kind of dynamic equilibrium (think of a pan balance). Although no amount of life experience changes the wound structure or story, life experience can influence how badly you polarize into and experience the central ID. In the best of all possible worlds, we wouldn t be born with these wounds. In the next best of all possible worlds, we d grow up in families that understood our enneagram structures and helped us to compensate so that we d be bothered very little by the central ID. In reality, many families bash on the negative identities thus tilting the balance and throwing us into the volcano. I call this enneagram abuse. In fact, if life experience polarizes us so severely into the central ID that the standard issue compensating energies cannot maintain the equilibrium, we will craft and insert additional compensating energies in the form of illness and addiction identities. This is why chronic illnesses and addictions are so difficult to get rid of behaviorally. People mistakenly think the illnesses and addictions are the problem when in fact they were created to be the solution to a bigger problem. The energy efficiency problem. Notice that each layer of the enneagram wound contains a tremendous amount of energy. While we are inside these stories they feel absolutely real and true. It s absurd, however to have different layers of woundedness with different stories each claiming to be the only truth. Also, in what way does it serve your ability to manifest your soul mission when your ego structure says, for example, you have no purpose (9 s), you re invisible (2 s), you re stupid/mentally incompetent (all types), and you re not safe in this world (all types), or you re nasty (5-7 s). If you walked up to a soul that was radiating golden light, vibrating warmth, and humming and asked it if it was invisible it would make no sense whatsoever. Soul: If I m invisible, then who are you talking to? Furthermore, at any given point in time, for a layer with two sections, you can only use 50% of the energy because you can only be in one side or the other (since there is no in-between). This is a waste of the energy. What is the solution? The solution is to upgrade the bug in the operating system to bring a particular function on line and to harvest 100% of the energy so that it can all be used in the service of the soul. We can do this with the Essence Process. When you find that a layer of your enneagram wound is interfering on the goal, you stretch into your soul space/soul perspective/highest consciousness. From this point of view and with a neutral or compassionate attitude, you interview the central ID and the compensating energies to get the story and emotions while holding both sides with grace. When the layer has shared with you everything it wanted you to know, you may peel out the energies, as well as all the life experience damage from this lifetime, past lives and ancestry that contributed to this story, and put them on the floor in front of you. Describe what the layer looks like in its current configuration (usually an unpleasant color/often slimy). Notice that although the layer claimed to be universal truth, the real universe extends out to infinity in all directions and contains a variety of forms of matter and energy including this one. Then you radiate your soul energy right through the wound material and out to infinity in all directions. As your soul energy passes through the wound material, it raises it to a higher vibrational speed. The wound energy is released and transformed into a unified flowing energy. (I think of this 4

5 process as taking two ice cubes and microwaving them. They start out as dense solids and transform into a single gaseous flowing energy, 100% of which can be used for work i.e. steam power.) As you continue expanding your soul energy to infinity you reabsorb all of the transformed energy in the service of your soul. Interestingly, this energy has an intelligence of its own and secretly did not want to be trapped in a rigid story. Once it transforms, it decides where it will go in your body and what it will do for you now that it is free. You can interview the transformed energy and find out what its greatest hope is for you now that it is freed. In addition, you get to keep the gifts of that layer, i.e. generosity, ability to love, intelligence and wisdom. The difference is that now you do these things from choice rather than compulsion, so you actually get to enjoy your own gifts and contributions. I think of harvesting wound energy as striking oil. When you first discover it and pump it from the ground it is toxic, polluting, carcinogenic, and smells disgusting. When you add energy to it in the form of heat, chemical, mechanical, and thought - oil transforms into thousands of useful products that look very different from each other. The photons coming from the light, nylons, and gasoline all came from oil, but have very different properties. In the same way, it s a mystery as to what the transformed energy will become and it s always fun to interview it once it is freed. The more layers you transform, the more energy you harvest, and the easier and more satisfying life becomes. It s like developing soul muscle. As you transform the wound you move not to another enneagram type but to the center of the circle where you experience the gifts of each type and the high side of the human condition. 5