Ignatian Spirituality and the Enneagram

A new friend lent me Richard Rohr's book on the Enneagram this week after a conversation about our personality types. We laughed about how sadly "right" our types reflected our areas of struggle - as the Enneagram does so well. At times it feels as though it pierces though the center of you, laying nearly all bare.

Familiar with the Enneagram I didn't expect to learn too much more about the spiritual personality tool, but I was excited to read on it from a Christian perspective, since my introduction to it was largely of the Riso-Hudson variety. How surprised I was. Particularly in the introductory section on the three centers (head, heart, and gut), Rohr and his co-author Andreas Ebert provide a beautifully simple but clear explanation of how these categories for the nine personality types function in general.

As I read about my own center (the head, as I'm a 6...like it or not) I was struck by the words the authors share about how 5's, 6's, and 7's often access God through Jesus, "in whom God revealed himself and became visible" (39). They go on to say,

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Concrete forms of meditation (e.g., looking at pictures), in which they can pick something up, also appeal to these people.

As it pertains to us and what we do (and myself as a 6, and in this category), I found it interesting how seeing God in Jesus, by handling and seeing God through our senses, is rich in Ignatian spirituality. Psalm 34:8 came to mind as I considered these things, that we all are called to "Taste and see that the Lord is good; [and] blessed is the one who takes refuge in him."

If you're interested in taking an short Enneagram assessment you can find one for free here.

How do you "taste and see" God's goodness?