the Map

Find the direction you seek

Here’s the beautiful thing about the Enneagram.. which sets it apart from many other personality typing systems (Myers-Briggs, Four Temperaments, DISC, Houses of Hogwarts, etc.): it is a map. 

The Enneagram doesn’t simply tell you what you are and leave it at that. Instead, it’ll show you specific steps you can take to break unwanted patterns, experience the world with new perspective, and become a more wholly integrated you. How to get from a to b.


Much of Enneagram work revolves around achieving balance and our ability to incorporate all nine Enneagram perspectives. 


There are two basic ways to grow with the Enneagram: 


1) focus on the Enneagram types which you access the most - break patterns where needed - and

2) focus on Enneagram types at the lines of release & stretch, and those which you access the least - create new, beneficial patterns.


An Enneagram specialist can help you read the map and navigate it.

Paths of the Enneagram - Stress, Release, & Stretch

Has there been a time this week or last when you felt your buttons were pushed? 

Do you ever feel an emotional shift when the person in front of you in the grocery store line takes a whole ten minutes going through coupons and then gets rung up wrong, all while you’re already late to an important appointment? And then what if you get a flat tire on your way there?

How do you manage the stress? Keep reading...

Line of Stress

Moments like these have the potential to throw us into a state of stress. We might even be in a continual state of stress without being fully aware of it. 

When we are in stress, we might move along what is called the line of stress and start taking on some of the unfavorable qualities - the "low side" - of another number that is not our own Enneagram type! 

Now, moving in this direction is not always entirely bad. In fact, it is considered by some Enneagram experts to be a form of self care. 

BUT, what if we were able to handle bumps in the road with more ease? What if we could open a wholly different "tool box"?

...



the Map

Line of Release

When we make a conscious choice to free ourselves from the constraints of our personality, we move along the line of release. Here, we take on the favorable characteristics - called "the high side" - of a different Enneagram type!  

Hence, although our core number stays the same, we don’t stay stagnant in just one number of the Enneagram. There is movement.

The first step is self-awareness and catching yourself in the act, especially when you are under stress. 

With increased self-awareness and a bit of work, you will naturally move along the line of release, and experience increased psychological and spiritual freedom and health.


the Map

Line of Stretch

Don't stop there! Keep moving in a positive direction on the Enneagram...

After moving along the line of release, it is easier to access the favorable qualities - or "high side" - of yet another number! We do this by moving along the line of stretch.

As you release yourself from unwanted patterns, you will find it easier to access the favorable qualities of all of the Enneagram types.

While moving freely amongst the "high side" that is the essential nature of your own beautiful Being, you will experience the strengths of the Enneagram types: integrity, love, value, authenticity, competency, security, joy, strength, peace, etc., especially those of your leading Enneagram types.


the Map

Other names for Line of Stress:

Stress Point, Direction of Stress, Stress Line, Line of Disintegration

Other names for Line of Release:

Security Point, Growth Line, Line of Integration

Spark Ideas and Solve Dilemmas: 

move along the line of release first, then the line of stretch

Relating PQ "Saboteur" and "Sage" to the Enneagram Lines

Shirzad Chamine, founder of the Positive Intelligence (PQ) program, developed the terms "Saboteur" and "Sage" to explain aspects of self-sabotage and the forward shift to a positive, healthier mindset. https://www.positiveintelligence.com 

The lines of stress, release, and stretch represent shifts that occur within the Enneagram construct. My insights into how these shifts occur in terms of "Saboteur" and "Sage" are listed below.

Line of Stress:

Saboteur to Saboteur

(a stress response; shifting from the Saboteur of an Enneagram type to the Saboteur of another Enneagram type)

Line of Release:

Saboteur to Sage

(release from the Saboteur of an Enneagram type to access Sage qualities of another Enneagram type)

Line of Stretch:

Sage to Sage

(shift from the Sage qualities of an Enneagram type to add more Sage qualities of another Enneagram type)

Gurdjieff and the Cosmic Laws

In the 1920's, a man named George Ivanovich Gurdjieff developed what he called the Law of 7 and the Law of 3. Gurdjieff linked these "laws" to the visual symbol that we now know as the Enneagram map. 

In Gurdjieff's time, the Enneagram was purely a symbol. The symbol was later - in the 1960's - connected to the nine personality types by Oscar Ischazo. The Enneagram was further promoted as a system of personality types in the 1970's by Claudio Naranjo. 

The Law of 7

Gurdjieff stated that the patterns of the universe - in nature and in our lives - occur in a non-linear fashion; they occur in an up and down and back and forth manner, and then repeat. There is constant movement and constant transformation, but they do not occur in a straight line.

If you divide 1 by 7, you will see that the digits of the quotient (.142857 repeating) are connected by the outer lines of the Enneagram. Follow this line pattern with your eye and you will see an up-and-down-and-back-and-forth pattern which deviates from a straight line at particular intervals. 

The order of these digits shows the direction of stress. (1 moves along the line of stress to 4, 4 along the line of stress to 2, and so forth.)

The order of numbers can also be seen as the direction of stretch. (1 moves along the line of stretch to 4, 4 along the line of stretch to 2, and so forth.)

1 ÷ 7 = . 1 4 2 8 5 7 1 4 ...


The Law of 3

Gurdjieff's second cosmic law is the Law of 3. He stated that there are three types of forces in the universe: active, passive, and neutralising. He further explained these forces as affirming, denying, and reconciling.

An affirming force manifests as an impulse to achieve something. A denying force is the counteracting force, manifesting as resistance to the first impulse. The reconciling force occurs as a combination and compromise of the first two forces, in which a result is achieved.

The Law of 3 is represented as the inner triangle at the center of the Enneagram symbol, linking numbers 3, 6, and 9.

Mathematically, the numbers 3, 6, and 9 are found to repeat when we continually add 3. 

The order of these digits shows the direction of release. (3 moves along the line of release to 6, 6 along the line of release to 9, and 9 along the line of release to 3.)

  3 6 9 3 6 9 3 ...




0+3 = 3

3+3 = 6

6+3 = 9

9+3 =12 (1+2 =3)

12+3 =15 (1+5 = 6) 

15+3 =18 (1+8=9)

18+3 =21 (2+1 = 3)

*website photos credited to unsplash.com