Facilitated by Tilly, Some of us have been meeting each month to explore the Enneagram together.
We have worked our way through a book, agreeing to read a few chapters between each meeting, with some supplementing this with podcasts, webs searches or other books on the subject. We gather together to share our thoughts, and try to discover kernels of truth that speak to us, challenge us, and need further chewing over.
We are seeing if the Enneagram, in its ancient wisdom and current practices, can help us understand our selves, each other, and our need of God. We have chosen a book that connects the Enneagram to contemplative prayer practices of silence, stillness and solitude - and we combine talking about the ideas with trying the practices.
At its least helpful, we have found the Enneagram overly complicated, and we have resisted being ‘boxed’ into types. At its most helpful we have found the Enneagram profoundly insightful, illuminating patterns of behaviour that sabotage our relationship with ourselves, with others and with God, and offering ways to embrace our particular gifts and life-stances as we deepen our honest engagement with who we are in Christ and how we can together be people of the Way.
This has been a warm-up for our ‘Retreat’ weekend at the start of Advent when Liz West, an Enneagram practitioner, will be joining us. Having finished the book, we are now trying to engage more with the contemplative practices together.
Sam
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