Developing ourselves

As interesting as personality type is, the more interesting aspect to the Enneagram is the Levels of Development. This is because we have no choice as to what Type we are. We do, however, have choice and agency over where we are in the Levels of Development. In other words we do not choose if we are a horse or a giraffe, a bear or an eagle, but we can choose to work towards being the best eagle we can be, or the best bear. We all have a choice as to whether we develop ourselves or not. So what are the benefits of working one's way up the levels?

Well, in the healthy levels there is more freedom. We are less caught in our personality. There is more openness, more flexibility, an ability to choose to act, or not, rather than merely to react. There is more presence in the moment, an awareness of possibility and choice and an ability to see the bigger picture. There is an understanding that all life is linked, that we are part of one organic whole, not separate.

In the average levels we are more caught in the ego's agenda which needs to feel, for example, powerful and strong, or valuable, or loved, or peaceful, or good, or competent... etc. Sometimes we do better than at others and it may manifest itself more or less from day to day depending on what is going on in our lives, our week, or whether someone has pissed us off that morning at work or not.

In the unhealthy levels we are entrenched in ego and with that comes the feeling of being more isolated. We don't feel part of one whole, we tend to feel we are isolated and alone. We are more fearful, defensive and aggressive, feeling that we either need to protect ourselves or to impose ourselves on our environment. We often feel cornered, as though we have no choice in life. We take everything personally and, most significantly, our actions (or inaction), tend to sabotage our own best interests.

Although we move between levels we have a level that we hang out in most of the time and a bandwidth within which we operate which is one or two levels either side of that. I used to think that developing myself meant doing lots of different things to gain as much knowledge as possible about anything and everything but now I think it is more about paying attention. Being present enough in the moment to see and hear what is going on - not just outside of ourselves but also inside our own skin. Though we may be born into radically different situations in this world - some of us with undoubtedly more privilege and opportunities than others - nevertheless we can all choose how we are going to show up in the day ahead - how much attention we are going to pay. In doing that, we are aiming for the light.