The Passion of the Nine

The Passion of the Nine is Sloth. This is not so much laziness, as Nines can be busy, rather it refers to a certain non-engagement. Nines do not want their peace, external or internal, to be disturbed. In many ways they want to be left alone. In a bid to achieve this they can retreat into a sort of 'inner sanctum', detaching from their environment and those around them. This can lead to a passive disengagement so that instead of participating in life, life happens to them. Even average Nines deny when they are angry but anger is very informative as it tells us what we care about, what we are willing to fight for, stand up for, what is not acceptable to us. If we do not acknowledge anger we are cutting ourselves off from a certain dynamic energy which can be a very motivating force. Unhealthy Nines, instead, expend their energy resisting life in their bid to be unaffected by what is going on around them and, as a result, they can become the proverbial 'couch potato', embroiled in inaction, wasting precious opportunities that come their way and, in short, letting life pass them by. Cut off from their own life force they do not develop themselves or their potential and by retreating into their inner sanctum and cutting themselves off from others - including those who may be trying to help them - they find themselves, in turn, cut off by those others - not in any hostile way but because other people find it difficult to relate any more to the Nine who has become entirely absent from their own life. In short they bring about the very thing they most fear which is fragmentation, loss and separation. Their passion has not led them to what they most desire - which in the Nine is unity, wholeness and peace - it has only taken them further from it.