The Enneagram
An introductory workshop
Presented by Kenneth C. Turner, PhD
The Enneagram is a model of personality structure developed over the last fifty years or so, allegedly on the basis of ancient esoteric knowledge, variously attributed to G. I. Gurdjieff, his unknown teachers, or the Sufis. Although Gurdjieff introduced the nine pointed diagram to the West, its use as a model of the human personality seems to have originated with Oscar Achazo (the founder of the Arica movement) in 1970.
This model was modified to some extent by Claudio Naranjo and further developed and popularized by a number of brilliant teachers, most notably by Helen Palmer, Don Riso and Russel Hudson, and Theodore Donson and Kathy Hurley. I have benefited from workshops with all of these people and was trained to teach their system by Hurley and Donson.
The Enneagram is a powerful model of how people are motivated at the deepest level and it provides unique insights useful for our own inner growth as well as helping us to deal more effectively and sympathetically with others. Because the Enneagram is based directly on motivations, rather than behavior, it is not always easy to assign a type, or set of types, to other people. The many Enneagram assessments (pencil and paper or computerized) try to assess underlying motivation patterns by asking us to indicate our preferences. As with any “objective” test of a basically subjective property, some work better than others.
I have found the Enneagram model to be a remarkable tool for my own inner work, and that aspect of this model will be emphasized in the workshop.
We will meet on Sunday, August 2, after our fellowship lunch, from 1 to 4 PM and again on Saturday, August 15, from 10 AM till 4 PM. We will break for lunch at Noon and you are asked to bring food to share in a pot luck meal. While a 4 PM closing time is our target, it is not a rigid one.
The cost is $15 for the Sunday session, and $30 for the Saturday event.