After 10 months of research and prayer, I decided to write down my concerns regarding the enneagram. I pray you find the research insightful and helpful in deciding how you will approach this currently popular tool.

A few months ago, I called Brian excitedly. He knows how much I love the MTBI (I’m an ENFJ) and the StrengthsFinder2.0 and the Living your Strengths and Dale Carnegie… and…

Now, I had another test to put in my arsenal to explain how we all work together and how we can be the most efficient and most caring people ever! Yes!

I was instantly deflated when he said, “Kate, I’m pretty sure we are not supposed to use the enneagram. Will you research it before you do?”

Ugh.

No! I wanted to rush ahead. I wanted to know what my number was! How could I possibly relate to my friends if I couldn’t tell them my number! I felt a huge sense of excited urgency to rush ahead and apologize later. Out of respect for my husband, the man who continues to point me to have a closer relationship with our Savior, I dug in and started reading any article I could find.

At first, I was confused by the research. I learned of Catholic churches and retreat centers who use the enneagram. I found a priest and a sister who use the enneagram as part of their spiritual direction. I also discovered another priest who had written books about the enneagram.

However, I quickly came across this quote from Vatican document Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life:

An adequate Christian discernment of New Age thought and practice cannot fail to recognize that, like second- and third-century gnosticism, it represents something of a compendium of positions that the Church has identified as heterodox. John Paul II warns with regard to the “return of ancient gnostic ideas under the guise of the so-called New Age: We cannot delude ourselves that this will lead toward a renewal of religion. It is only a new way of practicing gnosticism—that attitude of the spirit that, in the name of a profound knowledge of God, results in distorting his word and replacing it with purely human words. Gnosticism never completely abandoned the realm of Christianity. Instead, it has always existed side by side with Christianity, sometimes taking the shape of a philosophical movement, but more often assuming the characteristics of a religion or a para-religion in distinct, if not declared, conflict with all that is essentially Christian.” An example of this can be seen in the enneagram, the nine-type tool for character analysis, which, when used as a means of spiritual growth, introduces an ambiguity in the doctrine and the life of the Christian faith. (emphasis added)

This quote stopped me dead in my tracks. Pope St. John Paul II warned us about this? I became intrigued.

First, I dove into understanding how gnosticism and New Age were related. This led me down a rich path of research and guidance by The Church about the enneagram.

I will not pretend to be a theological expert, but I ask you to join me in thoughtfully researching the enneagram and heeding the warnings of wise men and women who have gone before us.

Articles on the Enneagram

I’ve listed a few of the articles I’ve found helpful,  so that if you would like to read the information, it is in one place for you:

• Demons And The Enneagram
• Is Pope Francis Really “Not Against” the Enneagram?
• A Dangerous Practice
• The Enneagram
• Enneagram is not recommended
• Catholic Religious Led Astray by the Occult Enneagram
• Christian Answers for the New Age
• The FAQs: What Christians Should Know About the Enneagram
• Be Mindful of the Dangers of Mindfulness

Below are excerpts from the articles above which I found particularly helpful:

From “A Dangerous Practice”:

“The Enneagram redefines sin, among other fundamental concepts, by simply associating faults with personality types, which is particularly tempting in a cultural climate of irresponsibility and narcissism. It encourages an unhealthy self-absorption about one’s own “type,” so that the type is at fault rather than the person. This gives rise to a deterministic mindset at odds with Christian freedom.”

From “The Enneagram”:

The  Enneagram is supposed to be ancient Sufi wisdom, thousands of years old. But the Sufis, who are Muslim mystics, aren’t that old of a movement. The diagram itself can’t be older than the 14th or 15th century. It was discovered in the 1890s in Central Asia by a Greek-Armenian occultist named George Gurdjieff. He got it from a secret brotherhood of Sufis called the Naqshbandi, who were using it for numerological fortune-telling. Gurdjieff, a charlatan and a swindler who was into gnosticism, taught it to his disciples as a symbol of the cosmos. Gurdjieff died in 1949 but left followers. Oscar Ichazo, a Chilean who claimed to have had out-of-body experiences since childhood and studied all sorts of psychic practices, learned the Enneagram from such a group.”

“In the 1960s, Ichazo devised a personality system of nine types — each with its animal totem — matched to the Enneagram. Esalen Institute psychologist Claudio Naranjo, another admirer of Gurdjieff, collaborated with him. Naranjo spread the Enneagram through Esalen classes.”

The support and action of God via His Grace is totally missing from the Enneagram. Great spiritual works by St. John of the Cross (Ascent of Mt. Carmel and Dark Night of the Soul) emphasize properly the top place that God has in our “self-improvement” towards holiness. The Enneagram is totally self-centered – that is based on pure human ego. As with other dissenter systems, holiness is also completely absent from the Enneagram, which instead focuses on ego and compulsions. Also noticeably absent is the need for the Sacraments of the Church on the path to holiness.

All are called to holiness: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” [Mt 5:48]

Father Pacwa says:

“I have two criticisms [of Enneagram]. First, it’s theological nonsense, suffused with Gnostic ideas. For instance, the nine points of the Enneagram are called the “nine faces of God,” which become nine demons turned upside down. No one should speak that way. . . . And the way the Enneagram is taught is Pelagian — self-salvation through a man-made technique, not by God’s grace.”

“Secondly, this is a psychological system that hasn’t been tested by professional psychologists. We have no independent evidence that it’s true. As a result, Enneagram experts — who aren’t necessarily aware of the occult aspects — are making up descriptions as they go along. It’s irresponsible to pass this off as true.“

Msgr. William Smith in [3] states similarly:

“The basic premise of the Enneagram is that there are nine and only nine personality types; this is simply given as true, it is nowhere demonstrated as proven. To my knowledge, there are no scientific studies to determine whether Enneagram theory can be integrated with other typologies; but that would not really bother some advocates one way or the other… The more you read about it, the more it begins to resemble a college-educated horoscope; and that is not compatible with Catholic doctrine or practice. ….”

“As a tool for spiritual direction, it seems to me most deficient, even dangerous. The Enneagram is really built on a theology (?)-perhaps ideology-of self-renewal and self-regeneration that is a far cry from (perhaps contradiction of) the Gospel teaching: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit’ (John 12:24)”

Best would be to follow the advice of Pope John Paul II  who said on Nov. 1st, 1982: “Any method of prayer is valid insofar as it is inspired by Christ and leads to Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).” The Enneagram, an occult pagan tool, is focused on self and therefore leads us away from the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Have nothing to do with the Enneagram.

And dear friends, please do not feel condemned by this information. I’ve prayed about sharing this for months. I’m just incredibly thankful that my husband said something so that I would know. I share this with you so that we may continue down the path together.