“A form of superstition”

[Denise]

“A form of superstition”
Enneagram workshop offered at Franciscan retreat house in Oakland diocese



A workshop entitled “Enneagram Wisdom: The Nine Faces of God” will be held Saturday, May 8, at the San Damiano Retreat House in Danville. The Franciscan-run house, located in the Diocese of Oakland, bills itself as a place “where spiritual renewal and growth may be sought by people of all faiths and backgrounds... we offer contemporary and challenging retreats and programs in response to the changing needs of God’s people.”

“The Enneagram is both an ancient and modern teaching tool that continues to evolve, offering a kaleidoscope of perspectives on the human condition and illuminating the psychological and spiritual journey we are on,” says a description of the retreat posted on the San Damiano website. “This workshop will offer a holistic view of the nine Holy Ideas and how they may interface with the nine ego-fixations. We will explore in detail the specific spiritual psycho dynamics of each type and seek to understand the relationship between the human (ego) and the divine (essence). Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the Enneagram and its practical applications.”

The 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. retreat, says the website, is recommended for “counselors, psychotherapists, spiritual directors, marriage and family therapists, mental health workers, nurses and any others who have an interest in the Enneagram.” Some professionals attending the retreat can receive six hours of “continuing education credit” for participating.

The retreat is being presented by Peter H. Coster, who, says the website, “has presented workshops at San Damiano for 8 years. He is an Adjunct Faculty member at John F. Kennedy University; Clinical Supervisor at the Center for Holistic Counseling; and Clinical Director at the Center for Psychotherapy, Spirituality and Creativity.”

What is the enneagram? It is a system that promises self-realization by using a symbolic circle with nine numbered, equally spaced points on its circumference and lines connecting several of the points. The nine points represent nine personality types, which are said to apply to all people.

According to a 2000 draft document from the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices, “A Brief Report on the Origins of the Enneagram,” teachers of the system “claim that by use of the enneagram one can explain why people tend to act in particular ways and can prescribe goals for adjustment and development of one’s own personality.”

The draft, however, detailed the curious background of the enneagram’s developers. One, Oschar Ichazo, an apostate Catholic, claimed he discovered the personality type meaning of the system under the influence of a spirit, variously named Archangel Gabriel, the “Green Qu’Tub,” or Metatron, the prince of the archangels. Followers of the enneagram’s developers since have always taught “a syncretistic mixture of elements from various sources, mostly types of esoteric knowledge, such as Sufi mysticism, the Kabbalah, and astrology,” said the draft. More particularly, the enneagram is based on numerology, “a form of superstition.”

Enneagram practitioners, said the draft, fall into “the ever-present temptation... to conform Christian belief to the [non-Christian] doctrine, as if it were an absolute norm. Unfortunately, at least in the enneagram literature that has been published so far, distortions of Christian belief are common, even in the books that are most popular among Catholics and that are sometimes written by members of religious orders.”

Christians seeking for “an aid for spiritual growth,” concluded the draft, “should be aware that the enneagram has its origins in a non-Christian worldview and remains connected to a complex of philosophical and religious ideas that do not accord with Christian belief.”