Hundreds of years ago, the ancient philosopher Socrates said, “Know thyself.”
Lamentations 3:40 says, “Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord.”
Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
Invitations to know God and know ourselves are all throughout the Bible. But how do we know ourselves? How does knowing ourselves help us know God?
Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created humans in God’s image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Because we have the image of God inside of us, knowing ourselves can lead to a stronger relationship with God.
One way to know ourselves is through Enneagram work.
The Enneagram is an ancient personality typing system that helps you understand yourself and others.
When I began studying the Enneagram, I was both excited and horrified to read about my type. I’m an Enneagram 2, which means I’m a helper. I’ve always recognized that helping others makes me feel good, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that. I was shocked to learn, though, that sometimes my help can be interpreted as a form of manipulation. I was so ashamed to read that and sit with the truth of it.
However, the more I study the Enneagram, the more I recognize the complexity of my personality type, neither all good or all bad. I recognize that I’m a mixed bag. We all are!
Studying the Enneagram helps us find words to articulate parts of ourselves that we know but can’t quite name. Like when I’m tired, I feel unappreciated. Or when people ask me what I need, I never know the answer. Taking an online quiz and reading about the Enneagram has helped me accept parts of myself that I hadn’t even had the courage to look at. Enneagram work is vulnerable.
Beyond knowledge of self, learning about the Enneagram helps us build more empathy and compassion for others. When we understand, we are less likely to rush to judgment. The Enneagram helps us learn the underlying motivations for all of us and therefore leads to more patience.
This summer, some of our folks had an opportunity to learn about the Enneagram through presentations during July’s Focus On study. For those of you who wish to continue the study or missed it and want to catch up, I want to offer an official invitation to you.
Jill Novelo and Pam Cochrane have spent hours studying the Enneagram and are excited to share their learnings as well as lead discussions that go further.
On Sundays, Sept. 10 through Oct. 15, they are leading the discussion from 9 to 10 a.m. in W103. Participants will be encouraged to read the book The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile.
- To register for this study, please click here.
- To take a free enneagram test, click here. For a longer, $12 test, click here.
Join me as we learn together!
–Rev. Sarah Boyette
