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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
This is actually 5-star book for me, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. I thought it was richly informative, but some of my friends would find it tedious. Definitely recommend to anyone interested in the Enneagram. Rohr is insightful as always. I'm a 9, but with reading, my 5 tendencies show through.:)
An excellent introduction to the Enneagram from a Christian perspective.
“[The Enneagram] doesn’t describe nine isolated energy-sites, but one path with nine different beginnings. From each point of departure we move as if in dance steps around the circle through nine different worlds, all of which form a single world of perfection.”
First I’ll say that some of the references and symbols are a bit outdated or problematic, and while the authors do acknowledge that they’re purely symbolic, some of them didn’t sit right with me (too stereotypical or simplistic).
However, this is a beautiful guidebook to understanding the Enneagram holistically and spiritually. It offers fantastic recommendations on how the Enneagram can help people GROW - which really is the purpose of the thing.
First I’ll say that some of the references and symbols are a bit outdated or problematic, and while the authors do acknowledge that they’re purely symbolic, some of them didn’t sit right with me (too stereotypical or simplistic).
However, this is a beautiful guidebook to understanding the Enneagram holistically and spiritually. It offers fantastic recommendations on how the Enneagram can help people GROW - which really is the purpose of the thing.
Most of the time when you read a book about different personalities and "finding the real you" you get a few vague answers that you cling to and tell yourself that is simply who you are.
This book punches those books in the face.
I'm not a religious person, but I am a little narcissistic, so I picked this up thinking I'd gain something from it. The book does a good job connecting the bible to the different types of people you interact with on a daily basis (and yourself) and beautifully displays how Jesus embodies all points on the enneagram.
I was prepared for fun, quirky, interesting tidbits about myself as I read, but instead I got a deep look into the evil within myself. The book points out the secrets you keep from others and yourself, forcing you to bring the bad to light and face it. I wasn't prepared to hear about how I subconsciously manipulate people, turn violent when people realize they don't need me anymore, or hold people captive with my toxic "love".
Simply put, this book is terrifying and painful.
That was just the dark spots of the 2! The whole book points out a few lighthearted things about yourself but the rest is the nasty bit of your personality and how we are constantly at battle with ourselves and others. You get to see your best friend in the pages and watch everything they've ever done for you come into question and challenge your ideas about human interaction. The book kept me up at night like a horror novel. I started slow and not too interested but as soon as I got to myself I couldn't put it down.
There are plus sides to this.
Now when I see myself accidentally turning into an unhealthy 2, or an aggressive 8, I know what the traits look like and can stop myself. It helps you understand others too. You get to see their love and actions through different eyes and your reaction time to issues increase, you can see someone start to go to stress or un-health and gently pull them back without doing anything but talking. It gives you an interesting superpower you didn't know you needed.
If you don't want to read it out of disapproval of certain religious ideas, I get you but this book isn't all about the bible and Jesus. You can learn about yourself and how to apply these methods without a bible or any prior Christian knowledge.
Definitely a good read and I think everyone should take the time to skim it.
This book punches those books in the face.
I'm not a religious person, but I am a little narcissistic, so I picked this up thinking I'd gain something from it. The book does a good job connecting the bible to the different types of people you interact with on a daily basis (and yourself) and beautifully displays how Jesus embodies all points on the enneagram.
I was prepared for fun, quirky, interesting tidbits about myself as I read, but instead I got a deep look into the evil within myself. The book points out the secrets you keep from others and yourself, forcing you to bring the bad to light and face it. I wasn't prepared to hear about how I subconsciously manipulate people, turn violent when people realize they don't need me anymore, or hold people captive with my toxic "love".
Simply put, this book is terrifying and painful.
That was just the dark spots of the 2! The whole book points out a few lighthearted things about yourself but the rest is the nasty bit of your personality and how we are constantly at battle with ourselves and others. You get to see your best friend in the pages and watch everything they've ever done for you come into question and challenge your ideas about human interaction. The book kept me up at night like a horror novel. I started slow and not too interested but as soon as I got to myself I couldn't put it down.
There are plus sides to this.
Now when I see myself accidentally turning into an unhealthy 2, or an aggressive 8, I know what the traits look like and can stop myself. It helps you understand others too. You get to see their love and actions through different eyes and your reaction time to issues increase, you can see someone start to go to stress or un-health and gently pull them back without doing anything but talking. It gives you an interesting superpower you didn't know you needed.
If you don't want to read it out of disapproval of certain religious ideas, I get you but this book isn't all about the bible and Jesus. You can learn about yourself and how to apply these methods without a bible or any prior Christian knowledge.
Definitely a good read and I think everyone should take the time to skim it.
I thought this book was going to change my life, or at least the way I saw myself or others. But it was way too dense and textbook-y. I found the writing dry and hard to relate to. I also don't love it when writers attribute personal qualities to historical or biblical figures. I just can't buy what they're selling because the historical figure didn't take the assessment and it just feels like the authors are projecting. So that definitely was a distraction for me. I've heard other people loved the personality descriptions, though!
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This leaves me wanting to read more of Richard Rohr's books, the last 20 pages were incredible. His approach to this subject is very pointed and not at all sparing. It helped me make a lot of connections between various aspects of my life experiences and beliefs. Christians interested in understanding what separates them from God and what acts as a barrier to their transformation will find this an enlightening book and only a starting place to a huge base of knowledge and truth.
It seems only right, having proselytized the enneagram to dozens of friends, family, and acquaintances over the past few years, that I finally do more than browse websites on the subject. Richard Rohr and Andreas Ebert's insight serves as a reminder that we can only really examine our own lives—and that with the goal of transformation. I just finished it, and I already want to read it again. Hopefully with a greater inclination towards understanding and empathy rather than simply typology. And that for myself as well.