The Brain-Based Enneagram (eBook)

WHOLE-IDENTITY PROFILE

The desire and ability to live abundantly well is not limited to one gender, race, class, culture, religion, or any other distinguishing element of who we are. It is universal and all-inclusive. Everyone wants the opportunity to flourish, to grow, to be the best possible version of themselves, and while we are all unique and distinct individuals, often requiring specialized resources for healing and improvement, every single human on the planet has at least one thing in common that drives the process of our becoming wholly well: A brain. This is no small thing we share in. Our development, our decisionmaking, our thoughts, emotions, actions, and on and on--all reside primarily in the brain. Though our unique, lived experiences shape us differently, we operate within the same system. If we understand how the universal operating system works, we can function with greater success.

The Brain-Based Enneagram offers a unified method for growth to all people. It is essentially the traditional model(s) of the Enneagram combined with the function of the brain. It is (w)holistic in its approach, combining the mental, emotional, and physical human experiences simultaneously. These three components make up who we are--and they are mirrored in both the Enneagram intelligence centers (instinct, intuition, intellect triads) and in brain anatomy (brain-stem, right hemisphere, left hemisphere). By integrating the psychological model of the Enneagram with neuroscience, we build a Brain-Based model that approaches personal development (w)holistically and practically, affording ourselves the best possible chance at flourishing.

The following conversation begins with a 30,000 foot view of the Brain-Based Enneagram where we skim the surface of neuroscience, cover the basics of the Enneagram, and explore how the two systems intersect to build a more inclusive, reliable, and applicable model for growth. At 1,000 feet we dig further into the specific components of the Brain-Based model. At 10 feet we discuss how to score and apply the new model of the Enneagram to our lives. Next, we explore practical steps for growth in each number. Finally, we revisit the 30,000 foot perspective to imagine the implications and possibilities of the Brain-Based Enneagram moving forward.

As with any new concept, this is only the start. There is still much to be discovered, much to be discussed, and much to be lived. Let’s begin.

THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF IDENTITY

You are not a personality. You are not even multiple personalities. You have an identity--and what creates and characterizes your identity can be charted by the nine numbers of the Enneagram. The anatomy of the brain reflects this: We are not left-brained or right-brained, we are whole-brained. The same is true for the Enneagram. To put it more plainly, you are not a personality type or a number on the Enneagram. You are a whole person who has a whole identity--you are all nine numbers. Just like you have a whole brain, you also have a whole identity. Tools like the Enneagram are meant for expanding awareness of the whole. The nine numbers of the Enneagram offer a language and a system for understanding and discussing the diverse landscape of everything that makes you who you are. Neuroscience provides a way of connecting this language and system to your very own internal operating system: Your brain.

Your identity is the sum total of every good and every bad thing that has ever happened to you, including genetics.

Your identity, formed in the brain, is comprised of nature, nurture, and discipline collectively. It is shaped by your combined life experiences--both positive and negative--as limbic attachments develop. These limbic attachments, in response to your experiences, create distinct behaviors, patterns, attachments, and associations. Through neuroplasticity, with the help of tools like the Brain-Based Enneagram, you can reshape and remake how your brain not only functions, but how it continues to develop into the future.

THE NEUROSCIENCE

Brain anatomy and brain function are rich with complexity. We cannot cover everything in one pass, but we can examine a high-level view of how the three main areas of our brain (brainstem, right hemisphere, and left hemisphere) develop and operate together. We will use a pie chart (not unlike the Enneagram) to represent these components and discuss their relationship to each other. By starting with the brain, we lay a foundation for the Brain-Based Enneagram. As the discussion progresses, we’ll add layers to the diagram in order to connect the neuroscience with the nine numbers of the Enneagram.

BRAIN-STEM

The brain-stem is the first component of the brain to bloom. It is responsible for driving the instinctual nature of humanity. Years and years of life on this planet have given our species a hard-wired set of skills for survival. In our most primal state, every single human on earth is--at any given moment, whether we know it or not--moving towards pleasure and/or away from pain. It is biologically hard-wired within us to seek pleasure and avoid pain. They are metrics for survival! Pain bad, Pleasure good. And as with any living species, we want to survive, so we follow our gut.

The brain-stem generates your reactive gut-response by sending signals to your body before your brain is able to comprehend or process the incoming information. It is the autonomic nervous system, and it is responsible for keeping you alive. The brain-stem is not built for sophisticated mental or emotional processing--it is built for action-based instinct. This is important because in matters of life or death, a quick response makes all the difference.

Within the brain-stem are the midbrain, pons, and medulla. The midbrain is responsible for the fight or flight system (sympathetic system), and the pons and medulla make up what is called the PMRF (pontomedullary reticular formation) which is the “rest and digest” system (parasympathetic system). This means the brain-stem is constantly regulating between “fight and flight” and “rest and digest”, which are both instinctual functions. This is why it corresponds with the gut triad of the Enneagram (more on that later).

LIMBIC ATTACHMENTS

Self-gratification has two avenues: Increased pleasure and/or Decreased pain. When you’re trying to survive, you want to both increase positive (life-giving) experiences and decrease negative (potentially life-threatening) experiences. To do so, your brain goes through a subconscious three-step process for making decisions about survival. It asks:

1. Am I going to survive?

2. If I am not in a life-threatening situation, am I safe?

3. What form of self-gratification will allow me to maintain what I have learned to consider safety, how am I going to achieve self-gratification?

The process of moving towards pleasure and away from pain increases your chance of survival and subconsciously feeds information to your brain, which then impacts your mental, emotional, and physical development. Neuroscience tells us that 3-5% of your brain is conscious, and everything else (95-97% of brain activity) is subconscious. Most of this subconscious activity is driven by the brain-stem, and thanks to subconscious limbic attachments, the survival strategies you employ (which ultimately shape your identity) are the result of every good and every bad thing that has ever happened to you, including your genetics. That means 95-97% of your identity is formed on a subconscious level.

RISK (-)

Absence of positive experiences Presence of negative experiences

Three primary factors that generate limbic attachments are:

Intensity: How strong is the experience?

Duration: How long does it last?

Frequency: How often does it happen?

Essentially, limbic attachments transfer shortterm information to subconscious long-term memory. The stronger the experience, the more intense the transfer. The longer the experience, the more sustained the transfer. The more frequent the experience, the more persistent the transfer. All of our limbic attachments are created based on varying combinations of these three experiences (strong, long and often). That means our most profound positive experiences (reward) and our most profound negative experiences (trauma) are the most identity-shaping experiences we have--and that most of them are being formed without our conscious awareness.

When something (positive or negative) happens strong enough, long enough, or often enough, our brain creates a limbic attachment to that experience. Our survival strategies are then rewired in the wake of the new association, and along with it our identities--to an extent--are rewired as well. For example, when 9/11 happened in the United States, not only was it an extraordinarily intense experience, but the impact lasted for a long time, and news coverage kept the event frequently on our minds. 9/11 created a global limbic attachment. Politics aside, it was traumatic in intensity, duration, and frequency--and this shifted the identity of the entire nation.

REWARD (+)

Presence of positive experiences Absence of negative experiences

Even if a traumatic event doesn’t actually last long or happen often, the brain is prone to...