Origins

This remarkable tool goes back to ancient Sufi wisdom from around 200 B.C.E.  At that time the Sufis observed that every human seemed to emanate energy from one of nine personality types.  At first this wisdom of the Enneagram was passed by an oral tradition.  In the nineteen-seventies various people became acquainted with it and began to write about it.   

The Enneagram is Unique among Personality Systems

Whereas other personality tools focus on a person's behavior, the Enneagram focuses on the motivations for our behavior.  Other personality tools, some of them are quite good, are based on relatively modern psychology from the last hundred years or so. 

For example the Myers-Briggs type indicator is based on the research of the brilliant Swiss psychotherapist Carl Jung (1875-1961).  Myers-Briggs is an excellent system which is used widely among the industries of health care and social services.  Businesses of all types use this tool to help their employees communicate more effectively so as to bring about greater productivity in the workplace. 

Since Myers-Briggs is based on behavior, it is typical that your particular personality type today may be different from what it was 10 years ago, or from what it may be 5-10 years from now.  Our behavioral patterns change as we go through life. 

With the Enneagram, your type stays constant throughout your life.  Of course your behavior changes quite a bit, but your core motivational energy remains.  What changes is how you choose to express that motivational energy - typically a person will vacillate from unhealthy, average, and healthy expressions over the years. 

The Enneagram can not only be an enormous help to learning about each other’s styles and attitudes, but can also be a fun way to respect and embrace differences.

Enneagram Chart