TheNature of God - to empty one's self

The nature of God is often declared in words of power, wonder and glory. God's multifaceted nature is bequeathed to us as our creation in the image of God.  How marvelous to be powerful, right and mighty.   But God also gifts our very nature with creativity, compassion, love, self-emptying - it is in our make-up.

If God's nature is to self-empty, then so is ours.  We struggle with the giving up of things, how much more we struggle with the giving up of ourselves especially when it reaches to our core.  Today I came across a section from Elizabeth Johnson, She Who Is, p. 234 that spoke to me.

"Within the Christian story it is possible to see that divine self-emptying in the incarnation and passion of Christ is not an uncharacteristic divine action.  Rather, this historical moment discloses the pattern of Sophia-God's love always and everywhere operative.  Divine freely self-giving love did not begin with God's personal entering into human history but is so typical that it plays out at the dawn of creation itself."

The butterfly's cocoon is wound up so tightly in itself, it doesn't know (mentally) what is coming.  But time reveals the deeper instinctual knowing that lies within of how it can break through and spread it's wings to fly. How do I claim the power of God to empty myself so that I am ready to receive and move into what I dared not believe was even possible - a transformation and resurrection into new life.   

We often cause our own pain

An amazing prayer I would share with you: 

"God of justice, God of mercy, bless all those who are surprised with pain this day from suffering caused by their own weakness or that of others. Let what we suffer teach us to be merciful; let our sins teach us to forgive. This we ask through the intercession of Jesus and all who died forgiving those who oppressed them. Amen" - p. 59 People's Companion to the Breviary

I read this in the morning and experienced the truth of it that evening.  God have mercy to us all.  

A Gift to those who Give

"Humanly speaking a genuine gift is given freely, out of love and not out of necessity; its reception is occasion for gratitude and joy.  In the divine freedom to be present to all creatures, empowering them to birth and rebirth in the midst of the antagonistic structures of reality, the Spirit is intelligible as the first gift, freely given and giving.  Her loving in the world is gracious and inviting, never forcing or using violence but respectfully calling to human freedom, as is befitting a gift."

I came across this fabulous quote from Elizabeth Johnson, She Who Is, during devotions.  With the force of a hammer hitting a nail, it helps me understand the relationship between gift and freedom of will which I don't always connect with.  So many times I give out of duty, but true gift comes from love.  What a gift of freedom that the Twos share with us. So my gift to all the Twos I love is this passage.  Enjoy!

The Power of Positive Thinking

I never thought much about positive self-talk until last year.  It always seemed artificial to “talk yourself into something”.  I’ve changed my mind.  The habits of thinking, feeling and doing that make up our personality are created by our rehearsing what we think, feel and do largely on an unconscious plain.  So if we are going to successfully break into our habits and change them, becoming conscious of those old tapes helps us pierce through the frozen ice of old habits.  Beginning to rehearse in our selves the different action we want can only be beneficial.  Replacing old tapes with new tapes that serve me better in this day and time help me navigate my life today.  Brain research shows we like to repeat old patterns because they are easy to fall into.  But the brain also likes to create new avenues of working and continues to do so all of our lives.  Balancing the two integrates old and new into satisfying ways of being.

So I took the old tape of indecisiveness with inclinations to sit on the fence and began to replace it with a call to right action.  Instead of going down the highway of life with one foot on the break and one foot on the gas, I began to say to my self “right action”.  I found that “right action” almost immediately was fueled by fear of going into the unknown way too fast.  So I added to my new tape, the concept of courage.  Then with right action and courage, I realized I needed to have a direction, a goal to move toward.  I added a third concept to my new tape:  vision.  My new tape now reads right action, courage and vision.  

With no specific goal in my mind other than changing the immense unseen power of the old tapes, I begin to say to myself during times of meditation:  Right action, courage, vision.  I flood my being with the three concepts.  

First I place myself in a venue of receptivity, allowing a vulnerability of being.  I sit comfortably with back straight, feet on the floor and have several cleansing breaths.  With my hands placed downward on my legs, I allow the flow of being.  Then after a time I speak to myself the words of power:  right action, courage, vision.  Depending on which one seems to generate more pull for me at that time, I might stay with it.  I sense the new flooding into my body. 

Then I place my hands up as if to offer to share this wonderful new power with my world.  I open to let it move out into my day.  

Then I place my hands over my heart and invite the new words:  right action, courage, vision to cover my body like honey or sunshine, flowing and soaking into every pore beginning with the heart.  

And finally I outstretch my hands in a gesture of giving and hope for each person the ability to move in right action with courage and vision.

During the day is when I see specific situations arise that I have the opportunity to meet using the ability found in the delivery of my new tapes.  These concepts have always been there, but I had covered them up with the unconscious need to fear, and to become indolent about my goals and life in general. The walk is day by day, creating new habits to replace the old.

What do you think?   

Andrea Andress, March 24, 2012 

Jerry Wagner Presents Integrating Our Inner Polarities, May 5 & 6, 2012

Arizona Enneagram Association
presents 

Jerry Wagner PhD 

There is Wisdom in the Shadows!

Integrating Our Inner Polarities

12 CEU's available !!
9am-4pm       May 5 & 6, 2012
at Paradise Valley United Methodist Church 4455 E. Lincoln Drive, PV, AZ

We are so excited that Jerry Wagner is coming to the AEA May 5th and 6th!! He's new to our AZ community but a renowned author and teacher in the Enneagram world at large. Read about him at www.enneagramspectrum.com.

He'll be presenting his transformative workshop "Integrating our Inner Polarities" What the heck does that mean? Read on:

  

Do you think of yourself as right and exact? Then you probably don't want to be seen as wrong or messy. How about strong and tough? Bet you don't want to appear weak and wimpy-to yourself or anyone else. These are examples of disowned parts of our being known as the Shadow Self. We all have one. When we re-identify with our "bad", unseemly parts and re-own them, we find some valuable assets. Like inner integration and wholesome connections with other people, both of which lead to an increase of energy since we are no longer divided against ourselves and others.

For details and to register, go to:  www.azenneagram.com  

  

Jerry Wagner, Ph.D.

is the author of Nine Lenses on the World: the       Enneagram Perspective and The Enneagram Spectrum of Personality Styles: an Introductory Guide and the series Two Windows on the Self: the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs. He has also published articles in the Enneagram Monthly, The Enneagram Journal, and the IEA's NinePoints Bulletin. Jerry is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and consultant and is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology and the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University, Chicago.

What others are saying about this workshop:

"I knew Wagner's work from his books and classes I had taken, but this was my first encounter with his delightful sense of humor."

"He made it inviting for me to actually face and embrace my own divided nature, assured of the hope and possibility of change and integration."

"Jerry's ability to treat serious issues of human nature with wit takes the sting out of "fessing up to them."

Arizona Enneagram Association
www.azenneagram.com

Arizona Enneagram Association Email
azenneagram@gmail.com

What we want and what we settle for in life

Out of our deepest desires

What we want and what we settle for . . . 

These notes are shared from an afternoon with Richard Rohr with the Arizona Enneagram Association Professional Members in February, 2011.  

Out of our deepest desires our life energy seeks what we want in life.   The energy of our vices never get us to our deepest desires; it fact they will make it impossible.  When we discover how to let go of our vice, that sticking point that we habitually insist on using, then we begin traveling the road to freedom.

What we want at our deepest core through our Virtue	What we settle for through our Vice
Type One desires SERENITY, a peacefulness and calmness through the midst of life - Serenity.	They often settle for ORDER, a pseudo-peace.  One’s get in trouble when they try to enforce order according to their own set of laws.  They allow inner irritations to take focus about picky things.
Type Two desires TO BE LOVED FOR THEIR TRUE INNER SELF.  They look you eye to eye for the I-Thou present moment - Humility.	They often settle for IDLE PRAISE AND AFFECTION FROM OTHERS, reveling in the pride they receive from providing for others.
Type Three desires TO BE LOVED FOR WHO THEY ARE and not what they do or bring - Honesty.	They often settle for the IMAGE that is driven by the future desire.  It energizes them to settle for what they don’t want, like a carrot on the stick - the reality of the images just always out of reach.  They twist reality to fit the image they have.
Type Four desires a PERFECT RELATIONSHIP with all things  - Equanimity/Balance	They often TRY TO DESERVE SOMETHING ELSE.  They want the perfect relationship, living in perpetual longing for what they can’t achieve.  They love the metaphor/symbol more that the object itself.
Type Five desires a TRUE ABUNDANCE in all of life - Non-attachment.	They often settle for the IDEAS AND INFO IN THEIR HEAD.  The past feels safer and so they substitute attachment to ideas for God, intellectual riches; the more info they have the more secure they feel.
Type Six desires FAITH, a knowing  everything is all right, effective, practical - Courage.	They often settle for SECURITY that gives a superficial approach to faith.  They search for a way to live without fear to get things done with no whining.  They can rise above bad feelings by mental activities.
Type Seven desires SATISFACTION.  Only when they rest in the now can the find that they have enough.  They learn to enjoy their own satisfaction - Sobriety.	They often settle for MORE.  The desire for more never allows “enough”.  Planning is more fun than the actual event.
Type Eight desires JUSTICE.  They are acutely aware of injustice and protecting the small - Innocence.	They often settle for REVENGE on reality.  The lust for life is an over identification with masculine energy.  They have to find the softness in themselves and value it.
Type Nine desires HARMONY/UNITY that refuses to let problems dominate - Right Action.	They often settle for SLEEP.  Let the issue resolve itself.  So they sleep through the conflict; self-forget with no opinion about the events of the day.

The Nine Facets of God’s Image through the Nine Types of the Enneagram: Exploring how Defense Mechanisms keep us in a holding pattern blocking our virtue

The essence of our self lies deep at our core.  We are made in God’s image and that image is expressed through the nine virtues (similar to the nine fruits of the spirit) in that they express the nature and essence of God.  When we connect with these virtues life is full of meaning. The nine virtues seen through the Enneagram system are:  1- Serenity, 2- Humility, 3- Honesty, 4- Equanimity(Balance), 5- Non-attachment, 6- Courage, 7- Sobriety(Constancy), 8- Innocence, 9- Right Action.  

Each of the nine personality types is grounded in a virtue that bears the intelligent quality of energy.  We live out of that energy.  Along the way as our personality develops we run into conditions and problems.  To protect ourselves we develop a natural but unconscious response (by way of an emotional energy) generated by the frustration of being deprived of our virtue.  Deep within us we desire to return to the virtue.  To do so we develop a defense mechanism that manages the emotional passion with a mental projection to explain the passion.  For example, for the Type One - the virtue is Serenity.  The One’s passion is anger with the defense mechanism being reaction formation (which means feeling one thing but doing the opposite, such as feeling resentful but acting nice).  The defense mechanism leads to the mental projection of constantly looking for error.  When the One’s perception of the world is disturbed they automatically seek out the perceived error, and on finding it the mind thinks it has accomplished what is needed to reestablish serenity.  But in actuality the One has merely settled for a rigid perfectionism instead of the calm, peace of true serenity that contains it’s own perfection.  Sensing failure, we try harder by way of working through our passion, because it fuels our energy as we keep our mind on the projection, in the One’s case of looking for error.  

In a misguided way, we struggle with ourselves in an unconscious effort to return to the virtue.  The way back to the virtue is not through the passion.  Each type has a different sticking point that they have to learn to let go of to allow themselves to become receptive to see the world as it is instead of how they imagine it.  For example, One’s believe if they can just make everything line up perfectly, then things will BE perfect.  The need to be perfect according to a rigid personal set of rules becomes the answer to living a successful life.  Focusing on error actually brings forward the need to correct, which quickly crosses over to criticism delivered both internally and externally.  

So the One must learn to drop their anger and begin observing themselves, truly seeing that where they see error, someone else may see an opportunity to try something different.  Their reaction is only a developed habit, there could be a different way.  

The habits that develop our defense mechanisms build a wall around the virtue which separates the person from God and is difficult to pierce.  For the One, the defense mechanism keeps the emotional habit (anger) and mental habit (looking for error) in place.  Look at is as a visual:

Visualize the Defense Mechanism as managing the passion by the habit of the mental projection.  The virtue is imbedded deep within (visualized by being in the belly-but not meant to be a physical location).   The Defense mechanism keeps us in a holding pattern as we act out of habit.  

People want to live out of the virtue, but as one pays attention through the practice of going in and down - through mind and heart, the habits of a lifetime get in the way.  People must learn to drop the mental habit and passion in order to bypass them to reveal the virtue that has been there all the time.  Each person has their own unique set of habits they have developed to deal with life.

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You have heard it said that all you need is inside you - you are born with all you need to be you.  But our potential lies buried deep inside by all the habits we created to protect our vulnerable selves when we were young.  As adults we need to learn ways to uncover these automatic defenses that no longer serve us well.  It is like peeling an onion to reveal who we really are.  On those occasions when One’s act out of their grounded being, everyone knows it.  And that is the time when people truly see God/goodness being lived out in the world.  

So the defense mechanism creates a holding pattern through our emotional and mental habits that get in the way of living life through our virtue.  To operate from the virtue one must:

1. Recognize the energy flowing through you as the passion.  Develop your “Inner Witness” through receptive prayer practices.  Spotting the projection of the type’s mental habit provides clues this is happening.  

1. In a reflective practice, such as the “In and Down” practice release the hold the energy of the vice and defense mechanism bring up.  Allow that energy to go, to be able to receive the energy of the virtue that is available.

1. Going into a receptive mode, a vulnerable state, we are open to seeing the world as it is instead of how we usually perceive it through the lens of our passion. 

Each type holds only 1/9th of the wisdom of the world, only 1/9 of the face of God. We need the wisdom of each type to live in wholeness.   We see the world as we are and not as the world is.  Finding ways to become receptive opens the world to us.  Being able to fight your demons comes through prayer and fasting (denying energy to the passion).  Each type must find their own way of acting out of their virtue.

Andrea Andress