I worked for a consulting company for a year who used to use the Enneagram for self-development workshops, so I got quite familiar with it. I haven't really used it since then though.
I found it incredibly useful back then, as it helped me to understand some behaviour patterns that I used to interact with others. One of these behaviour pattens was quite destructive at the time in my relationship with my boyfriend, and I was able to change that. He and I later got married and are now coming up to our 6th wedding anniversary, so I'd say that the Enneagram certainly made a positive difference in my life!
I do feel though that I've since moved on from the Enneagram in my own development and in my understandings of self/mind/consciousness etc. The Enneagram, like other methods of personality typing, works on the level of behaviour and the egoic mind. It can make you aware of what's happening at that level, and it can help you to make that particular level more effective. But... it doesn't really go deeper into your core/higher self. So, I'd say it is useful as a starting point, or if you want to be more aware of how you interact with the world, but if you're looking to go beyond this, then more metaphysical/spiritual texts are necessary.
I also used to get quite frustrated back then at how so many people used to get excited that the Enneagram was a way of moving beyond personality systems that categorise people, and then fall right back into labelling people according to Enneagram type and not allowing people to move beyond that. After a year at the consulting company, during which I actually grew and changed a lot (partly because of the Enneagram, but also because I've always read extensively and applied that to my life), I was still just a Four... I was a Four to start with, and was always going to be a Four in their heads!
|