With this important addition to the Enneagram, the system acquired a more complete way of describing human personality. In the language of the pioneering philosopher of consciousness, Ken Wilbur, the Levels of Development give the Enneagram a necessary vertical dimension. (By contrast, the traditional Enneagram offers only a set of horizontal distinctions — that one type differs from each other type in certain ways, as defined by their characteristic “Passion” and Fixation” and other related characteristics. As relatively limited as this information is, the fact that there are nine distinct personality types that can be described in relatively clear and simple terms — and that these types have fundamentally different approaches to life — is an extremely powerful insight, as anyone who has studied the Enneagram knows.)
By introducing this vertical axis to the types, the Levels make room in Enneagram theory for some of the most important things that we find in human nature itself: evolution, change, fluidity, compulsion, conflict, contradiction, paradox, continuity, choice, freedom, and mystery — among many other truly human qualities. A person who knows the Levels of their type can recognize where they are on the continuum of consciousness in a given moment — and how they can move toward a deeper realization of their Being. Ken Wilbur has stated that only with this vertical dimension taken into account does the Enneagram system move toward being a complete psychology. The “engine” that moves each type down the Levels is the interplay of fear and desire at each Level, starting with the Basic Fear and Basic Desire of each type. (More profoundly, the patterns of reinforcing fears and desires represent the ego’s attempts to find something real on which to base its own existence. Ironically, and tragically, this actually only creates a “flight from the self” which undermines the person’s ability to reground in reality. The further a person goes down the Levels, becoming caught in the web of personality, the more difficult it is to experience Being, truth, or freedom — among many other Essential qualities.) Thus, the Levels are not simply a description of each type’s move toward a deeper identification with the ego and its defenses — but are a way of illuminating humanity’s psychological and spiritual enmeshment in the worlds of fear, attachment, and illusion. Each Level can be seen as a measure of the degree of our ego fixation. Going down the Levels we encounter increasing identification with the structures and defenses of the personality. Going up the Levels we see the stages of inner development and maturation of the self. By combining the horizontal distinctions of the Enneagram with the vertical distinctions of the Levels, we arrive at a system that shows the unique pattern by which each type develops or falls into deeper identification with the ego. (Interestingly, each Instinct (self-preservation, sexual, and social) also manifests differently depending on the Level of the person.) There are many other important practical implications of the Levels. We have written about them in all of our books, although the most explicit, systematic treatment can be found in the revised second edition of Personality Types (Houghton-Mifflin, 1996). The following chart provides a very brief synopsis of what occurs at each Level. Levels of Development Chart
As Russ Hudson began working with Don in the late 1980’s, they began to realize that the means of moving people up the Levels of Development was the depth and quality of Presence that could be awakened in the person. Concomitantly, the lack of Presence, the lack of awareness of what one was doing and feeling in the here and now, was the primary way by which one became trapped in increasing identification with the images and defenses of the ego structures. It also followed that using the Levels to alert people to behavior that indicated that they were losing Presence could function as an “alarm clock” to call them back to the present moment, and thus, move them up the Levels. This also revealed what was useful about knowing one’s basic type. The issues of the basic type could be relied on to show up over and over again with astonishing persistence. Awareness of these issues could thus serve as a constant reminder to “wake up” in the present moment — to emerge from the ego’s limited perspective and to re-engage contact with other aspects of the person’s experience. For instance, a Four (caught in a deep identification with an emotional reaction) could recognize her state as simply a manifestation of her ego dynamics at a particular Level. She could breathe more deeply and thus come into greater contact with physical sensation. Breathing and reconnecting with herself physically could break the “Four trance” in the moment and allow her to not continue to act out her Four-ish reactions. By not acting out, she would gain perspective and awareness of herself — and her newly freed awareness would be able to operate at a higher Level of Development, one that was in greater contact with Being in the moment. Indeed, as soon as we are becoming more present, we are moving up the Levels. Of course, the issues of one’s basic type are never the only patterns that crop up. As we become more skilled in observing our reactions and self-images, we will inevitably discover our own inner One, our inner Two, our inner Three, and so forth, no matter what our basic type may be. To think that one is free of issues around aggression because one is not a type Eight, or that one does not have issues with judgment because one is not a type One is folly. Further, as we understand each of these components of ourselves with kindness and compassion, we are better able to be with others regardless of their type, and to facilitate their own discovery from a place of gentleness and understanding. Further, the Levels teach us to be patient with our process. While it is indeed possible to have moments where we are graced to experience ourselves beyond the confines of our ego identities, these experiences seldom last for long. Usually traces of them remain, but we often end up either frustrated with ourselves for having “lost” our higher state of consciousness, or we go around acting as if we were still in a state of enlightenment. Both of these are big traps in Inner Work. They can be avoided, however, if we learn to be more awake and non-judgmental about our actual behavior and manifestations in this very moment. The Levels can help us focus on the real — on the truth of what is really happening in us — so that our Inner Work can become more grounded. Once we stop criticizing ourselves for not being enlightened, we can actually become interested in exploring the truth of our experience in the here and now — the real condition of our soul. As we continue to do this, our spiritual realizations gradually begin to affect all the different parts of our personalities — especially those parts of ourselves that are not particularly interested in spiritual work. With patience and humility, we are gradually transformed, and those higher states cease being “experiences” that come and go. They start to become the very core of what is living our lives. The Levels can really support us in this process because they can help us to see important developments in our inner work that we might otherwise fail to notice. While we fluctuate up and down the Levels constantly, at any given time in our life we usually have a particular Level that feels the most familiar. It is the one that we tend to return to, all things being equal. We call this familiar Level our Center of Gravity. The more we observe ourselves, the more we will also notice other interesting dynamics. If we drop below our Center of Gravity to a lower Level, we feel stressed and uncomfortable. We might recall that in the past, this lower Level was our Center of Gravity: it felt normal to us at that time. Now, however, this lower Level feels like an endarkenment and we generally would not choose to be in this state for long. Interestingly, a movement in the reverse direction is also strangely uncomfortable. For example, if we were to rise above our Center of Gravity momentarily (because we were at a particularly good workshop or in the presence of a true spiritual teacher), we might feel wonderful, but out new state does not feel like us. Our higher Level is truly a more free and unbounded state, but we do not yet know how to hold it or to incorporate it into ourselves. Our higher Level’s state becomes something fleeting, like a drug experience. This is why it takes many such experiences of being free and unencumbered by our usual ego-personality at the higher Levels before we trust the truth of our Being. Until then, we will return to our usual Center of Gravity (wherever it may be along the continuum) because it feels like our old familiar self. But here again, the Levels help us to understand a profound spiritual truth: that shifting our state is not the same as having a real, transformative spiritual experience. Indeed, the point of Inner Work is not to merely shift our state, but to shift the very stage of our consciousness, our Center of Gravity. Transformation is the process of moving our consciousness up the Levels within our type until we gradually leave the realm of personality and move into the realm of Essence. Of course, moving our Center of Gravity up even one Level is an enormous accomplishment and everything in life changes when we do so. While it is necessary to have experiences of the higher Levels, this is not the same thing as living in them. To shift our Center of Gravity permanently entails a profound reorganization of our sense of self, and everything that holds it in place. If we are sincerely on the path toward the Real, we will experience many such shifts — each the result of years of Inner Work, and each a beautiful fruition of the transformational process. From this perspective, the point of the Enneagram is to guide us to an ongoing and direct experience of Being itself. The structures of our personality are useful in this work in as much as they serve to remind us to continually return to the here and now. Here, too, the Levels are useful signposts. We can see that the Levels correspond to the traditional Sufi teaching of the Three Journeys. In this teaching, the first journey is the Journey TO Presence. (The seeker is trying to remember the Beloved amidst the tidal waves of ego activity and mental chatter. He is struggling to remember that he can be present and awake to the mystery that surrounds him. He sees that his ego seems to forever have other plans and devalues taking even a moment to find out what is actually the truth occurring in and within him.) The second journey is the Journey WITH Presence. (At this stage, Presence is more stabilized as part of the seeker’s ongoing sense of herself and of reality. The seeker experiences a relationship with Presence, much like the relationship with a lover. Sometimes the relationship is intimate and deeply satisfying. At other times, the seeker feels more distant or possibly even frustrated, but still the seeker remains aware that the lover, the Beloved, is always near.) The third Journey is the Journey AS Presence. (At this stage, the seeker arrives at a true realization of the non-dual nature of reality and knows that what he is as his deepest identity IS the Presence itself. He understands in a clarity beyond words that he and the Beloved are one, and always have been. This is the condition of union mystics speak of and that is possible for everyone to remember and regain if we allow ourselves to move into the depths of our own soul. When we do so, we directly experience the Oneness of Being, not merely as a philosophical or spiritual position, but as a lived reality.) The chart below shows the Levels and the Three Journeys. Note that the three unhealthy Levels require a different work — the repair and support of the basic ego identity. For many people, this is a necessary part of their Inner Work. The healing process is part of every path, and is profoundly spiritual in its own right.
Of course, Level 1, the Level of Liberation is not the end of the journey, but marks the beginning of the journey “as Presence.” Attaining Level 1 is merely the end of the range of experience where it is meaningful to talk about personality. Thus, Level 1 is not a “finish line,” as if there could ever be one. In the same vein, to speak of oneself, or another, as “enlightened” in the sense that someone has no more to learn, nothing more to realize, is not the deepest truth. From Level 1 onward, Being continues to unfold its mysteries with greater beauty and magnificence. Indeed, True Nature is infinite, personal, immediate, and timeless — it is therefore highly unlikely that it could be entirely realized or explored in the course of a single human life. As we understand this, we relax into the moment, we breathe, and we open ourselves to what the vast, mysterious, loving Reality is showing in this moment — the only one we really have. For an expanded example of the Levels for Type 8, click here.
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