Oprah, Brené and The Enneagram

I watched Dr. Brené Brown on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday this past weekend.  For those of you who don’t know, Dr. Brené Brown gave an awesome Ted talk that put her on the map about the power of vulnerability.  She has also written two books:  The Gift of Imperfection and Daring Greatly.

Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday is kind of like my church.  Spiritually, it is right on target for what I feel in my heart to be true.  But what also surprised and astounded me was how much I could connect what Brené and Oprah were talking about with the Enneagram.

In the segment, Brené was expounding upon why vulnerability is so important and how it’s the only way to achieve greater intimacy with our loved ones.  Oprah was asking her what that looked like in Brené’s own relationship with her husband.  As she described a scenario, in which case they were both teetering on the edge of a fight, she said that being vulnerable is pausing and being honest about where her mind was going.  She was making up certain “truths” in her head against her husband, putting her into an oppositional stance, that weren’t actually True.  She said her go-to postures are anger and blame.  I immediately thought of the Type 8.  Their go-to stance is very much anger and blame.  And the place they seldom venture is vulnerability. 

Brené and Oprah continued their conversation and they got on the topic of Perfectionism.  They were saying that perfectionism is like a mask, a shield of armor to protect the world from actually seeing you.  There is an inherent fear that underneath you are not good enough, so the strive towards perfectionism is really a race away from that fear of unworthiness.  This is a perfect (no pun intended) way to describe the plight of Type 1.    

The Enneagram is a psychological personality system, but equally, and almost more interesting to me is the spiritual component in the system.  Every type has a vice and a virtue.  Type 8’s Vice is lust and their Virtue is innocence.  Type 1’s Vice is anger (which usually looks more like resentment) and their Virtue is serenity.  What this means is that your strength is your greatest weakness and your weakness is your greatest strength.  They are two sides of the same coin.  In order to access the spiritual gifts of your virtue, you must go through the challenges of your vice.

Other Types Virtue and Vice:

Type 2: Humility and Pride

Type 3: Honesty and Deceit

Type 4: Equanimity and Envy

Type 5: Non-attachment and Avarice

Type 6: Courage and Fear

Type 7: Sobriety and Gluttony

Type 9: Right Action and Sloth

If you’re interested in learning more about the Enneagram’s Vice to Virtue conversion, contact me to set up an Individual Typing Session.

Thanks Brené and Oprah for giving me some awesome material this week!