ESSENTIAL WHOLENESS - Integral Psychotherapy, Spiritual Awakening, and the Enneagram

Astrophysicists tell us the universe has been expanding at an accelerating pace ever since the Big Bang. Biologists tell a long and convoluted story of the evolution of life in which humans finally enter the scene on the last page of the last chapter. Buddhists say that although our essential nature is eternal, our relative nature is impermanent. Change in modern society is faster than ever before and it is accelerating. Never before has it been so imperative for people to know how to ride the waves of change. As a psychotherapist, I see my role as an agent of change, as much of human suffering comes from the inability to cope with change. My aim is to help those suffering to cope with change and proactively make the changes they are ready for. When I began teaching psychotherapy a little over twenty years ago, I sensed that in order for psychotherapists to be effective agents of transformation, it was vital to be able to describe how people change. Yet what were the steps those wanting help needed to take to achieve change, and how could we guide people through those steps? My initial strategies included a four-phase model, but it became obvious it was inadequate; that is, until I went to a weekend seminar on a modality called the Enneagram. The teacher was giving a brief overview of the nine personality types, elaborating number by number around a circle, when I realized the essential qualities of each type were the qualities universally utilized in nine phases of a cycle of change. Since humanity is a mere thread in the web of life, the validity of this pattern depends on it accurately describing not only how humans change, but all living systems. I had some background in living systems models from my training in family therapy and Systems Theory. However, these new insights led to more extensive research into the theories of evolutionary biology. In addition to the modern powerful scientific stories of evolution and development, it struck me that people have been telling stories of transformation since the advent of language.