What the Law of Three Means to Me

by

Terry Favour

In November of 2013, the Sedona Enneagram Study Group met at Robin Cameron's as is usual on the third Saturday of every month. That Saturday we spent a great deal of time talking about, in Gurdjieff terminology, the Law of Three. The Law of Three, as I am speaking of it, says that for any two opposing forces there is always present a third but initially unmanifested force that is the synthesis of the opposing two. It seems that everywhere you go these days the "Law of Three" is coming up. My way of getting a handle on this is to start with the play of opposites. Everything that is known to us, is known to us, because it is in contrast to something else. Some age old examples are such sayings as "we can't know joy without sorrow", or "we can't know cold unless we know hot". If we look into this far enough we realize that our consciousness depends on contrast, on limits...on dualism. 

Often we speak about our plane of existence as being a dualistic plane. No wonder our lives often appear to be a series of problems. If you think about it you can see that every action (or non action) that we take plunges us into some kind of interaction that is ultimately dualistic. Our #6's are acutely aware of this dynamism. We do actually move through our lives from one problem to the next. But is this what we are really doing? The Law of Three demonstrates that there is really something else at work.

So let's turn to something else for a moment. Let's look at creativity. What I mean by creativity is this: It is that which emerges completely from the unknown. It is not a rearrangement of that which is known. It is something without precedence. 

 A further look at our consciousness reveals that although our consciousness is dependent on dualism to exist, it is a living system. Here is a good definition of a Living system:

The Living Systems Theory   

of James Grier Miller

By definition, living systems are open, self-organizing systems that have the special characteristics of life and interact with their environment. This takes place by means of information and material-energy exchanges.

Our consciousness is aware of being conscious, it is also aware of dualism. This is exemplified in our #6's kind of  "knowing". This means that within everything or every situation, there is its opposite, and therefore a potential problem. When that impasse arises, when the opposites manifest, if each side of the problem remains true to itself, no move can be made. No movement is possible. But, consciousness is a living system, it interacts with it's environment which includes not only the reality of manifest things but the underlying reality of the unmanifest which is where undifferentiated potential resides, the realm out of which creativity emerges. The Law of Three symbolizes this truth; dualism manifests "form" but not without the "emptiness" that underlies it. And this is LAW. Whenever opposites arise a third element ALWAYS arises too (sometimes unrecognized), which is the never before known solution emerging as true creativity from the unknown. This is, as we can see, a return to wholeness. BUT WAIT!  It divides again as it becomes manifest consciousness, therefore dualistic in nature...and the spiraling cycle continues. 

So, what does this mean? I would like to suggest that if we look closely at our human nature that we can see that almost nothing brings us more joy than the "ecstatic sensation" that accompanies the awareness that we have expanded. That we have conquered a limitation. That we have grown, that we have moved from a lesser reality to a greater one. I propose that this is a big part of what makes us cling so tenaciously to life. Even when we find ourselves deeply challenged by this "life"...we seem to choose expansion and consciousness, whatever the price.

“In the After Glow – Reflections on “Love, Spirit and Relationships” Part II with David Daniels and Russ Hudson

AEA December Blog – Robin Cameron – Part II

“In the After Glow – Reflections on “Love, Spirit and Relationships” with David Daniels and Russ Hudson

Interspersed throughout the Daniels/Hudson weekend were one-two-and three liners that themselves could be workshop-starters.  Here are my personal favorites:

When introduced to the Enneagram by Helen Palmer, I recognized the patterns that I already was discovering on my own.  DD

Early on, I discovered the typologies as what we do instead of being present.  I came to understand how my patterns take me out of myself, and how – when we meet those patterns with understanding, kindness, and presence – we don’t have to get rid of them but they transform.  RH

The hope for all of us is the personality becomes interwoven with the essential qualities, which allow us to live in the world relating with those higher qualities.  DD

We need to take in the implications of our patterns, which lead to the virtues and how we can stay awake to each other.  RH

The power of the Enneagram is enormous.  How do we live from presence, what does that require so that we become more whole?  That is what we are addressing.  DD  

The idea is to interrupt the fixations of these patterns so they can get to the real you.  It is not about fixing the other person!  RH

 Three basic aversive emotions are common to 100 million years of mammalian evolution: Anger (Rage), Distress (when you lose connection resulting in stress, pain, longing, shame), and Fear.  DD

We begin to understand our type is not our self.  We use our patterns and energy to manage the aversive emotions through distraction by reducing the frame of focus so we don’t notice something else; it shrinks down perception that was objectively overwhelming to us as kids.  It is good to know as adults where the volume control and on-off switch is.  RH

Personality tries to keep anger, distress, and fear away, thinking these things are wrong.  So we either amplify them or eliminate or run away from them.  The work is to get to what’s underneath.  DD

 So we learn ways to connect with ourselves to open up a field of awareness; we learn other ways of being with our aversive emotions.  RH

In life three great energies are always present – active, receptive and balancing/ reconciling energy.  In our modern life we go far away from receptive energy which is so necessary for presence and compassion. DD

When (our patterns are) running, our consciousness falls into narrowed-down, fixated, identified patterns and we’re caught in a dualized consciousness, which leads nowhere.  What the Enneagram teaches is the triadic pattern – that there is always a third component that drops out when we are not present.  The question then is what drops out when we’re stuck; and what drops back in when we are present?  Stasis is fantasy.  RH

We need good process with content, the 5 A’s:  DD (and RH)

Awareness – When we move out of the story into direct experience, we can work with our type’s pattern.

Acceptance – Operating from open heartedness in ourselves with grounded presence. 

Appreciation – When in our pattern and the conflict it produces, we feel no one appreciates us and feel put out.  The ego, wanting connection, creates more structure but not more connection.

Action – Action is where the content comes in through inquiry of the old no longer valid belief.

Adherence –  The hardest of all – the chance to practice and cultivate presence with devotion and regularity, to be awake to our reactivity, for the rest of our life.

The Law of 3 allows us to understand a different way of relating to ourselves out of stuckness.  When there is polarization within myself, if I can see/bring something else in, I soften and see the other differently.  Rigidity softens, I fall back into sacred mystery, sacred ground, and then the polarity softens from you/me to us.  And we’re opened to greater unity.  What we want to explore is how to do this in relationships.  Operationally!  RH

Riso’s rule/Hudson’s theory re what type is it best to be with?  Answer:  Healthy!  RH

The 3 centers (body, heart, mind) bring together three ingredients of presence:  sensation expands you out of your narrow view, the mind transforms, and the heart opens.  DD

Your direct experience is the only non-abstract thing here.  Everything else is an image in your head.  RH

In doing this work, the content is not complicated.  Self- observation is not thinking about the pattern but remembering to breathe etc. while the pattern is occurring!  DD

The more present we are the more there is neuroplasticity, and so more rewiring is possible.  Practice builds.  Befriending our reactivity is to invite presence back.  RH

Change the mind, change the brain.  The mind is relational. Patterns are reflected in the brain.  So that’s the hope of neurobiology.  DD

And coming fully circle – at the professionals’ meeting …

Owning our shadow stuff is how we take our place with each other.  This work can only go so far without a larger consciousness that includes forgiveness.  RH

The attribution theory says “My bad behavior is from circumstances.  Your bad behavior is because of your character!”  The problem goes from the individual all the way to the cold war. 

The foundation for Russ and me is that we have love and respect for each other.  We are fundamentally aligned.  DD

And so it was that for a memorable and historic weekend, we were called into that alignment and higher consciousness, with the invitation to this practice for the rest of our life. 

"In the After Glow" Reflections on time with David Daniels and Russ Hudson at "Love, Spirit and Relationships"

AEA December Blog – by Robin Cameron – Part I
“In the After Glow” – Reflections on “Love, Spirit and Relationships” with David Daniels and Russ Hudson

I felt immense gratitude as I experienced a new level of understanding through a score of profound moments at our recent Daniels/Hudson AEA workshop on Love, Spirit and Relationships. Many insights caught my attention, the panel work went to new depths, small group work was intimate, and the incredible choreography between David and Russ reflected their deep regard and respect for one another, which carried into all aspects of the weekend. Even the basics took me deeper as David and Russ danced off each other’s language, David’s from the narrative tradition and Russ’ from his insight approach.

When Russ said, “If we can’t take our place with one other, how are we going to move ahead on the planet,” I knew in that moment why I’ve been so drawn and devoted to the Enneagram. It’s not about “selling” the Enneagram; as he said, I’m drawn in because “it is a way of bringing people into self-observation, compassion, presence and awakening.” Bingo!

That was already clear in David’s introduction to the workshop. “This weekend is about the integration of interweaving the parts of our personality. We (David and Russ) are friends trying to walk our talk. We sometimes experience aspects of higher qualities, but when we interact, these higher aspects then dim. So how do we integrate them within the context of interaction? We’re here to learn with you through the panels and teaching.” So they did, and we were the beneficiaries. Indeed, they modeled all the principles they presented to us.

Panel work examined “peak experiences” and how we invoke the higher qualities when we are present; we were reminded with each type of the gift they bring. Jaye referred to this in her AEA Thanksgiving email with gratitude for the many ways AEA participants support our mission.

• 8s – when present – vulnerable – the 8 heart is empowered, alive, engaged, with an immediacy in the power of now, expressing/being truth, with innocence and presence fresh in the moment.
• 9s – when present – engaged – the 9 heart has the capacity to be, to be present, to land fully, whole, within themselves in unity of experience. Right action with the “engaged heart” leads to incredible power that allows us to be anything – through expansion, unity, and grounded being.
• 1s – when present – non-reactive and serene – the 1 heart has an unexplainable feeling of goodness in the world and self that calls the heart forth – aligned with integrity, felt as a sense of the sacred with an acceptance that brings the feeling of dignity, royal and regal.

• 2s – when present – with humility – the 2 heart recognizes that a different kind of relatedness is possible where love liberates through appreciation and gratitude. It is three-centered – grounded, curious and open-hearted toward the self and other, truly connected, even with a perfect stranger, holding a reality that doesn’t require another person and draws forth what is most supportive.
• 3s – when present – true to themselves – the 3 heart invokes a life infused with a sense of presence, their actions congruent with meaning as an expression of love – from a board meeting to mowing the lawn or walking the dog.
• 4s – when present – joined with Origin – the 4 heart learns who we are beyond the narrative, i.e. who we are right now! Knowing they are not their history, they accept the invitation into profound depth, mystery, intimacy, and beauty – the substance of who we are, the Beloved, who we are in essence, not disconnected but free from chronic disappointment.

• 5s – when present – non-attached – the 5 heart is clear, their senses more operational to awaken the mind, their consciousness clear and illuminated, seeing both the illusion of the patterns that obscure, understanding that the mind cannot hold direct experience, so that something else must!
• 6s – when present – courageous – the 6 heart has a certain quality of awakeness with a capacity to pay attention. This profound act of love, devotedness and mindfulness functions as another kind of knowing what to do and how to move forward with courage to live life powerfully.
• 7s – when present – constant – the 7 heart experiences causeless happiness and the sunlight shining through all kinds of weather. They are expansive, free, and joyful. No matter what may seem to be happening, the lights don’t go out, their flowering supported by deep roots. They make friends within themselves with whom or what can appreciate both the voice of yes and no.

During the panel work many of the highlights were true across the board, no matter the type:
   Opposites don’t know each other; the fallacy is that the one opposite will be lost, but that’s not true! If you feel rejected, give yourself a new job; take care of the inner wounded child! Ask yourself what arises to meet the different parts of you to hold it all lightly.
   Peak experiences are the direct experience of a deeper reality with elements of presence.
   The blessing is to work with our reactivity; i.e. when I feel disempowered in some way, which I then want to separate from! The Question: How can I be with that energy differently?
   When we are not present, the caring part of care drops out. It’s not that the action is wrong, but that there is something deeper that wants to be expressed. Question: What would make your relationship more fulfilling? There is a way of being with reaction that can feel into the virtue.
   When I breathe into alignment, it brings a force field! This is not about striving, but allowing the acceptance of vital energy. It is actively receptive!
    People come and go but Love does not! Kindness is the quality of attunement that draws forth what is most supportive. Without this quality we don’t trust enough to show up!
    Because we are made in the image of God, we seek to bestow; but since we are not precisely God, we can only give as we receive.
    Resistance comes from some historical data coming into your body. Chronic dissatisfaction is the result of longing, seeking in the wrong place. When you have a lot of pain, something important is not very far away. Anxiety, the future tense of fear, is around the edge of a breakthrough of some kind.
    Sometimes we try to be tender when we haven’t owned our anger. If we go through it, then we can be tender with grounded presence which allows the other to heal. We create space for the other to take responsibility for them.

Part II - will be a sharing of the memorable one-two-and-three liners that David and Russ said.  To be published next week. 

Emerging Blog - a Nine speaking about Holy Love

Not being a writer, blogger or comedian, the question came to me, “What do I  blog about?”  Fortunately during the wee hours of yesterday morning, the idea emerged from books I was streaming into in my half waking state. When I awoke, of course, I realized right away what to blog about---the Holy Ideas!  Well, that was grace!  With the May 2014, Spiritual Freedom event right around the corner in my mind (the nine point of view covers a wide span) I had a blog—Holy Love! 

Very early on in my Ennagram studies, 1999 or so, I realized I could not understand my nine passion, sloth/falling asleep/ self forgetting, without looking at my holy idea—Holy Love. That became an important effort on my spiritual path.  I read, Facets of Unity, a couple of times, studied it diligently along with anything else I could find on the subject.  I knew it was important to work with the passion sloth/falling asleep/self forgetting, but as I came to “Remember the Love,” my mantra that emerged out of my study in the follow-on class, my understanding of my passion also deepened, both, taking on the character of wholeness; not eliminating the passion, but transforming it.   

These many years later, I have continued, but in many ways have just begun again to understand the unity; I am love--I am right action supported by love--I am an expression of Divine Being.  Oh my God, what a gift! This is the awakening.  “Love is the doorway to oneness with all things,” according to Ram Dass.  “Holy Love is the direct and perfect path to self-remembering, self-discovery and self-realization,” as spoken by Almas in, Facets of Unity.  These truths coincide with my own experience. The ever present task in this life is to sustain the awakening.

Now I have my blog to share with you!

 Join us May 8-12, in Tucson for an experience of the Holy Ideas through the expertise of our magnificent teachers.

Mary Bencomo

Path to Integration

Thoughts by Renee Siegel and Andrea Andress

During the IEA (International Enneagram Association) Conference this last week in Denver, there were many exciting workshops to attend. There was a tract on integral integration, describing the collaboration of the work of Ken Wilbur and the enneagram. The implications of integrating these two systems are far-reaching and global. In addition, many workshops spoke to the workings of the three inner triangles - the 3,6,9 and the 2,5,8 and the 1,4,7. We are all familiar with the 3,6,9 triangle, but the other two are not often discussed. These inner triangles provide each type with movement between each of the centers of intelligence, head, heart and body.

In looking at the usual enneagram diagram that includes the arrows of movement between types, several types are moving between only two centers of intelligence and not all three. The types are the 2, 4, 5 and 7. The enneagram diagram for the two shows movement between two heart types and a body type. The enneagram diagram for a four shows movement between two heart types and a head type and the enneagram diagram for a five shows movement between two head types and a body type and the enneagram diagram for a seven shows movement between two head types and a body type. As one observes the arrows of movement between type, each of these four types is missing one of the centers of intelligence.

All human beings need all three centers of intelligence to be healthy and vibrant. It only makes sense that when we move between a head type, heart type and gut type we have access to intuiting, thinking and feeling - all of which are important aspects of ourselves. Each center offers us something unique and holds value in our lives. 

I know for my self, as a character type 2 that my center of intelligence is the heart. I am most easily aware of emotions, both in my self and in others. It is easy for my to spot emotion, so much so sometimes, that I tend to overlook what my body is experiencing and I can even overlook the logic and importance of gathering facts and other information. My emotional body seems to run the show and although this offers me a rich experience, it is a more full-bodied experience to be aware of what is going in my body and head along with my emotions.

Renee Siegel

The process of the 3 triangles with a foothold in each center was eye-opening.  While it does not negate the movement of types with the enneagram diagram, it does give voice to what many have been experiencing.  We all connect with the heart, the mind and the body (some days better than others).  Just one more way that the enneagram shows us what we are doing, when we choose to pay attention.  Definitely worth studying and observing.  

Rev. Andrea Andress

The Open Paradigm

by Terry Favour

Just lately I have been talking to Don Salmon. He and his wife, Jan Maslow, authored the book "Yoga Psychology and the Transformation of Consciousness...Seeing through the Eyes of Infinity. Their book is a "comprehensive study of psychology based on the synthesis of the yoga tradition presented by twentieth-century Indian philosopher-sage Aurobindo Ghose". (Backcover) Recently at the AEA held "Barriers to Spiritual Freedom" workshop in Tucson, one of the teachers, Carol Whittaker, often referenced Sri Aurobindo. So when I began talking with Don Salmon, many things fit together.

Don and I had been talking a lot about paradigms, global, cultural and individual. We talked about Type Structure as a way of describing our individual paradigms (world views). This led me to think about paradigms as patterns. Infinite in possibilities though they are, each one of the Nine Type Structures is in actuality a mini world view or paradigm/pattern. As individual paradigm/pattern they have something in common: each ONE of these individual unique patterns, always fits together as an integral whole...much the way puzzle pieces fit together to produce a whole. No matter how positive or negative (most likely both) each separate variation of one of the Nine Type Structures individually fits together to produce a perfect whole. Each is reflecting (and limited to) whatever perspective is at its root. In other words, discordant or harmonious, they are, within themselves, a harmonic whole...yet, each one is a limited, structured, separate and therefore dualistic, whole pattern.

I got to thinking about these paradigm/patterns (Type Structures) as residing in Cosmic Consciousness. I'm going to describe Cosmic Consciousness as being formless, non-dualistic and infinite potential. In the Eastern cultures they might label Cosmic Consciousness as Emptiness and paradigm/patterns (Type Structures) as Form.

If the Type Structures are form, they are dualistic and they are a closed system (have limits)...but if they reside in the open system of emptiness or the dynamic Cosmic Consciousness which is a (limitless) living system, what are they?  They would be one (finite) aspect of this living system. However, and this is important, in the Eastern cultures they say "form is emptiness-emptiness is form"...meaning, of course, that they are one and the same.

So, I thought, if this is true, then the so called form is a cosmic, dynamic, living system too, not finite and closed. I then thought in a metaphorical way of the dynamism of the male and female (dualism) uniting to produce (create) a completely new, never in existence, form. Then I thought about the philosopher Hegel's thesis/antithesis/synthesis.

(To view the image go to: 

file://localhost/Users/andreaandress/Desktop/Blog-Nine%20Points%20of%20Light.rtfd/Hegel.jpg)

Ah ha, I thought, this closed system has, built within it, an opening!

In many spiritual systems, for example the Navaho's, we find  something like "the spirit line" (a line or some oddity in an otherwise perfect pattern leading out of and through a border [a limiting enclosure] to outside and beyond the symmetry of the pattern) and although this is not the traditional interpretation, I can not help but think that this is also representational or metaphorically symbolizing the opening to the spirit world (emptiness)...symbolizing the creative potential always available to manifest in every moment (form)...changing one closed system paradigm to another closed system paradigm, constantly and infinitely. 

So next I had a disturbing thought:  Is this what we are up against? Infinitely changing, always warring dualistic, global, cultural and individual paradigms/patterns?

Suddenly this realization came: ALL the great Spiritual teachings of all time advocate Love as the key. What they are saying to us, I believe, is that Love is the ONLY paradigm (global, cultural or individual) that is, in and of itself, an open system, one of non interference (Taoism) and therefore NON dualistic. 

Then specifically my thoughts turned to self-Love and our individual paradigms of Type.

As you all know, the Enneagram addresses the three centers of intelligence. The three centers have a characteristic "need". The Mental Center has-the need for safety and security, the Heart Center has-the need for affection and esteem, and the Body Center has`-the need for power and control.  Next I remembered, with a great sense of peace, the "Welcome Practice" that I had just participated in at the "Barriers to Spiritual Freedom" workshop in Tucson. That practice is as follows:

First we are invited to focus and sink...to experience and name whatever body sensations, emotions, or thoughts that are flowing.

Next we slowly and deeply repeat several times..."Welcome," "Welcome," "Welcome"

(Sacred symbol of consent to the presence and action of the Holy Spirit.)

Lastly we let go, saying slowly...

"I let go of my desire for Power and Control"

                          "Welcome"

"I let go of my desire for Affection and Esteem"

                           "Welcome"

"I let go of my desire for Safety and Security"

                           "Welcome"

                               .................................................................................................................................

*Source of Welcome Practice: developed by Mary Mrozowski of Contemplative Outreach Organization

Layers and Layers

Layers & Layers

By Jaye Andres

One of the things I love about the Enneagram is it’s many layers. It doesn’t seem to matter how long I work with it – there are always new, deeper places into which it shines some insightful light. My most recent experience was at the AEA’s “Working with the Barriers to Spiritual Freedom” program held in Tucson in May.

This was an intensive 5 day workshop designed to process deeply what the Enneagram teaches us about our Type set-up and how it can keep us from a full expression of who we really are. We explored our habits of attention, our idealizations, passions, avoidances, defense mechanisms and projections – no stone in our Type structure was left unturned!

We did a lot of processing in pairs. While debriefing the work we’d done on Avoidances of the Types, my dyad partner shared an epiphany she’d had. She asked me if I’d had any epiphanies. I said a small one – we decided to call it an epiphanini (Yes, Ee-pif–a–ninny) – or epiphanette, if you prefer. But the more I think about it, the more I think it deserves full epiphany status. Let me explain.

One of the questions we were working on was, “What might happen if you didn’t avoid ________?” (Fill in the blank with whatever your Type is famous for trying to avoid. For my Type 5, that’s emptiness.) So the first thing out of my mouth was, “I might be filled up”. (Clue: If the first thing out of your mouth now after reading that is, “well, duh”, you know your Type is not a Five.)

Now this idea of things running into their opposites is nothing new to those of you who hang out in Enneagram territory but it was quite significant that it was the FIRST thing out of my mouth. See, I know it’s the “right” answer because my astute teachers have hinted at this strange notion before. But in the past my mind would nevertheless go to the importance of avoiding empty – saying things like, “If I didn’t avoid emptiness I would feel drained or lonely or insufficient or flat out freaked out! Not avoid emptiness…are you crazy?” After all it’s, in David Daniels words, “the-awful-to-be-warded-off-state” – I’m sure you have one of those too.

This time, it was not only the first thing to pop into my head, it went deeper than my head – it was a whole body experience – I “grokked” it (a word I love and will continue to use despite the fact that it really, really dates me). Now my penchant for mentally chewing on stuff might tempt me to jump back into the foray and try to figure out exactly how this not avoiding what you don’t want gets you what you do want but I can just smile and remember my epiphanini and how it felt – the layers and layers and layers of it - thanks to 5 magical days among wonderful Enneagram friends surrounded by mountains and the beauty of the Sonoran Desert – yes!