Celebrate the Wesak Festival in Mount Shasta, California!

Past Speakers... Carl Marsak

Carl Marsak, M.A. is the founder and director of The Enneagram Center of Mt. Shasta. He has graduate degrees in Religious Studies and Social and Cultural Anthropology, and has been studying and practicing the Enneagram of Personality since 1993. Carl has been profesionally certified by Helen Palmer and David Daniels, M.D. as an Enneagram teacher in the Narrative Tradition, and is a professional member of The International Enneagram Association (IEA). He has published several articles in The Enneagram Monthly Journal, and is currently working on a book entitled To Function as a Soul: Initiation, The Enneagram, and the Restoration of the Mysteries. Carl lives in Mt. Shasta, and travels extensively, teaching the Enneagram to individuals and groups. He can be reached at: marsak@sbcglobal.net; (530) 926-5750.

To Function as a Soul

Initiation and the Enneagram

"The Enneagram is a psychology from sacred tradition that is based on nine personality types, which from the perspective of the true, or spiritual self, are nine illusions about life; and that illusion is the natural starting place for both psychological and spiritual growth."
— Helen Palmer

"Initiation is an achievement and an attained success of the soul which has at last succeeded in dominating the personality, and in manifesting its true nature..."
— D.K.

"The mystery of the triad is in the hands of the adepts, and must remain a mystery to the world so long as the materialistic savant regards it as an undemonstrated fallacy, an insane hallucination — and the dogmatic theologian a snare of the Evil One."
— H.P.B.

In the last forty years the Enneagram has finally gone public and is now known all over the world. For example, there were nearly thirty countries represented at the last International Enneagram Conference, held in San Francisco in August 2005, and there are literally dozens of books published, and detailed websites to be found, outlining the basics of what has become known as the Enneagram of Personality. In fact, many contemporary practitioners have found it to be perhaps the most accurate and powerful psycho-spiritual system available today for dramatically increasing self-awareness and fostering rapid, deep and long lasting spiritual transformation. And yet it is my belief and experience that even more esoteric information and wisdom is contained within, and can be read from, the symbol than is commonly reported and discussed in the available literature and trainings. This Wesak workshop will explore how the Enneagram can be used as an occult map, guide and tool for the journey of initiation.

"All things are filled with signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another."
— Plotinus, from The Enneads

Before I say more we need to ask: "What is the Enneagram?" As I say on my professional flyers, the Enneagram is an ancient and sacred nine-pointed diagram that, among other things, describes nine distinct and fundamentally different personality or character types ("Ennea" is Greek for nine, and "gram" means point or letter). Study and practice of this profound and powerful system helps one to identify and move beyond non-productive habits of body, speech and mind, increases compassion for self and others, and effectively integrates psychological and spiritual life.

This last point is important, because there is a certain phenomenon that we are seeing more and more of in the Aquarian Age, a phenomenon to which many have given the name "spiritual bypassing." That is, many people are consciously or unconsciously using spiritual practices and philosophies to avoid doing the preliminary or lower level psychological work (what in Antiquity used to be called the "Lesser Mysteries") of purifying, aligning and integrating what is known in occult studies as the "Lower Three-fold Personality." The problem is that for most of us the body-mind, including our character structure, does not simply drop away when we attain states of higher or nondual awareness. In his new book The Inner Journey Home: Soul's Realization of the Unity of Reality, A.H. Almaas makes the relevant point that simply experiencing one's true nature is not usually enough to dissolve fixated and neurotic ego structures, conditions that ultimately continue to cause suffering for ourselves and those around us. He notes that:

"...experience and recognition of true nature, regardless on what dimension of subtlety and completeness, do not automatically dissolve ego structures. It is our observation that ego structures, and for that matter psychodynamic issues, are not affected directly by enlightenment experiences... These structures are impacted only by awareness of them and complete understanding of their content. The enlightenment experience may give the individual a greater detachment and presence that makes it easier for him or her to confront these structures and issues without becoming overwhelmed by them, and hence have a better opportunity to work them through... But the structures will not self-destruct simply because the soul has seen the light. We understand that this view is counter to the claims of many individuals who profess enlightenment. The actions of many of these individuals should speak for themselves..." (p. 194).

What contemporary Enneagram teachers have noticed is that if one engages in only spiritual work without taking into account and transforming the underlying character type that is the vessel and conduit for the expression of soul energies and forces, then what is likely to take place is a psychological "abreaction." In other words, the Lower Three-fold Personality (physical, astral and causal bodies in Theosophical terminology) experiences a reaction to the contacted energies and forces, the higher planes of consciousness, and snaps back into place with a vengeance. It is as if the ego sees what is coming, feels its imminent de-centering or even demise, and says "No, no, no!!!" What generally follows is the familiar "crash" back into everyday neurotic life. Sometimes things are even made worse after a spiritual opening, because now the old structures are being energized by more rarefied and powerful energies and forces. We then witness the phenomenon of the emergence of the "enlightened jerk," "enlightened fool," or enlightened neurotic." From an occult perspective, far too many New Agers are rushing towards unity, oneness, or self-realization, without first passing through the natural and proper stages of psychological maturation, which would include the differentiation and later integration of various levels and states of our being. Fortunately we have been given knowledge of the Enneagram, "God's Wisdom Mirror," to help keep us honest and on track.

In his book Spirituality and Human Nature, Donald Evans states that in his view spirituality "consists primarily of a basic transformative process in which we uncover and let go our narcissism, so as to surrender into the Mystery out of which everything continually arises" (p. 4). In my own nearly thirty years of spiritual seeking and finding, I have rarely found a spiritual tradition, system and practice that so accurately and usefully uncovers just where each one of us gets stuck in our personal narcissism as does the Enneagram. Fortunately it also shows us, once we have identified our own type structure, how we can move up and out of our emotional, mental and physical habits so as to have direct encounters and identification with the Divine.

"The purpose of the personality is to be a transparent jewel, through which the Universe can shine."
— Sufi saying

The first half of this workshop will be dedicated to briefly discussing the history of the diagram and its basic phenomenology, including the nine Character Types, three Triads (Head, Heart and Belly), three Instinctual Subtypes, the Passions and Virtues, and the Fixations and Holy Ideas. It is possible that some participants new to the Enneagram will be able to recognize their own type from the synopses given. However we will not dive too deeply into this material, because all of the information can be found in easily obtainable books and articles, DVDs and CDs, and online. Instead, three related questions will be posed to the group: 1) What is the difference between the Soul and the Personality or Character Type? 2) How do we know when someone is functioning as a Soul? 3) What does all of this have to do with Initiation and the Enneagram?

In the second half we will review definitions of initiation as articulated in the Theosophical tradition of H.P.B. and A.A.B., as well as the first five initiations on the Path of Return, and then look at what Enneagram theory calls the "Nine Holy Ideas." We will see how each Holy Idea is the key to building for the corresponding Enneatype what is known in occult studies as the Antahkarana, or the "Rainbow Bridge."

The Antahkarana has been defined on various websites as "the path, or bridge, between higher and lower mind, which serves as a medium of communication between the two. It is constructed by the aspirant in and of mental matter... It is built through meditation/visualization, service to humanity and study of occultism. It connects the threefold personality and the Spiritual Triad [and then the Triad to the Monad]... the Antahkarana embodies the response of the consciousness within the form to the steadily expanding range of contacts within the environing whole... [It is] a bridge of energy which connects the higher planes with the Personality. This bridge begins to be constructed consciously on the Mental Plane by the Disciple and is completely finished by the time the Fourth Initiation is taken. By its medium, a direct contact between the Personality and the Monad is established, bypassing the Ego [or Causal Body] completely and causing its final destruction... [it is] Sanskrit for 'internal sense organ'... [and is] the net of light spanning Spirit and Matter, connecting and sensitizing the whole of creation within itself and to the Heart of God." According to occult theory and practice, the creation of the Antahkarana is necessary for taking or transiting the higher or solar initiations.

Finally, we will also take a look at the central trigram (Points 9, 3, 6), and see how both the Spiritual Triad (Will, Love and Intelligence), and what The Secret Doctrine calls the Three Periodical Vehicles (Monad, Soul and Personality), can be accurately and usefully mapped onto these centers.

"Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane for the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity, synthesized by life which pervades them all."
— The Secret Doctrine

I will leave the reader with my own brief Enneagram book and website list. Although it is not required, I highly recommend looking over one or more of these titles and websites if you are going to take this workshop. They can be purchased at Village Books in Mt. Shasta, or on their metaphysical website: www.shopmandala.com.

1. The Enneagram, by Helen Palmer (1988)
2. The Enneagram in Love and Work, by Helen Palmer (1995)
3. The Wisdom of the Enneagram, by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson (1999)
4. Personality Types, by Don Richard Riso (1987)
5. The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram, by Sandra Maitri (2000)
6. The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues, by Sandra Maitri (2005)
7. Character and Neurosis: An Integrative View, by Claudio Naranjo (1994)
8. The Essential Enneagram, by David Daniels, M.D. and Virginia Price, Ph.D (2000)
9. The Enneagram Field Guide: Notes on Using the Enneagram in Counseling, Therapy and Personal Growth, by Carolyn Bartlett, LCSW (2003) — Available online.
10. The Enneagram Intelligences: Understanding Personality for Effective Teaching and Learning, by Janet Levine (1999)
11. Bringing out the Best in Yourself at Work: How to Use the Enneagram System for Success, by Ginger Lapid-Bogda (2004)
12. Facets of Unity: The Enneagram of Holy Ideas, by A.H. Almaas (1998)

Websites include: www.enneagraminstitute.com (Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson). www.EnneagramWorldwide.com (Helen Palmer and David Daniels). Follow the links on the home site for the International Enneagram Association.

Thank you, and many Blessings from sacred Mt. Shasta,
Carl Marsak

Brief Statements of the Nine Types
According to David Daniels, M.D. and Helen Palmer

Note: For more basic and advanced information on the nine Enneatypes, please see books by David Daniels, M.D. and Helen Palmer, and www.EnneagramWorldwide.com.

1. Type One: The Perfectionist — believes you must be good and right to be worthy. Consequently, Perfectionists are conscientious, responsible, improvement-oriented, and self-controlled, but also can be critical, resentful, and self-judging.
   
   
2. Type Two: The Giver — believes you must give fully to others to be loved. Consequently, Givers are caring, helpful, supportive, and relationship-oriented, but also can be prideful, overly intrusive, and demanding.
   
   
3. Type Three: The Performer — believes you must accomplish and succeed to be loved. Consequently, Performers are industrious, fast-paced, goal focused, and efficiency-oriented, but also can be inattentive to feelings, impatient, and image-driven.
   
   
4. Type Four: The Romantic — believes you must obtain the longed for ideal relationship or situation to be loved. Consequently, Romantics are idealistic, deeply feeling, empathetic, authentic to self, but also dramatic, moody, and sometimes self-absorbed.
   
   
5. Type Five: The Observer — believes you must protect yourself from a world that demands too much and gives too little to assure life. Consequently, Observers are self-sufficiency seeking, non-demanding, analytic/thoughtful, and unobtrusive, but also can be withholding, detached, and overly private.
   
   
6. Type Six: The Loyal Skeptic — believes you must gain protection and security in a hazardous world you just can't trust. Consequently, Loyal Skeptics are themselves trustworthy, inquisitive, good friends, and questioning, but also can be overly doubtful, accusatory, and fearful.
   
   
7. Type Seven: The Epicure — believes you must keep life up and open to assure a good life. Consequently, Epicures are optimistic, upbeat, possibility- and pleasure-seeking, and adventurous, but also can be pain-avoidant, uncommitted, and self-serving.
   
   
8. Type Eight: The Protector — believes you must be strong and powerful to assure protection and regard in a tough world. Consequently, Protectors are justice-seeking, direct, strong, and action-oriented, but also overly impact, excessive, and sometimes impulsive.
   
   
9. Type Nine: The Mediator — believes that to be loved and valued you must blend in and go along to get along. Consequently, Mediators are self-forgetting, harmony-seeking, comfortable, and steady, but also conflict-avoidant and sometimes stubborn.
   
   

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