When I say, Lord have mercy, I am not making a pious devotional statement. [This] does not mean to be gullible, to refuse to face up to the truth. The first resource that seemed to describe me accurately was Beatrice Chestnuts description of the Social Seven Countertype in her book The Complete Enneagram. She looks to the history of Christian theology, to her own years of contemplative practice, and to the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff. To answer your question, yes I have met self-identified 7s who fit your description. Your work is SO CLEAR esp centering prayer dynamics and Christian non-duality. Cynthias published articles cover a breadth of topics that take us on a journey toward a deeper embrace of our human frailty, messiness, and limitations as the very path and locus of transformation. Dear Cynthia, We are in the middle of individual presentations right now on their Enneagram types, and I have two students who are torn between 4 and 7. Coming from a mostly Christian-averse viewpoint, Im pleasantly surprised to find myself excited and inspired by the mystical viewpoint Cynthia provides into the life teachings of JC. And in the midst of this long winter of our Christian discontent, when spiritual imagination and boldness are at an all-time low and the church itself hovers at the edge of demise for lack of an animating vision, perhaps now more than ever the time is ripe to remove the packing boards from this tea cupboard and release its contents., The Christian Doctrine of the Trinity is upheld by some as a border checkpoint to restrict access, while it is disparaged by others as extra baggage to be left behind. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies, where she specialized in early music and liturgical drama: training that would prove to serve her well in her later work as a spiritual teacher. . And as usual, she reveals it to be something we hadnt expected at all. Reading this it caused me to say yes outloud, enthusiastically, a number of times. I have been teaching the Enneagram for 23 years, having studied with all of the major schools of Enneagram understanding, and have read over thirty books on the Enneagram, and I would agree with you that most of the authors descriptions of the Seven Enneagram personality hit some of the notes, but generally miss the deeper aspect I have found in Sevens whom I have interviewed more deeply. In remarkably diverse and myriad approachesfrom the practical, personal, and social to the infinitely sublimeshe invites all of us to participate in the conversation. She divides her time between solitude in her seaside hermitage in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom paths. Her roots are firmly planted in the Benedictine monastic tradition, her wings soar in the Christian mystical lineage, and her wisdom is tempered by daily mindfulness and embodiment practice learned through more than thirty years of participation in the Gurdjieff Work. E-courses provide an easy way to dive in deeper to some of Cynthias most powerful teachings without having to leave home! So, while I was always a bit confused with your reticence to the Enneagram, when I went to London to hear Russ two summers ago and brought it back to my students, the results spoke for themselves. Where were they taking me? heathwood hall faculty; will a dui show up on a fingerprint check; paulette gebara farah disability; last minute diy star wars costumes; cynthia bourgeault daughters. Thus the wound for me was the loss of knowing what love felt like. People with a dominant Social Subtype of Seven called sacrifice can be other-sensitive, responsible, more subdued, accepting of limitations and able to postpone their own gratification for the sake of a bigger goal. One more thing. She divides her time between solitude in her seaside hermitage in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom paths. For example, if Im in 1 the last prescription I need is to buckle down and do more work or take more responsibility but if Im in 7 thats exactly whats needed! . In 2013 she became a core faculty member of the center for Action and contemplation, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. and I will die. I screamed in terror for my parents, but my cries elicited no response neither from my parents (who were actually right on the other side of the classroom wall), nor from the teacher, who simply informed me that the longer I misbehaved, the longer it would take for the class to be over. One of the most fascinating, humbling, and awe-inspiring books Ive read in years. ~ Brian D. McLaren, author/speaker/activist. In each case, I eventually came to see the rightness of this fit and it immeasurably expanded my awareness of the ways this point may be embodied. But the real driving motivation, I believe, is never the self-nurturing itself, but maintaining the freedom-of-motion which the Seven believes is required in order to perform these self-nurturing rituals. What she claims, in a nutshell, is that embedded within this theological formula that Christians recite mostly on autopilot lies a powerful metaphysical principle that could change our understanding of Christianity and give us the tools so long and so sorely needed to reunite our shattered cosmology, rekindle our visionary imagination, and cooperate consciously with the manifestation of Jesus Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. The Gluttony for some Sevens is indeed piling up a lifetime full of high living and endless exciting adventures. But for others the gluttony is a continual need for mental stimulation and busyness to avoid the dread of disconnection. Rafe was the hermit monk at St. Benedict's monastery. She is a faculty member emeritus of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the founding director of an international network of Wisdom schools, uniting classic Christian mystical and monastic teaching with contemporary practices of mindfulness and embodied presence. The first means to hold up, to sustainlike a bearing wall, which carries the weight of the house. Later, I recognised that the allocation of Envy to a four is correct! A brilliant analysis of nondual Christianity in theory and in practice and a major contribution to the Centering Prayer movement and to interspiritual dialogue.~Thomas Keathing, author ofOpen Mind, Open Heart. Thanks, also, for bringing in the range of Sevens experience. All rights reserved. More detail on these books can be found here. Ive read, and found useful, Rohr and Palmer but eventually gave up on really understanding all the connections and numbers and cross-overs. I. did. More and more, love draws its replenishment from love itself: from the practice of conscious love, expressed in your mutual servanthood to one another. Most interesting, Cynthia. It was there that the lineaments of Cynthias Wisdom teaching really began to take shape. That teaching was characterized by a nondualistic approach to the world and by a deep understanding of the value of the feminine. It is motion. Her sincerity, good sense, metaphysical depth, and broad experience make her a source to be trusted.~Kabir Helminski, Sufi Shaikh, the Threshold Society. It will resonate with beginners on the Centering Prayer Path as well with seasoned practitioners. She invited members of her Wisdom School Community to join her in a rigorous practice with six of these exercises. Heres why: The Seven Central Motivation is for gratification, in what ever form it might take it is still the thirst for experience. From the start she has taken an active interest in mentoring a new generation of Wisdom teachers and leaders, and it has been a joy to watch their emergence. Less and less does it draw its waters from the old springs of romance, and you should not worry if over time these dimensions fade or are seen less frequently. Everything that is tough and brittle shatters; everything that is cynical rots. To believe all things means always to orient yourselves toward the highest possible outcome in any situation and strive for its actualization. Hey Cynthia, Im in the process of becoming certified to teach the Enneagram and found myself landing squarely in the 7. yes wholeheartedly to NOW. Thanks Cynthia for your post. It is invisible to the physical eye, but clearly perceptible through the eye of the heart. I really like the way youve laid this out here, and I am grateful to know that someone I admire so much has these traits in common with me! To live in a long term monastery setting while immersing in contemplation is what my spirit & my mind needs. And yeah, after all these years, Im finally claiming Seven as my home plate. Thus began my addiction to tempus fugit as a surrogate form of nurturing and an escape route from the existential terror I, by this time, knew only too well. Founding director of the British Columbia-based Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School, she has now returned home to the East Coast to divide her time between Wisdom teaching, writing, and solitude at her small hermitage on Eagle Island in Maine. She delves into the connections between our inner consciousness and what happens in the world, exploring the transformative energy and governing conventions that make the manifestation of this realm possible. You would recognize me if you saw my face Swans Island connection, [] WHICH ENNEAGRAM TYPE IS CYNTHIA? The fruit of that alchemypresented hereis a profoundly renewed vision of Mystical Courage, a hope and strength emerging from beyond our own making that is available right now to guide our way. The strength of a lineage depends on the strength of its students, Cynthia believes. Or, more accurately, it renews itself in a different way. Avoid spiritual materialism., Our job is to hold a post in the resonant field. . She examines how the practice is related to the classic tradition of Christian contemplation, looks at the distinct nuances of its method, and explores its revolutionary potential to transform Christian life. These recent writings by Cynthia represent the depth of her Wisdom teaching as it is applied to the times in which we are currently living. You can learn more about the inner dimensions of Cynthias spiritual journey in her blog series entitledI am not a Space that God does not Occupy. I have counseled Fours who wished to be Sevens and Sevens who wished to Fours. An emeritus faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, she is the author of numerous books, including Eye of the Heart, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, and The Meaning of Mary Magdalene. At the age of seven months I suffered a nearly fatal bout with pneumonia at the hands of my Christian Science mother, who refused on religious principle to call a doctor. 741 Kindle Edition $1399$16.95 Careers Amazon Newsletter Having tried out other beds, we find the one that is just right. Theres both the pleasure and also the (sometimes intense) discomfort of seeing ourselves more clearly. Humorous how folks tend to bar code themselves and others as this or that and also how I have resisted claiming a specific number despite being comfirmed as a Type 4 and needing to be special the saving grace was that I could claim a 5 wing! . But I think there is something here that is still not being seen by enneagram afficionados, and if these deeper waters were better understood, a lot of people like myself, who still find themselves without a home base in the enneagram, might find a way in. Replace duration with volume and depth., Letting go is a powerful act. Yet in the midst of suffering, Love proceeds like a millstone, hard-surfaced and straight forward. Im very happy to see you opening up dialogue between the Wisdom Tradition and the Enneagram because thats the direction my teaching has taken in helping my teenagers get some some of discernment about fast-arriving decisions that they need to make. blessings, Faye, As an almost sure 4, I wholeheartedly concurr Faye. An underlying sense of disconnection between call and response, appearance and reality became the filter through which the seven learned to view the world, leading to a chronic (and at times acute) sense of existential dread. Thanks so much for your contribution. This Seven is considered a counter-type, because this type expresses a kind of counter-gluttony. To quote Chestnut again, Social Sevens go against the Seven passion of gluttony in that they sacrifice their gluttony to become a better person and to work for a better world in which there is no pain or conflict. Cynthia said that "centering prayer grows an inner ground of receptivity, a place to rest and assimilate". What emerged over a six-week collective journey was a remarkable series of revelations and reflections encompassing not only the Gurdjieff tradition but her own deep insights into the Christian mystical and Wisdom traditions, together with sagacious tips on practice and a prophetic vision of a post-pandemic future. The trap, which is the egoic insistence of the CM is for more experience which is called hedonism. For many sevens, the profile of gluttony may indeed appear to fit superficially, at least. Robert Pynn, poet and Dean Emeritus of the Anglican Cathedral, Calgary, Alberta. Here youll find Cynthia in lively conversation with some leading-edge spiritual commentators on topics of both perennial and current interest. Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader. To bear [also] means to give birth, to be fruitful. So love is that which in any situation is the most life-giving and fruitful. In the midst of a deeper paradigm shift, with all the hopes and fears that surface in times of change, Cynthias voice is that of a spiritual teacher who knows the territory from the inside out. When she died on my birthday in 2015, she taught me an even greater revelationthe expanding awe of death and resurrection. Stereotyping is such a huge problem in the Enneagram world. While I can see certain points of congruence (after all, my mom was a Four, my dad a Six, and most of my partners Fives, so I know these types well), none of them really resonated and more important, none of them really captured my interest. Nothing in the cosmos works in service to the individual., Dont watch the individual pieces, watch how they flow. The core pathology is not distraction but flight. I guess I can give you the outside version. So now, for all of you out there: in your experience, do youknow any Sevens that work the way Im laying out here? The passion classically assigned to the Seven is gluttony, but I believe this assignation rests on a misunderstanding of the true motivation driving the Seven typology, plus a comparable misunderstanding of the true nature of the passion in question. . Cynthia Bourgeault, Love Is Stronger than Death: The Mystical Union of Two Souls (Monkfish Book Publishing: 2014, 2007, 1999, 1997), 171-174. It felt better and Ive stuck with that. La Casa de Maria squeaked through the fires only to succumb . Thank you for the gift of new understanding. At those times when stress mounts and romance seems far away, how do you practice that conscious love that will renew itself and renew your relationship? . Very helpful. Love hopes all things.. Surrender, obedience, attention. If one takes into account ones harmony tri-type (as described by David Daniels and others), wings, arrows, and sub-types, it certainly allows one a much richer fit though I dont think any model is ever going feel adequate to the complexity of each human being (and can you tell, my main type is a 4!). I hope you will find it quite profound, as I did. Their spiritual visions of immanence, sometimes called panentheism, are serving as a path of spiritual return for a growing number of seekers today. Published by the Center for Action and Contemplation. It is in the relentless planning, orchestrating, designing, creating options and possibilities, that the Prosperos castle that passes for their life is constructed and maintained. To have nonangry care by mom I had to let go of loving dad. Though it feels like deliberately walking into the dark void of the NOW, centering prayer is the infinitely powerful path to move beyond, the sense of paralyzing dread called forth by the engulfing immediacy of the present where the egoic escape route of flight into the future is cut off and instead resting peacefully in the infinite love of God. To the extent that we touch and be in abundance in our own life, we become prophets of hope., The deep surrender of self through Kenosis is the access path to abundance, not your will., Imaginal causality is patterned. Re-listening to Russ recent teaching on point 7 and the instincts, and Im seeing more clearly how my line to 7 from my core point of 1 gets expressed through my dominant instinct of social, and my secondary instinct of self pres. Please visit his blog, In A Spacious Place, for more. i resonate more with your vulnerability that frees-at least it does for me as a FOUR. Not so with Bourgeaults impassioned invitation to chant the Psalms. Sevens hide in time. Lettingbecreates new worlds., Dont correct back to positivity if what you want is equanimity., Kenosis and self-calming are opposite ends of the spectrum., Conscious labor and intentional suffering are the joysticks we use to navigate the universe., We derive our selfhood from the relational field. Cynthia is the author of eight books: The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, The Wisdom Jesus, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Chanting the Psalms, and Love is Stronger than Death. She divides her time between solitude in her seaside hermitage in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom paths. Ian Brown, You said it perfectly for me, Ian. I have a very similar trajectory to yours in terms of finding my number, in that I initially identified myself as a Seven but found that mainstream descriptions of the Seven did not take into account my desire to help others and make a difference in my work, and my fear of seeming selfish or frivolous. Practitioners of Centering Prayer are known for the great enthusiasm they bring to the practice of this ancient discipline. Cynthia Bourgeault speaks of the Imaginal Roadmap, offering a much broader perspective o. When we discover our core type, theres a Goldilocks feel to it. Result of being Satellites Love bears all things. This does not mean a dreary sort of putting-up-with or victimization. . I panicked. What flows out as these qualities is the fruit of an alchemy that goes on deep within our being, using our being as the raw material, in which who we are and our pleasures and self-maximization is somehow changed through conscious labor and intentional suffering.. . The imaginal realm has long been associated with the personal world of dreams, prophecy, and oracles, and it also points toward a higher vision of our human purpose that is both evolutionary and collective. Thank you for writing it so beautifully. I have been identified both as a Four and a Five. On the surface they appear energetically more restrained than other Sevens and are often mis-typed. When you were saying that you come up as a more dutiful type on some of the tests, it would seem, according to the descriptions in The Complete Enneagram, that you are probably the counter-type, or Social Seven. Loves comes on strong, consuming herself, unabashed. Cynthia Bourgeault Modern day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader, Cynthia Bourgeault divides her time between solitude at her seaside hermitage in Maine, and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom path. St. Benedict & # x27 ; s monastery because this type expresses a kind of counter-gluttony internationally retreat... Students, cynthia believes Seven is considered a counter-type, because this expresses. A Five contemplation, in a long term monastery setting while immersing in contemplation is my. Answer your question, yes I have met self-identified 7s who fit your description beds! 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