Recently a Brit working in Canada complained to me that Canadian politicians are indecisive and don’t like to take strong stances or make controversial decisions. His observations really caught my attention, not because they were new to me, but because that is precisely how I had felt for a long time. I relate these particular characteristics and much more, to the “personality” of Canada, according to the Enneagram personality system.

I realized I hadn’t mentioned the Enneagram in this blog or in other recent writings, which is a glaring omission, since it is such a powerful life tool. I’ve never been a great fan of systems that claim to explain everything. However, 25 years ago, I was introduced to the Enneagram by my meditation teacher, Dhiravamsa with whom I was intensively studying to be a meditation teacher. At that time, in the early-mid 1980s, there were no published books on the Enneagram; it was a secret, direct-transmission system (originally from the Sufi masters) passed on from teacher to student. Dhiravamsa, one of the earliest high-level Eastern meditation masters to come to the West, received this knowledge from one of his own meditation students, Claudio Naranjo, who is regarded as a pioneer in integrating the Enneagram into Western culture, especially from the psychological perspective. From decades of experience, including my personal life and my interactions with many students and countless others, I consider this knowledge to be extremely valuable in terms of understanding human behavioural (specifically personality) patterns. It includes inter-personal interactions with family, co-workers, employers, employees, national leaders, and eventually, countries (some more obvious than others). In my broad estimation, I would say that 80-90 % of mature, human behaviour stems from the Enneagram personality types and early childhood experience… the latter often according with the Enneagram personality, which seems to be present at birth and therefore preceding specific early childhood experience.

To me, Personality is an individualized behavioural system which is analogous to the Physical body. We are “burdened” or “blessed” with specific attributes, which current societal norms might find “appealing” or “unappealing”. These are obviously and increasingly physical… we’re “hot” or “not”, depending on current social norms. However, we also have personality/ relationship characteristics, the impact of which society presently does not recognize… but which may be sub-consciously “appealing” or “unappealing” at deep, mostly unconscious levels. To me, it was obvious that George W. Bush was a paranoid manipulator, or at least subject to paranoid manipulators… as is Steven Harper in Canada. George W and Stephen H may be the same personality… or not… but in the end, they are subject to the same personality forces. These are not what they present on the surface. There are specific, easily determinable dynamics in play within their respective personalities…. which are not commonly recognized by the People. If this is true, then Democracy is lessened, diluted and undermined.

In the Enneagram system, the 9 personality types are depicted as being 9 points on a circle, with specific “arrows” of behavioural interconnection across the circle. If we look at this system from the broadest/ most profound perspective, we may conclude that the 9 points are just different perspectives on Reality… each legitimate and logically sound (because they are on the greater Circle)….but they do not encompass the Totality/ Oneness/ Circle of all perspectives. In order to move from our own specific, compulsive perspective, we need to let go and surrender… become Unattached (which is what the Buddha advised). In short, we need to embody not just one point of the Circle, but the Whole Circle, which requires a Spiritual journey of progression and transcendence of present impediments and compulsions.

Getting back to specifics, Canada is probably a #9 Enneagram personality, wanting everything to be “settled” and comfy… avoiding conflict at all costs. They want “harmony/ peace” but don’t like conflict or argument. Because they so want to be “settled”, they don’t have much self-starting initiative, relying on others to draw them into activity. Lo and Behold, the personality of the United States is a # 3, which is directly connected within the Enneagram system with the #9 personality and which leads the #9… which is what we see manifesting in many policy spheres….economy, global warming, military (Afghanistan) etc.

The USA is predominantly a # 3 personality with a significant # 1 component. The #3 personality is the Liberal/ media savvy/ marketing and sales/ image manipulation; the # 1 aspect is the Conservative/ Pioneer/ family oriented/ pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality (which is prevalent in China). The #3 is predominant but the #1 is a very strong counteractive force.

As other examples, Japan and the UK are predominantly #4 personalities… sensitive, aloof from the masses (they are actually Islands). on which they look down but simultaneously envy. China is a #1 personality; India is predominantly #9. What a great and amusing Dance!!

AJ

PS: For those of you wanting to learn more about the Enneagram, Jeff Willis of the Tai Chi & Meditation Centre is giving a workshop in Toronto, November 26. Location: Fraser Studios, 115 Danforth ( near Broadview) Time: 7:00 p.m. Cost: $35

As I write, it’s an evening of resplendent purity. A fresh breeze blows from the northwest, and the late summer sun bathes the tops of the trees in a heavenly splendour. Migrating birds begin to head south. Ripples form on the indigo waters of the bay, and there is an absolute serenity. I’m in Canada’s largest city, but this is a respite from all of its hurly-burly.

This seems so far from the world of ambition, incessant competition, and self-promotion that most of us are embroiled in. What are the roots of our modern predicament, and can there be any escape from its wearisome struggle?

Many centuries ago, the historical Buddha pointed out the origins of the fundamental dissatisfaction most of us experience as what he termed “Dukkha”. He penetrated even deeper to show with a scientific clarity that existence as we know it is characterized by change and insubstantiality. He made no claims to supernatural or divine inspiration, but claimed that anyone who was so inclined could share his perceptions. Moreover, he offered the possibility of transcending the dualism of earthly existence.

“Dukkha’s” forms are infinite. We endeavour to stave off the fact of the world’s and our own impermanence with a myriad of gambits. From fear, hate, jealousy, and anger, to greed, ambition, and lust for power in any of its forms, Dukkha ‘s reign seems unshakeable. Yet how many of us see that succumbing to anger, refusing to forgive, or using material accumulation as a substitute for authentic meaning are all forms of suffering? Refuge in drugs, sensationalistic sexuality and violence, and longing for recognition through media attention are still more manifestations. As we grow more numbed by the lurid, we crave ever-increased stimulation. Dukkha can be individual, but it can also be collective. A society’s insistence on success and its images excludes those who don’t fit the criteria. And for the select few who fit, there grows a disproportionately increasing shadow of those who do not. In the Daoist Chinese view, this can be seen as the play of Yin and Yang: for every light, there is a dark, and for every success there must be a failure.

To inquire into the nature of suffering is to begin to see the possibility of a different way of life, and this is the true meaning of meditation.

jeff w.

This is just a short, personal story. A couple days ago, I was adjusting the nylon cords on my weed-wacker, stupidly about 4 feet off the ground, rather than inches close to the ground as I normally do. The spring on the mechanism fell off and disappeared. Without the cheap spring, the relatively expensive weed-wacker does not work. I was in the middle of a (gray coloured) gravel patch and of course, springs bounce. The spring was also the same gray colour as the gravel.

In 3 separate periods, probably totaling 1 ½ hours, I methodically searched an extended area around the gravel patch and the surrounding grass. I created mental grids in my mind, calculating the maximum bounce, and methodically scanned them inch by inch, grid by grid. I did this time and time again, with increasing frustration and puzzlement.

Yesterday, at the end of my wits, it suddenly came into my mind to try to locate it energetically, using my open hand as a kind of super, metallic scanner. I scan the energetics of humans, animals and plants but never thought to extend it to metals. I started my novel, scanning project and was surprised that my hand was immediately energized. After less than 2 minutes, my hand picked up enhanced energy from a planter box with young tomato plants. My first intellectual conclusion was that the plants had enhanced energy so that was to be expected. However, I decided to go with the flow and explore further. The errant spring was nestled in the planter, hidden under the low-lying leaves of a tomato plant… about 4-5 feet from where the spring dropped.

What does this mean? Perhaps nothing… perhaps something!

Andy James

Early on in my meditation practice, I began to inquire into the process of thought. While it was obvious that my mind in meditation was consumed by snippets of old songs, memories of my mom’s floor polisher, or old bankbook statements, I realized that most of the process of thought was memory. Those memories consumed a lot of effort in their preservation, and mostly they encroached on the present. I was literally living in the past, in thousands of ways. It was like living in a house crammed full of old newspaper stacks and boxes of junk.

Moreover, I began to see the two-fold nature of thought. Any issue I could conceive could have at least two facets: for/against, good/bad, me/other. People talk generally about clear thinking, but I began to realize thought is never really clear. It is always caught in this duality. Since thought is our dominant mode of apprehension, what could be an alternative?

According to the teachings of the Buddha, an antidote for thought is insight, or clear seeing. Accessing a different kind of intelligence can enable us to supersede thought, and use it for its strengths, while not succumbing to its weaknesses. Insight shows us when thought is necessary, as in learning to drive or solving a mechanical problem, like fixing a water pump on my ancient sailboat engine. But thought’s limitations reveal themselves in deeper questions as “What will I do with my life?” At such times, thought must recede into the background so that a deeper intelligence can operate. In my experience, this deeper intelligence only emerges in quietude. For that, meditation is essential.

It is clear that our over-consumptive, hyper-active, outward-directed world is taking a toll on both the planet and ourselves. Stress levels are high. Health issues predominate, even in our technologically sophisticated milieu. Try as we may to find meaning for ourselves in external pursuits, each attempt ultimately fails to deliver. I see this as the chimaera of thought ensnaring us in yet another disguise- that of being saved by technology.

The inner directs the outer, and so we literally are what we think. Unless our inward houses are in order, we cannot act with the clarity and compassion that are so urgently needed.

Jeff

We act from ideas and impulses tumbling out hap hazardously from within us, yet our education and upbringing rarely help us understand these inner forces or even encourage exploration. We’re focused on mastering the “external” world and getting ahead of the next person, without really understanding the source or suitability of our non-stop impulses and actions.

As our technology and weapons grow ever more powerful, our inner neglect keeps us at a level wherein we continue to make short-sighted, emotional, contradictory and sometimes, outright destructive choices. The growing gap between the power of our technology and our ability to use it wisely is volatile and dangerous (at both the individual and collective levels), because it is akin to a child wielding a powerful, automatic weapon… which is actually now happening with increasing frequency around the world. Over 2000 years ago, Socrates observed, “The unexamined life is not worth living”.

In considering our vast, inner potential, I like to distinguish between two types of potential: 1) Skills, tools and power. 2) Wisdom concerning who or what is using the tools etc. and why. 2500 years ago, the Buddha made a similar distinction between the two main streams of meditation: Samatha (focus, one-pointedness, concentration) and Vipassana (direct-seeing wisdom), which is a pre-requisite to enlightenment. The former practice can lead to trance states and extraordinary abilities, but by itself, not to enlightenment.

It seems that the overwhelming majority of human beings is seeking greater power in order to fulfill their desires. In the “external” world, this may mean greater wealth, beauty, fame etc. at whatever cost and via whatever means. In the “internal” world, it may mean extraordinary powers, which may of course also lead to fame and wealth. Thinner, more muscular bodies and good-looking “charisma” do not necessarily lead to enlightenment, even if touting yoga, meditation etc.. Indeed, they may be just a subtler form of conventional, egotistic marketing.

The Buddha’s Four Noble Truths point out that we suffer because we are attached - we tend to hold on to what we like and run away from what we dislike. Buddha explains that since all things are impermanent and insubstantial, there is nothing that we can really grasp and hold on to. I quote the Buddha here not because I believe the Buddha and am a formal “Buddhist”, but because I have, over decades of meditative inquiry, personally explored these dynamics and found them to be true. Power, tools or abilities in themselves do not guarantee happiness or even appropriate action, since they have no innate direction. Thus, there may be the benevolent or malevolent dictator; the black or white magician or sorcerer, the integrated or disintegrated martial arts master etc.

Deep Wisdom is the ability to act with a more evolved consciousness of who you really are and the many ways you are interconnected with the planet and the cosmos – it usually expands the sense of “I” and “We”. The conventional “reality” that “I am an island, enclosed within my skin”, bumping up against other islands is substantially inaccurate. The great wisdom teachers long ago told us that we are all interconnected and interdependent, and modern science and technology is verifying that fact more and more.

So in caring for your “internal environment” or practicing “internal or integral ecology”, remember to distinguish between new, exciting Tools and the User of those tools. Inquiry into the User is less “sexy” and market-friendly, but far deeper and in the end, more rewarding. This usually takes guidance from an experienced teacher.

Any ideas or questions on this subject?