Point 8
True Strength
Living Life as a Lionhearted Adventurer
Working on the obstacles to weakness, or to strength, through understanding our early dynamics, gives us more access to true strength, and integrates this state of Being in our present consciousness. True strength can be heat or fire in the belly or a flow of red-hot strength. We might feel strong with a sense of capacity or wholeness. It is a strength that does not fade or decrease. It can only expand and deepen, and it gives our life great vigor, aliveness, and expansiveness. That expansion can become unstoppable and endless if we continue our spiritual journey. This is the key to unlocking the knot of the Eight’s fixation. But this also gives us a strength that will be useful in our life, in our spiritual practices in general, and in dealing with the core of all types. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p38)
Point 6
Personal Will
Landing in the Grounded Support of Being
If we are a Six (or any type), personal will gives us the key to unraveling our fixation and tackling its core with more capacity. It is the appropriate tool from the invisible world, and it helps us liberate ourselves from all the distorting, crippling, and problematic patterns and traits. At the same time, we are regaining access to an important aspect of our being that will help us in living our life with confidence and steadfastness, just as it can assist us in our practices with true commitment and certainty. We can focus and stay steady in that focus. We can be mindful and not forget the mindfulness thanks to our natural steadfastness and a genuine nonconceptual commitment. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p54)
Point 2
Merging Love
Embodying the Melting Sweetness of Being
Besides unraveling the deeper knots of the type and supporting our inner practice, the experience and integration of this aspect is quite an addition to our life. As an enormous enrichment of our heart the merging love can spill over to our relationships and life in general. Our giving becomes genuine, the heart connectedness is real, and flattery and manipulation are no longer needed. In other words, the integration of the merging gold into one’s soul makes type Two more sincere and truthful, more direct and transparent in their interactions and dealings with the world. But you don’t have to be a Two to have this generous heartfulness or this way of approaching life and relationships. You simply need access to the essential quality. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p66)
Point 1
Brilliancy
Knowing the Luminous Intelligence of True Nature
By integrating brilliancy – the essence of intelligence and the true perfection – we learn about our being in a significant way, and we know presence with more depth. Brilliancy is powerful for gaining synthesizing insights from many dimensions because it brings us the capacity for synthesis that is not available to the ordinary mind. And brilliancy also provides the specific key that can unravel the shell of the One type and help penetrate its deeper core. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p78)
Point 3
Personal Essence
Maturing into Divine Humanness
Looking at our capacity to be personal, our capacity for contact and relating in a real way, and at our functionality, we become open to the arising of the true person that we are. A real person is a human being, free from the mind, the demands of time, and the influence of culture and family – a truly autonomous individual, in the world but not of it. This truth is what feeds the soul as it grows and matures. This maturation becomes an essential individuation, culminating in the station of the pearl beyond price, the royalty of the inner realm. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p92-93)
Point 4
Essential Identity
Knowing You are the Luminous, True Self
The essential identity is a particular sense of presence and nowness. It is both an identity and a timeless sense of being or presence. At the same time, as we realize and integrate this essential identity, we become free from the patterns of the Four type, and we realize the qualities and characteristics behind the idealization. We are authentic, special in an ordinary way that does not require the limelight or applause, deep and profound without having to announce it to others or create dramas around it. We are original by simply being ourselves, and our creativity tends to be naturally and spontaneously original, without us having to seek out originality. We are complete, and our expressions are true and authentic. We live simply in freedom that does not seek recognition. This is the true inner freedom. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p106)
Point 7
Pleasure Vehicle
Revealing the Bliss of Inner Truth
The more we are loyal to the inner truth, regardless of what it is, the closer we are to the Markabah. It is the turn inward, the loyalty to the path of inner truth that can become the shortest route to this multi-faceted vehicle of delight and pleasure. For it is the turning inward toward the truth that reveals itself as the soul’s greatest pleasure – coming home to itself. This discovery can be so deep it can lead to realization and some degree of liberation. This is true for all types, but the vehicle of essential pleasure is particular to the Seven type, and so it is most important for them to examine where their true loyalties and priorities lie. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p121)
Point 9
Boundless Love
Discovering the Goodness, Richness, and Holding of the Spiritual Universe
By experiencing and integrating [Boundless Love] and by recognizing it is a quality of their nature, Nines may see their patterns begin to reveal themselves as historical distortions and impressions. If Nines – or any of us – are lucky or prepared enough to experience divine love itself, then it becomes a nondual awakening to reality, where we experience the unity of being as love and goodness. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p134)
Point 5
Diamond Guidance
Liberating the Soul Through Essential Intellect
Through awakening the essential intellect, Fives are liberated from the limited mental perspective that dominates the shell and this open-mindedness and direct knowing is vital to help penetrate the core of their fixation. But all types will benefit from access to the Diamond Guidance – synthesizing what is known and penetrating what is unknown as it provides understanding and insight for the soul’s journey toward liberation. (Adapted from Keys to the Enneagram, p149)
