The Enneagram of Society: Healing the Soul to Heal the World (Consciousness Classics) - Softcover

Naranjo MD, Claudio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 089556159X ISBN 13: 9780895561596

Publisher: Gateways Books & Tapes, 2005

Synopsis

Seeking to draw parallels between the one and the whole, this work is as much a study of individual character as a critique of society and its institutions. Viewed through the lens of the enneagram, a personality system that divides people into nine character types, this analysis aligns each of the ailments and difficulties of the individual characters with the broader "ills of the world." In addition to providing a discussion of the theological and psychological background of the enneagram, this work examines the interaction between the various ennea-types and theology's deadly sins. Each character type is presented in light of specific habits and behaviors that diminish a person's ability to give and receive unconditional love. The ensuing essay on the character of nations and cultures presents a commentary on the perennial flaws of modern society and the "defective operation" of social institutions and governments. Rather than proposing a political or revolutionary agenda as a solution, this text advocates a healing process that begins with individuals and associations of people as the ultimate means of effecting the habits of larger social spheres.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"The reason for the misery of the world lies in the misery of the soul." This is the basic premise of Claudio Naranjo's fundamental work on mapping out personality types according to the Enneagram and its application for the study of the individual and collective consciousness. Dr. Naranjo, a pioneer of the Human Potential Movement and of transpersonal psychology analyzes in these pages the correspondence between disorders of personality and social pathologies, between cardinal sins of the individual--pride, anger, envy, vanity...--and those of humanity--authoritarianism, repression, corruption, violence.... The miseries of the world and our incapacity to maintain healthy relationships can only be resolved if we know and understand that the miseries of the soul have to be remedied first in order to remedy the illnesses of society. "If we consider it to be difficult for a healthy society to be able to exist without the underlying fundament of healthy individuals, it becomes imperative to recognize the political value of individual transformation..."

From the Author:

It is obvious that we currently find ourselves in a planetary crisis. To deny this, you have to be either blind or a messianic visionary for whom the future is already present. But it is best for us not to think like this. Nor does it serve us to neglect what is crucial to us. It has been said, "God helps those who help themselves." What then are we to do? This book proposes the following: 1. Work towards our spiritual progress. 2. Cultivate the love that shines both towards the other and towards the self, the love which is found in the sphere of I/you--by working towards healthy interpersonal relationships. 3. Become aware of the ego, the illness or infection of "sin" that comes down to us through the generations--the visages of the accusing, fictitious Adversary--so as to be able to shield ourselves from its temptation. 4. To become aware of the reverberations of the psychopathology of character in the society that we have created, in order to be able to triumph over the lethal inertia of institutions.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gateways Books & Tapes
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 089556159X
• ISBN 13: 9780895561596
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 190