Introduction by Denise Daniels, PhD—Founder of the PDP Group—at The Narrative Enneagram, November 8, 2024

Download Denise’s Presentation PowerPoint in PDF >>

Contact: denise@drdaviddaniels.com

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this talk are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of all members of the PDP Group.

The Enneagram, Science, and My Father, Dr. David Daniels, MD

Greetings Everyone. I’d like to start by thanking The Narrative Enneagram for hosting this session to honor my father, David Daniels, and the soon to be released book with Dan Siegel and the PDP Group.

As mentioned, I’m David’s daughter and I am an Enneagram Type 3. I’ve spent 18 years as a scientist in the fields of sociobiology, developmental psychology and data science, 40 years studying the Enneagram and Gurdjieff, along with Sufism, Mystical Christianity, The Kabbalah, Buddhism, and the ancient texts of India, all by night. By day, I’ve been a Silicon Valley startup executive in ed tech, health tech, and next generation Internet technologies, including responsible AI for about 30 years. And, when asked, I do let people know, it has felt like three very different worlds — academia leading with critical thinking of the head, metaphysics leading with intuition of the heart, and Silicon Valley leading with gut instincts, where we try quickly, then succeed or fail fast, then try again. However, that body-intelligence has led to one of the hottest economies in the world. All in all, I’m a big picture thinker, I know a small amount about many fields, and I come with my Type 3 bias.

A lot has happened in the 20 plus years since we started the Patterns of Developmental Processing project (now the Patterns of Developmental Pathways), so I’m going to provide an introductory talk to both tell you how Dan Siegel came to be part of this project AND to provide some big picture context. And, we have a diverse group, so I’m planning to use mainly traditional Enneagram nomenclature, and Dan will provide the PDP language.

The Story of Founding the Bringing in Dan Siegel and Founding the Patterns of Developmental Pathways Group

I called Dan Siegel’s office in 2003 after reading Dan’s book “Parenting from the Inside Out.” What led to that phone call was a series of significant events in my life.

The first event was 1984-’88; the year dad introduced our family to the Enneagram. There it was a full explanation as to why the three children in our family had three very different personalities. In our family, with now four generations of therapists (in addition to my dad, my grandfather took workshops from Anna Freud, my brother is a brilliant practicing clinical psychologist, and my niece is finishing her MFT internship), we considered ourselves fairly aware, but the Enneagram revealed that we were not, we were coming from our biased lens of patterns 3, 6, 9. The Enneagram taught us to “witness” much more precisely our thoughts, feelings and instincts. We had to get re-acquainted with ourselves from the inside out. Remarkably a rapid acceptance of each other set in. We could see ruptures caused by our emotional reactivity, but repair them with apology and forgiveness. We knew how to help each other, rather than stew in anger. We could laugh and tease each other, rather than judge. The Enneagram was not only mindfulness for our own minds, but provides the ability to understand the minds of others.

The second event, during my doctoral studies, which I completed in 1985, I conducted research on three infant and child emotional based temperaments – anger, fear, and distress/sadness. My work led to a famous paper in developmental psychology titled “Why do children in the same family have such different personalities?” published in 1987, 2010 online. I also studied Thomas & Chess 9 temperaments in infants. Later, David mapped these to each of the 9 Enneagram types.

The next event was six years later, when our beloved brother and David’s son died in tragic circumstances in a NY subway. Shortly after his death, although still a skeptical scientist, I had a series of transcendental experiences, which exposed me to the spiritual world, and as a scientist I became a life-long student of the mystical. This time period also demonstrated the significance of a secure attachment, along with the Enneagram as a psycho-spiritual system, which ultimately made it possible to feel whole again.

The fourth event was the birth of my son in 2002, and a visit to Border’s books in 2003 where I spotted Dan’s book “Parenting from the Inside Out.” And, in Dan’s words, “Mindfulness is at the heart of nurturing relationships. When we are mindful, we live in the present moment and are aware of our own thoughts and feelings and also are open to those of our children.” I love this quote as it is right at the brink of mindfulness going mainstream!

The Story Continued

Dan picked up the phone when I called, I told him about David’s work, the Enneagram and 9 paths of becoming mindful, the possibility of genetic, generational, and even spiritual inheritance of personality and how secure attachment led to better well-being outcomes no matter your Enneagram type. Dan invited David and I to his talk on attachment at the International Neonatal Society in San Francisco. The meeting and lunch with Dan, on December 4, 2003, was magical and I could tell that we all held deeper perspectives on the human condition.

David invited Dan to Vallombrosa in February 2004 to take an intensive with he and Helen Palmer in The Narrative Enneagram. Many of us from TNE were there including Erlina Edwards, Terry Saracino, and Peter O’Hanrahan. David invited Jack and I invited Laura. Vallombrosa was the birthplace of our project. I felt we could reveal why siblings have such different personalities and how emotions, cognition and motivation work in the human body. I also wanted to form a working group so we could bring the profound knowledge of the Enneagram to the scientific community. For me, the preciseness revealed by the laws of 1, 3, and 7 embedded in the Enneagram diagram could advance the field of psychology.

It was also important to bring forward the bias of both scholars and therapists. After all, the classical examples of theory from great psychologists were developed by Freud (likely a 5 or 6 with attention on sub-conscious motives), Jung, (possibly a 4 or 9 with acknowledgement of the shadow and symbols of humanity’s origin), Rogers (likely a 9 advocating unconditional positive regard), Pearls (a likely 8 promoting self-sovereignty), and Ellis (a potential 7 with a theory of emotion generated from irrational thought) — but did they know their therapeutic advice might not work for all Enneagram types?

Within five years, we had a paper ready and submitted to the American Psychologist, but after three reviews we were rejected.

We took a seven-year hiatus, during which David and Dan’s friendship grew, David and Jack presented at the IEA, and Laura and I continued to explore Eastern philosophy. Then, after David’s death in 2017, Dan contacted us about publishing our work as a book with Norton Publishing. A lot had changed between 2004 and 2018 – meditation and mindfulness had gone mainstream, integrative medicine had established findings, and research demonstrating the value of spiritual practices was published in numerous journals. I was deep into data science and AI, and discovered that Google Scholar revealed thousands of research studies on the Enneagram and it’s positive impact, primarily in the fields of counseling, workplace settings, and education, but also even in computer and data science. As of November 2024, there are now over 9,000 articles with Enneagram in the title.

Dan, had published several best-selling books on the mind, awareness, presence, and intra-connectedness. David had been recognized for his association with and teaching of the Enneagram at Stanford University School of Medicine, the thousands of therapists he had trained, and his role as one of the founding fathers of the modern Enneagram. Dan and Jack had continued to study the work of Jaak Panksepp. Laura had integrated her yoga studies into teaching and research at USC.

Encouraged by both the widespread commercial and scientific study of the Enneagram and new findings in affective neuroscience, we were ready to translate the Enneagram for a scientific audience and bring forward an interpersonal neurobiology hypothesis for therapy.

The Enneagram and the Importance of Our Book Personality & Wholeness in Therapy…. It’s Personality From the Inside Out

So now, a bit of context on the Enneagram… For those new (and old) to the Enneagram, it’s an understatement to say the Enneagram is getting bigger, so I will provide that context.

First, The Enneagram is BIG in the amount of time it’s been around. The Enneagram is a 3-dimensional diagram revealing a map of consciousness, time, space, and motion, with evidence of the Enneagram mathematical patterns dating back 5,000 years in Egypt as well as contemplative traditions around the Mediterranean, where dissolving the ego (or personality) is essential to reliving suffering and receiving reality unobstructed from the bias of the ego. The modern Enneagram of Personality that we know today we can trace to Gurdjieff at the turn of the 20^th century in Europe and to Ichazo in the 1960’s in South America. What’s important to know is that through thousands of years, it has remained as nine patterns (no one has challenged that there might be 8 or 10). Indeed, the word Enneagram simply means 9 points (representing 9 single digit numbers in the decimal system – zero and nine start the top of the cycle) and through the mathematical laws of 1, 3, and 7, our ancestors connected the symbol with nine naturally occurring patterns in the universe as only some single digit numbers when divided into 1 produce a repeating decimal pattern that is infinite.
Next the Enneagram is BIG geographically. Internet search data reveals the word “Enneagram” could be in all 195 countries in our world. For the 135 countries that search in English, including all the countries in Africa there is search volume. There are 60 countries in other languages, Asian languages, and behind firewalls where Internet search for Enneagram is also hypothesized to be searched for. We know from The Narrative Enneagram that people of various nationalities, income-levels, races, and cultures all find themselves in one of the nine patterns.
Third, the Enneagram is BIG in impact on people. Search volume as reported on Semrush (Nov. 2024) per month is 1.3 Million; this excludes China and other countries that don’t search in English). The Truity commercial site (Nov. 2024) reports 1M people take an Enneagram test every month. Amazon (Nov. 2024) reports over 3,000 books with Enneagram in the title or sub-title. And Google (Nov. 2024) search reveals the creation of 15M webpages on the Enneagram describing its benefits. Although a guestimate, one of the most important stats is that thousands if not tens of thousands of professionally trained therapists, counselors, healers, and coaches throughout the world have brought the Enneagram and the healing journey of wholeness to their clients and I want to acknowledge and thank all of you.
Next, the Enneagram is BIG in terms of what it contains. Gurdjieff stated, “The Enneagram is a universal symbol. All knowledge can be included in the Enneagram and with the help of the Enneagram it (that knowledge) can be interpreted.” And, as mentioned earlier, all theories created by humans can be found in one or a subset of the nine points reflecting the Enneagram type of the author. Over the last 100 years numerous scholars and practitioners have mapped concepts of the world faiths and religions, of psychological theory, and philosophy to the Enneagram. And, now we are excited to release our book on how findings in affective neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology also map to the Enneagram and how the Enneagram map has helped us fill in missing pieces of underlying patterns of processing.
Finally, the Enneagram is getting BIGGER in the world of empirical science and starting in formal science. Between 1990 and November 2024 — 9,230 scholarly publications on the Enneagram come up in Google Scholar (a. 572 with Enneagram in the title, b. 7,678 with other titles like “9 types” or “personality types” or Enneagram used as a measure or mentioned in the article, and c. 1,030 older manuscripts that have citations but are not online) or, including peer reviewed journals, dissertations, book chapters and books. Many are early stage studies, but an estimated 15% are controlled, blind and clinical trials. A great deal of this research comes from Universities outside of North America ranging from Nigeria and Kenya to Iran, Iraq and Egypt, as well as Europe and in Asia such as Japan, Vietnam, and Korea. One of the largest research groups studying the Enneagram and conducting clinical trials is in Korea with positive results for using the Enneagram in education.

In my view the timing of Dan’s book with the PDP could not be better and I’m glad it took 20 years. The result of the Enneagram getting bigger is that it’s tilted to Enneagram typing through external traits. And, some scientists are comparing it to the DISC or the Big Five Personality Traits or the Myers Briggs. For the Enneagram this is not an apples to apples comparison, or even an apples to oranges comparison. Comparing these external personality trait systems to the Enneagram is like comparing an apple to the entire fruit basket of humanity. As Personality & Wholeness in Therapy reveals – it’s about knowing your Personality and that of others from the Inside Out. Our hypothesis about underlying neurobiology, pathways of temperament and attachment, motivation, cognition, and emotions reveals that the Enneagram and the Patterns of Developmental Pathways is known from turning inward, to “mindsight,” and what is going on inside.

Speaking for David: The Theme of Both/And in Science, Spirituality, The Enneagram and Personality and Wholeness

It takes the virtuous courage of a Loyal Skeptic to step forward with the Enneagram. Despite the initial skepticism that the Enneagram diagram engenders, we’ve had three open-mindset, integrative, curious, medically trained psychiatrists pave the way – Dr. Naranjo (a Type 5), Dr. Daniels (a Type 6), and now Dr. Siegel (a Type 6). And, we need to deeply acknowledge the work over the last 60 years of thousands of other professionally trained therapists, counselors, and coaches worldwide who have been using the Enneagram to heal people and to help their clients journey with inner peace and wholeness.

So, as the Enneagram continues to move forward into the mainstream narrative of science, it’s important for me to share with you what I learned from David about non-dual Both/And thinking.

David’s #1 Both/And: Spirituality AND Science

To start, I will quote my dad: “We are living in a time where scientific knowledge is catching up with the deeper insights found in esoteric and spiritual traditions, those that have been informing us for thousands of years.”

So, what I’d like to emphasize with heart and mind is that spirituality AND science of the Enneagram co-exist. Empirical science is what can be observed, what can be measured, and the ability to objectively carry out all five steps of the scientific process from hypotheses to making predictions to collecting data to analyzing that data and to drawing conclusions. (A world where properties of energy and matter gives rise to creation. A world of cause and effect and of natural selection, where our adaptive strategies allow us to survive and evolve.)

On the other hand, the spiritual is often what cannot be seen, to some extent what is in the realm of the un-measurable and seemingly mysterious, the moments when we are at one with all, or filled with the truth of unconditional love, or miraculously cease an addiction, or have answers drop in during a sunset to questions we have held for a long time. (A world where consciousness gives rise to creation. A world that is not just cause and effect, but also includes an unseen reconciliation or grace or third force that intelligently moves us forward (interestingly some of these concepts are also held by some quantum physicists).)

So, David would say that both co-exist. The nine Enneagram types can be understood as adaptive strategies that evolved over millions of years. And, a critical understanding is that the nine Enneagram types are tied to mathematical, possible cosmic laws; self-acting and intrinsic, some beyond-our-current comprehension, driven by what makes us whole, a part of what is contained in and organized in a purposeful universe.

Western empirical science we know today has been around for 400 years and we are getting better and better at measurement. Overtime, more of what is spiritual and non-measurable, will become measurable. In fact, Gurdjieff believed that over thousands of years, there will come a day when our measurements are so advanced that invisible human energy will be measurable and even visible.

Indeed, Dan Siegel leans into the E.O. Wilson’s view of consilience. Although spirituality and science utilizes different ways to know the world – mathematically, empirically, and esoterically, they actually arrive at a unity of knowledge. It’s Spirituality & Science; it’s the College of Arts & Sciences. Each can inform each other, share knowledge and reveal a unity of knowledge. We have the beautiful human capacity to know and experience the world both esoterically and empirically.

David’s #2 Both/And: Objectivity AND Subjectivity

I learned from both Helen Palmer and David Daniels that it is important to acknowledge objectivity and subjectivity within the Enneagram. Although everyone who joins an Enneagram panel or describes their inner experience can be thought of as their own subjective experience, that there are nine naturally occurring Enneagram or PDP personality patterns is objective from the lens of formal science.

Note about Denise: As a scientist I was drawn to the Enneagram initially for two reasons. First, the patterns when studied mathematically are objective, not filtered through a human lens or human-made theory. Second, the ancient origins and pure length of time that the Enneagram has been around revealed reliable stability and I found that quite remarkable. On the other hand, theory in the soft sciences reflects a cycle of proof and disproof. We all want to make our mark on the Enneagram. I have become increasingly interested in: (1) What is the Enneagram revealed by the mathematical laws of 1, 3, and 7, including points and connecting lines, and the 9 laws of objective wholeness? (2) What knowledge is informed by the Enneagram or Enneagram-inspired? And (3) When are we “bending” the Enneagram to fit our agenda? Naturally, all of this will happen, but it’s important for all of us to discern which of these three approaches we are taking. Leaning into the mathematical laws of the Enneagram brings exactness and preciseness, without that concepts get vague, watered down, or biased. Although the Patterns of Developmental Pathways started out to translate the Enneagram to interpersonal neurobiology, the final book is not the Enneagram, but rather Enneagram-inspired or Enneagram-informed and will be described in detail later.

David’s #3 Both/And: Evidence of the Enneagram – Mathematical, Empirical, AND Self-Evidence

What evidence do we have for the Enneagram? David would again point to a both/and. First, we know that the Enneagram is mathematically structured and reveals mathematical patterns based on mathematical laws. Second, we have empirical evidence. David and Helen Palmer along with The Narrative Enneagram provided a forum for thousands of self-reported narratives of people all over the world to speak about being one of the nine types. Along with The Narrative Enneagram self-reports, we now have published empirical research from thousands of studies worldwide. Third, David believed in self-evidence. At a certain point, he realized he did not need to defend the Enneagram. He began to observe that when people “woke up” to their type, figured out what Enneagram type their parents were, their siblings, their partner and even their boss, a deep desire to understand The Enneagram ensued. You became a scientist of one with a case study of one. Curiosity set in. The ah-ha moment of understanding your whole world and the important people in it became self-evident. Through using the inner observer –- separating yourself from your own thoughts, emotions and instincts — the objectivity of the nine patterns could be revealed to yourself. The Enneagram has been called “an objective reality” to those who are “awake.” With this realization David held tightly that before any of his teachings or workshops, he would have participants take The Essential Enneagram test. We know from the data that 60% would arrive with their ah-ha already in place, perhaps found their parents, and the others immensely curious.

David’s #4 Measurement: Paragraph Test AND the Narrative Method AND Trained/Certified Expert – A Journey, not a Destination

My dad was steadfast in saying the Enneagram paragraph test, called the Essential Enneagram test that he developed with renowned Stanford University Type A personality researcher Virginia Price, PhD was the best way to both identify and subsequently measure the nine patterns. The test was developed at Stanford University with a sample of 970 subjects. He believed that we needed to cluster together the thinking, emotional, and motivational statements. Individual statements, let alone behaviors, could not stand alone because of the Enneagram outside look-a-likes, and particularly, the context needed in order to accurately differentiate the critical nuances between the nine patterns. Along with the Essential Enneagram Test, he advocated the narrative method — openhearted listening to panels of people, awake to their type describing what was going on inside, so that listeners could recognize and assess with accuracy, the distinctive pattern in oneself. Often, a trained Enneagram expert through an interview could help someone find their type, but David knew this was a collaboration and relied on the interviewee for an inside revelation. Over the years, even Enneagram experts could miss-type someone.

In empirical science today, a 2020 scholarly review article by Hook, et al. reports the three most widely used instruments in science today are The RHETI, the Wagner EPSS, and The Essential Enneagram Test, with moderate to high reliability (.59 to .78) and validity (.54 to .87).

David’s #5 Both/And: The Enneagram AND The Patterns of Developmental Pathways

I’ve read David and Suzanne’s book, The Enneagram, Relationships & Intimacy (2018, 2025, revised edition), quite a few times now, and I can see that David had set out to “marry” The Enneagram and the PDP. I myself have found that the PDP is a complement to the Enneagram, and that you need The Enneagram to understand the PDP. I see the PDP as a model of development. I see the Enneagram as a model of therapeutic treatment.

It was David’s wish to make the Enneagram accessible to all, that the Enneagram would inform the world of science, particularly with the volume of narratives of people speaking for themselves. He would be grateful to Dan and the PDP Group that the Enneagram could be introduced to the field of interpersonal neurobiology.

Our book is not written to dissuade the validity of the mystical knowledge of those working with the Enneagram today, but intended to support and further validate what my father and Dan had come to know from years of firsthand experience, in their own inner growth, and in their contact with tens of thousands of others on the personal development path.

The Patterns of Developmental Pathways (PDP) are so important, as in the last ten years we’ve seen the hundreds of commercial websites take us back to external traits, those experienced from the outside in, rather than from the inside out. The PDP reinforces what’s going on inside and energetically, how we regulate ourselves emotionally and how we place our attention both consciously as well as habitually.

From another angle, there are two fundamental reasons that the PDP and the Enneagram need to be used together:

First Reason: Core Enneagram Concepts Not Described Correctly

In Personality & Wholeness in Therapy, core concepts introduced are Enneagram-informed or Enneagram-inspired, but not a correct translation of The Enneagram.

(1) The three centers of intelligence (head, heart and gut) are not introduced accurately or fully. The book only describes them as where energy is experienced in the body, but does not articulate that we have three brains or three centers of intelligence or three ways of knowing the world:

Head Center of Intelligence has two centers within – the lower and the higher
Heart Center of Intelligence has two centers within – the lower and the higher
Gut/Body Center of Intelligence has three centers — the moving, sexual, and instinctual centers

These centers operate between physical and subtle (or astral) bodies currently not measurable in science. However, Gurdjieff pointed out that science is in its infancy, about 400 years old. He believed that in thousands of years, science would have such advanced measurement devices that the seven centers of both physical and subtle body could be measured (Wertenbaker, 2012). The seven centers in the Enneagram also roughly correspond to the seven Chakras. It is important to put in perspective science and time. Where will science be ten thousand years from now? In a world of infinite hypothesis, we are barely getting started. In many ways, science reflects the evolution of consciousness (while spirituality provides access beyond the constructs of time).

(2) The Enneagram reveals that each type has 4 connecting points – the 2 wings and the point of stress and the point of integration. However, in Personality and Wholeness in Therapy, that exact preciseness of the Enneagram intrinsic laws of energy flow is expanded outside the Enneagram lines. The lines and motion of the Enneagram are precise and reveal precise knowledge for growth, so David made sure to use the lines. Once you step out of them, you have stepped out of the Enneagram. Dan introduced the concept of juggling mind within a center of intelligence and that Enneagram types can freely move around to all points. I am uncertain of how David would view this, but I do know that once you leave the lines, the advice for growth and wholeness loses it’s preciseness. As a testament to this, there are 200+ books on the Enneagram and therapy/counseling – and all of them provide the same steps to growth. On the other hand, authors using The Big Five for more than describing personality provide very different theories and advice (based on author bias, not on the precise intrinsic and universal laws).

(3) It is also important to note that the Enneagram diagram is not changeable. Dan Siegel often refers to a matrix with 9 cells which can be used to complement the Enneagram diagram. The Enneagram diagram is based mathematical patterns and laws and it is a 3-dimensional moving map of human consciousness, revealing the 9 personality patterns and how they develop (or regress). The 9 cell matrix is a 2-dimensional diagram.

Second Reason, A subset of the Enneagram System is included, but to use the Enneagram to it’s full potential you need to understand the full Enneagram System or Ecosystem

David would want to point out that our book Personality and Wholeness in Therapy should be considered a primer. We went deeper into the affective neuroscience of temperament, attachment, cognition, energy flow, attention and emotional regulation. Although the PDP did not translate all Enneagram concepts, these can be found in David’s writings (and noted in the books at the end of this talk).

the 9 defense mechanisms and the basic proposition
the 3 instincts and 27 sub-types
the 3 centers of intelligence as ways of higher and lower knowing
the 9 dynamics of the higher capacities
the lines and arrows of conscious access points to growth and wholeness, and balancing of the wings
the therapeutic value of the many triads and Enneagram lines of motion, in particular the harmony triads which David saw great therapeutic value in
the mathematics of the Enneagram diagram

David’s Both/Ands for Growth and Wholeness

David’s #1 Both/And for Growth and Wholeness: Spiritual, Psychological AND Somatic

The Enneagram has been labeled a psycho-spiritual tool of growth, human development and self-actualization. David was often asked, should I do the spiritual work, the surrender to a higher power (a letting go and relaxing of the pattern) or should I work at it with awareness, intention, and discipline. It was always a both/and. In the early days, many people came to the Enneagram from psychology and learned they could not do just the psychological work. David helped them find ways to access the higher qualities of being outlined in the nine Enneagram holy ideas. Others came from spiritual communities, and David told them they could not do the “spiritual by-pass,” they had to do the challenging work of understanding their family of origin and put effort into change. As teaching The Narrative Enneagram evolved, it became clear that insight into growth involved somatics. So David said spirituality AND psychology AND somatics. Along with Terry Saracino, the Universal Growth Process or the 5 As was developed: Awareness, Acceptance, Appreciation, Action, and Adherence, aimed at integrating the psychological, spiritual and somatic.

David’s #2 Both/And for Growth and Wholeness: Within, Between, AND of All of Humanity

My dad was a firm believer that growth needed to start with oneself – and that self-acceptance and self-love provided the path to wholeness within. From there true acceptance of others in our lives could follow, and that wholeness between two people was possible. In his book with Suzanne Dion on relationships and The Enneagram, his passion for wholeness between is revealed in many ways. And, of course there was his belief in the basic propositions (the nine basic truths about humanity) or the holy ideas (the nine purposeful aspects of wholeness). It’s what Dan Siegel’s book Intra-Connected is all about. We can move from the solo self to the inter-connected self to the intra-connected self, a place where we carry each other with the nine higher qualities of being. (Note: David often mentioned Integral Psychology’s Universe-Centric level of development. I know he would be pained seeing the world’s current regression and evidence of rampant insecure attachment globally, but would hold that this contraction would spur growth of human consciousness. Along with the Enneagram, David also believed that secure attachment was the world’s panacea and hoped that Dan would continue to share globally the staggering importance and birthright of every child to have a secure caregiving attachment.)

David’s #3 Both/And for Growth and Wholeness: Knowing from the Head, the Heart, AND the Body

Our modern western world leans into what the Enneagram calls knowledge of the head, logic and higher order thinking (or what some call the “passion of the Western mind”). Before the Enneagram, that was the only way I thought we could know the world. The Enneagram reveals three centers of intelligence integral to personality — cognitive, emotional, and instinctual and this was a very important Both/And for David. He was grateful to see much of western education and practice acknowledging this both/and, especially for the numerous young children who experience learning and knowing through their body and feelings, and struggle with the traditional intellectual education system. David encouraged everyone to learn to balance his or her “3 brains” as the Enneagram revealed that we all have one that is dominant: the head/intellectual/logic brain or the emotional/intuitive brain or the gut/instinctual brain. The balancing reduces subjectivity and increased objectivity.

David’s #4 Both/And for Growth and Wholeness: A State AND a Process

In our book Personality and Wholeness in Therapy we acknowledge as David would that you can experience a state of wholeness or unity consciousness or integration, AND recognize that wholeness is an ongoing journey, where we witness ourselves in and out of wholeness and can bring ourselves back with effort or with the natural grace of the universe. David believes we are whole, we do have presence, we do have our pure essence from childhood, but that our personality is needed to function or “work to live.” It is through both the spiritual work of surrendering or relaxing the personality and the psychological work or effort and intention that we can return and remember our natural state of wholeness.

Why Personality and Wholeness in Therapy by Dan Siegel, MD is Important

For the Scientist

Scientist know thyself, reduce bias, confirmation bias, obtain greater access to objective knowledge through meditation
Provides life-long model of human development which is Enneagram-informed
Provides a basic primer to some of the core concepts of the Enneagram that can then be explored further Enneagram books, written by Dr. David Daniels, MD

For the Clinician

Clinician know thyself, is your pattern of thinking and therapy a match for the other 8 types?
Clinically useful, removing suffering and paths to higher qualities of being
Provides specific insight into growth and wholeness using the Enneagram lines and arrows

Recommended Steps to Get Started with Using The Enneagram and the Patterns of Developmental Pathways Together:

Recommended Reading

Find Yourself on the Enneagram first
1. The Essential Enneagram by David Daniels & Virginia Price
Read Dan’s book
1. Personality and Wholeness in Therapy by Dan Siegel and the PDP Group
Learn how David marries the PDP and the Enneagram in healing relationships
1. The Enneagram, Relationships, and Intimacy by Daniels & Dion
Go much deeper with renowned Enneagram experts
1. The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Riso & Hudson
2. The Enneagram by Palmer
3. The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut
Explore with curiosity and openness the work of Gurdjieff and the Enneagram as a formal mathematical science
1. The Enneagram of G.I. Gurdjieff by Christian Wertenbaker
2. Views From the Real World by George I. Gurdjieff
3. In Search of Being by George I. Gurdjieff
4. In Search of the Miraculous by P.D. Ouspensky

Recommended Courses

The Narrative Enneagram
- Certification: Certified Narrative Enneagram Practitioner Program
Chestnut Paes Academy
- Certification: Professional Certification Program

Website Resources

The Enneagram, Science, and Patterns of Developmental Pathways by Denise Daniels, PhD