Enneagram Global Summit
Seven Sins, Eight Thoughts, Nine Types
During the initial development of the enneagram model, early Jesuit enthusiasts noted the overlap between the nine enneagram types and the "seven capital sins." But this 6th century teaching was already a moral simplification of Evagrius' originally much more subtle 4th century teaching about handling thoughts during prayer time. My presentation will return to that original teaching as a springboard to a more nuanced understanding of the types and conscious (or nondual) transformation.
In This Session:
- A better grasp of the difference between the "seven deadly sins" model and the work of developing continuous spiritual attentiveness, or apatheia
- a greater appreciation that these "sins" (or or "passions") are not permanent character proclivities but a stock repertory of thoughts that besiege all serious seekers, irrespective of type, when they seek to deepen spiritual attentiveness.
- A better appreciation of how these "thoughts" play out in each of the types, particularly the much misunderstood "accidie," widely but inaccurately understood as sloth.
Cynthia Bourgeault
Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader. She divides her time between solitude at her seaside hermitage and a demanding schedule traveling globally to spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom paths. 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.
