These recent writings by Cynthia represent the depth of her Wisdom teaching as it is applied to the times in which we are currently living. It is invisible to the physical eye, but clearly perceptible through the eye of the heart. Love believes all things.. . An emeritus faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, she is the author of numerous books, including Eye of the Heart, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, and The Meaning of Mary Magdalene. I have been teaching the Enneagram for 23 years, having studied with all of the major schools of Enneagram understanding, and have read over thirty books on the Enneagram, and I would agree with you that most of the authors descriptions of the Seven Enneagram personality hit some of the notes, but generally miss the deeper aspect I have found in Sevens whom I have interviewed more deeply. Not so with Bourgeaults impassioned invitation to chant the Psalms. She turned to Joseph Azizes newly published collection of spiritual exercises from the Gurdjieff teaching, exercises that for decades had been kept apart from the general public. Im trusting from your share that guesses on your type are welcome and I certainly see the playful exuberance of the 7 in your energy and your posts, and I also see the depth, honesty and expressiveness of the 4. Thank you for the gift of new understanding. Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally acclaimed retreat leader. The pointed and shaking finger of our adamant inner schoolteachers often accompanies calls to engage and stick with ancient (read: tried and proven) spiritual practices. Cynthia Bourgeault invites us to follow Jesuss path of self-emptying love, and she describes wisdom practices that we Christians can use every day to transform our own minds so that we too can see with the eyes of Christ.~ Jim Marion, author of Putting on the Mind of Christ. Liz. Re-listening to Russ recent teaching on point 7 and the instincts, and Im seeing more clearly how my line to 7 from my core point of 1 gets expressed through my dominant instinct of social, and my secondary instinct of self pres. The topics explored in theme range widely within the her four core areas of interest: Centering Prayer, Christian Wisdom, The Western Esoteric Tradition, and Conscious Love. . It helps them gain self-understanding, and they then have some grounding for how spiritual practices can reshape their personalities in very specific ways. To the extent that we touch and be in abundance in our own life, we become prophets of hope., The deep surrender of self through Kenosis is the access path to abundance, not your will., Imaginal causality is patterned. Spiritual or mental sloth; apathy. For a while I vacillated between Two and Three, but neither of them seemed quite right. I at first self-identified as a 7 but I was confused by some of the same descriptions you outline here. Setting the stage with Teilhard de Chardins concept of love as a geophysical force, and her riveting encounter at Tintern Abbeywhere Wisdom revealed guidance and direction from which we can all take heartCynthia responds to the questions, needs, and opportunities brought to the fore in 2017. I also question the Enneagrams geometric icon having an open space between the fourth and fifth postion. Lettingbecreates new worlds., Dont correct back to positivity if what you want is equanimity., Kenosis and self-calming are opposite ends of the spectrum., Conscious labor and intentional suffering are the joysticks we use to navigate the universe., We derive our selfhood from the relational field. . A profound and moving love story of original insight, written at the frontier of life and death.~ David White, author of The Heart Aroused . I am affirming my willingness to stay awake, to endure the vulnerability. Thank you for your insights! It rings so true that my core pathology is not distraction, but flight. In class there is a bubbly excitement about self-discovery. What she claims, in a nutshell, is that embedded within this theological formula that Christians recite mostly on autopilot lies a powerful metaphysical principle that could change our understanding of Christianity and give us the tools so long and so sorely needed to reunite our shattered cosmology, rekindle our visionary imagination, and cooperate consciously with the manifestation of Jesus Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. The real pathology is not distraction from their pain and dissipation, as the classic Enneagram Seven story reads. Loved your sharing on Buddha at the Gas Pump! . (As for the celebrated enneagram panels forget them! I had been a Four, Seven, Six, but this time the results were two points above that other grouping. It seems more to the point of the seven dynamic. Finally, love endures all things. . For example, if Im in 1 the last prescription I need is to buckle down and do more work or take more responsibility but if Im in 7 thats exactly whats needed! I have have always described the effect in my experience of being overwhelmed by the love of God as this stillness that comes over my body and mind. In 2013 she became a core faculty member of the center for Action and contemplation, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cynthias illumination of the Centering Prayer path provides compelling evidence of how important the practice has become in the half-century since it first arose among American Trappist monks, and of its maturation and refinement over the ensuing years of sincere study and practice. Beware the incomplete observation. As soon as you make judgment, you are not seeing., Imaginal seeing matches Imaginal selfhood., We perceive wisdom entering from a higher level as the future., The timeless wisdom that comes to us from another realm when we wake up is what we know as the future., The future is not what lies ahead, but the larger dimensions of the whole. Expertly blending her own lived experiences with research on the imaginal realm, Bourgeault explores how her personal relationships have helped to bring these teachings into sharper focus and the role this realm plays in Christian and other mystical traditions. See more My Gritty Daughter by Cynthia L Akins (Paperba. . . Reading this post encourages me to revisit the Enneagram and see if I can make more sense of it this time. Thank you Cynthia, love and peace to you from the Holy Isle. She is the original creator of the Wisdom School and has been organizing and teaching schools since 1999. I panicked. Another dimension which this book opens up is that of the real place of eros in Christian mysticism and the act of living mystical experience.~ Andrew Harvey, author of Son of Man, Just as shes done in her previous books, Cynthia Bourgeault asks us to take a look at an idea from traditional Christianitythis time the formula of Father, Son, and Holy Spiritas though were looking at it for the first time. Cynthia Bourgeault, Love Is Stronger than Death: The Mystical Union of Two Souls (Monkfish Book Publishing: 2014, 2007, 1999, 1997), 171-174. When she died on my birthday in 2015, she taught me an even greater revelationthe expanding awe of death and resurrection. And the lines to 5 and 1, do these those connections seem right as well? To have nonangry care by mom I had to let go of loving dad. It is a hope that can never be taken away from you because it is love itself working in you, conferring the strength to stay present to that highest possible outcome that can be believed and aspired to. For almost thirty years the standing joke has been, What enneagram type is Cynthia? Leading teachers in all the various schools have typed me variously (frequently categorically) as a Four, Five, or Six. Transformation for the Seven: The Holy Idea and Virtue, Sit in your cell and it will teach you everything. This is indeed the terrifying eye of the needle the Seven will have to thread to move from choice freedom (as both Thomas Merton and Beatrice Bruteau call it) i.e., freedom experienced as keeping my options open, to spontaneity freedom: freedom experienced as the capacity to say yes wholeheartedly to NOW; freedom to trust the primordial nurturing to be found only in the plenitude of presence. And outside every Seven is a Four screaming to get in. Several Benedictine sisters suggested I was a partly redeemed 9. Cynthia Bourgeault on Surrender #3 Cynthia Bourgeault offers an important caution for practitioners of Centering Prayer. In my handouts from then on I changed the Avoidance of Sevens from pain (way too genericeveryone avoids pain) to restriction. I hope these suggestions get taken up by Enneagram practitioners and authors! In the midst of a deeper paradigm shift, with all the hopes and fears that surface in times of change, Cynthias voice is that of a spiritual teacher who knows the territory from the inside out. And I came to St. Benedict's to study Centering Prayer with Father Thomas Keating, bumped into Rafe, and very . They postpone their own desires in order to enact an ideal of service. She has four pages on this subtype, which being a counter-type doesnt look like a Seven. Herein may be some of why you had so much confusion in identifying as a Seven. Christianity has often been referred to as a dualistic religion. . By skillfully tapping into that source we can begin to rebuild trust within our own lives, and also contribute to its cultivation within our shattered world. However I notice the playfulness in me my one daughter told me that I was basically a kid at heart.and another daughter has said that you never act like that when I just let go of another situation less than ideal. It will transform your lives and through its power in your own lives will reach out to touch the world. I always come from a teaching perspective on these matters. Ever had a question you wanted to ask Cynthia? I was gratified, Cynthia, to read your dissatisfaction with how 7s are portrayed. I am implicitly acknowledging that one cannot know without also being known. What emerged over a six-week collective journey was a remarkable series of revelations and reflections encompassing not only the Gurdjieff tradition but her own deep insights into the Christian mystical and Wisdom traditions, together with sagacious tips on practice and a prophetic vision of a post-pandemic future. Thus the wound for me was the loss of knowing what love felt like. Cynthia Bourgeault About the Author Cynthia Bourgeault has studied and taught in a number of Benedictine monasteries in the United States and Canada. Resilient and inherently life-loving and optimistic, Sevens learned early on to become skilled self-nurturers but always with that signature Seven wound: a restless addiction to forward motion and hyper-vigilance against any form of confinement that would appear to limit their options, cut off their escape routes, or impinge upon their ability to help themselves. Sevens need to feel the wind whistling in their ears to outrun a pervasive sense of existential dread and emptiness, an inability to rest comfortably in their own skins. They failed to paint for me any authentic description of where I was pinned, or the road to authentic freedom more authentic, at least, than what I already knew in my own heart of hearts. From divided awareness to expanded awareness, using the modality of sensation., Identification is one of our most insidious leeches on presence., With gathered attention and sensation, and turning off the dominance of the mind, you will see. Reference: The journey of discovering this was pretty long and difficult because I too dont fit the party animal description. Marje OBrien. I am not a Space that God does not Occupy. I. did. I screamed in terror for my parents, but my cries elicited no response neither from my parents (who were actually right on the other side of the classroom wall), nor from the teacher, who simply informed me that the longer I misbehaved, the longer it would take for the class to be over. . Centering Prayer is the path to a wonderful and radical new way of seeing the world. Copyright 2023 Wisdom Waypoints, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization: Tax ID# 46-4065282, Cynthia Bourgeault Speaking at Centering Prayer Summit, Introductory Wisdom School Online Course with Cynthia Bourgeault, FULL with WAITLIST: The Encounter with Evil A Teaching Retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault, Mystical Hope Today: An Online Lenten Deep Dive with Cynthia Bourgeault, A Benedictine Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault Bonnevaux France. The preschool class was intentionally located a bit out of earshot of the other groups, and after opening exercises, our small group of toddlers was led by the teacher up a narrow stairway to a tiny, closet-like classroom at the end of the hall. As I tried desperately to avoid a total meltdown, my attention fell on something that looked like a big dinner plate hanging on the wall, with numbers painted around the edge and two hands that moved in what seemed like a slow but regular way. Somehow Type 7 kept nudging my attention even after a conversation with Leslie Hershberger. She returned in 1991 for a three-month residency, where she worked closely with Keating; for the next thirty years she would be his student, then editor, and finally colleague. This, https://cac.org/daily-meditations/2023-daily-meditations/. Loves comes on strong, consuming herself, unabashed. In doing this, they express a sacrifice of gluttony for the benefit of others. My Gritty Daughter by Cynthia L Akins . I feel secure in understanding my core point to be a social seven with a strong 6 wing. Cessation of motion i.e., stillness feels like death to them, and they are too adept, too wary, to die in an ambush, even by Infinite Love. Thats because the choice points presented for discernment always feature pleasure, excitement, fun-loving, spontaneous. When these are set against responsibility, goal-orientedness, concern for others, capacity to face pain, and willingness to make and keep long-term commitments, I always wind up getting parceled out among more dutiful types. Over seventeen years Lily would show me how concern can be one of the deepest forms of love. It felt better and Ive stuck with that. Cynthia is the author of more than a dozen booksand counting! 741 Kindle Edition $1399$16.95 Careers Amazon Newsletter While I can see certain points of congruence (after all, my mom was a Four, my dad a Six, and most of my partners Fives, so I know these types well), none of them really resonated and more important, none of them really captured my interest. I am astounded by your vulnerability.. Cynthia Bourgeault: Well, [laughs] that' . Both have a bit of a crazy external vibe, but both have a level of inner awareness typical of the 4. This book is a collection of writings birthed in the immediacy of the moment. Cynthia said that "centering prayer grows an inner ground of receptivity, a place to rest and assimilate". At the age of seven months I suffered a nearly fatal bout with pneumonia at the hands of my Christian Science mother, who refused on religious principle to call a doctor. 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