The Enneagram of Essence by Jessica Dibb

Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate.
— Albert Einstein

Who is the builder of a sacred life? Is it ourselves doing the deep inner work that transmutes the fixated ego into presence and the flowered gifts of our soul? Is it Essence itself, and we just need to relax and surrender? What is the intersection between effort and surrender, between personal development and egolessness?

And what are the materials needed for a sacred life? Is it the prima materia, a genuine numinosum, a holy, psychic/spiritual substance which allows us to consciously experience both the light and dark sides of Essence/God within ourselves?

And what architecture can be revealed that can guide us that we can consciously partner with? From Newtonian to Quantum, from Cartesian to timelessness… What dynamics, principles, guideposts, processes and practices can we discover — within and without — to which we can consciously awaken and align? And how can we consciously partner with them to build power and capacity, without becoming attached to any one design that might limit the experience of the unique “burning bush” that each of us is in our direct contact with Love, Infinity, Essence, the Divine?

The first module will lay the foundations for this new approach to depth awakening. Embodying a sacred life requires stabilizing our attention to, our love for and our embodiment of the meeting point of essence and the present moment. Your awakened journey is then generated through each breath you take.

Over two sessions, Jessica Dibb will cover topics that provide a platform for contacting the builder, the prima materia, and the design and pathways for embodying Essence and experiencing a sacred life.

IN SESSION 1 OF THE FIRST MODULE, YOU’LL DISCOVER AND EXPLORE:

• A depth interpretation of a core wound and how it creates suffering, reactive ego and shadow
• How and why the core wound is differentiated in each Enneagram Type
• Basic understandings and definitions of the personal developmental journey, Inner Work and ways you can “build” your Self
• The Instincts — the higher or awakened somatic capacities
• The Virtues — the higher or awakened heart
• The Holy Ideas — the higher or awakened intellect
• The Gift of each Enneagram Type
• The great work which goes against one’s nature, Carl Jung’s opus contra naturam
• Dynamism, the Missing Piece, the Transparent Veil and Essence of Enneagram Types

IN SESSION 2 OF THE FIRST MODULE, YOU’LL EXPLORE:

• Illuminating issues of self-care in Enneagram Types
• Eros and sexuality in Enneagram Types
• What the Enneagram teaches us about the relational field, relationships and relatedness
• The 9 Aspects of Authentic Love — and how to work with all of the types as your initiation into unconditional love
• Communication — speaking and listening with all types
• How the Enneagram can support you in being present to increasing complexity and richness in yourself, your vocation, other people and the world
• Understanding and contacting the 9 Aspects of the Divine — towards a boundless, creative spirituality
• How the Enneagram can contribute to being a 21st century global citizen and steward of the planet

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.
— Alexander Hamilton

Throughout the ages masters and teachers have talked about the potential of human beings to recognize and build a vehicle for higher consciousness within our body, heart and mind so that Essence can flow unimpeded through every aspect of our life, every breath.

The triadic intelligence of the Enneagram shows us how we can awaken, build and flower these dynamics by doing Inner Work with the higher instinctual drives (the awakened Instincts), higher emotional capacities (the Virtues), and higher intellect (the Holy Ideas). Module 2 will offer a full class on building each of these aspects.

MODULE 2, SESSION 1

The Awakened Instinctual Drives for Creating a Sacred Life

In this session, you’ll discover:

• The awakened self-preservation instinct — the path from the drive to survive to the commitments to self-care of ourselves and our lives as sacred
• Blind spots and inertia of self-preservation instinct
• The awakened sexual instinct — the path from the drive to merge and assimilate to developing unimpeded attunement and dedication to what really matters and what generates emergence
• Blind spots and resistance of the sexual instinct
• The awakened social instinct — the path from the drive to be protected and belong to the developing stewardship and responsiveness to ALL
• Blind spots and distortions of the social instinct
• An emerging feminine and right brain perspective and orientation to the instincts that brings in new possibilities for the transformation

MODULE 2, SESSION 2

The Virtues: The Awakened Heart for Creating a Sacred Life
Taught With Guest Teacher Russ Hudson

In this session, you’ll:

• Explore the 9 Virtues, which can open you the deepest, qualities of your own heart
• Discover and begin to cultivate the Virtues, refining and embodying them through selfless acts of courage, unconditional love and service
• The specific relationship between the heart’s suffering, and qualities of presence and grace
• The 9 Virtues as doorways to a new kind of human community — an alternative to fear as an organizing principle

MODULE 2, SESSION 3

The Holy Ideas: The Awakened Heart for Creating a Sacred Life
Taught With Guest Teacher Russ Hudson

In this session, you’ll:

• Explore the 9 Holy Ideas, a profound map to awakened perception and experiencing nondual reality
• Discover and begin to cultivate and refine the Holy Ideas
• Learn how to make choices aligned with liberation and higher, emergent creation
• The specific relationship between the mind’s ego fixation and the direct experience of unity of being
• The 9 Holy Ideas as doorways to a human community based on higher consciousness — an alternative to separation and fear as organizing principles

In modules 3-11, you’ll explore each Enneagram type in relation to gifts, shadows and relationships; awakening Essence and building a life infused with the sacred. You’ll work with your own type and the types of the people in your life, considering the gifts and shadows of each type as essential to your awakening and ability to practice unconditional love.

Each module will focus on one type and will be presented in two sessions.

The first session of each module will be both a deep didactic and experiential journey about pathways from unconscious fear and pain-driven responses of that Enneagram Type to Essence.

IN SESSION 1 OF EACH OF THE MODULES 3-11, YOU’LL DISCOVER:

• A depth interpretation of a core wound and how it creates suffering, reactive ego and shadow
• How and why the core wound exists
• Basic understandings and definitions of the personal developmental journey, inner work and ways you can “build” your Self
• The Instincts — the higher or awakened somatic capacities
• The Virtue — the higher or awakened heart
• The Holy Idea — the higher or awakened intellect
• The Gift and healthy attributes
• The specific great work which goes against one’s nature, Carl Jung’s opus contra naturam
• Dynamism, the Missing Piece, the Transparent Veil and Essence of Enneagram Types
• The particular aspect of the Divine — the face of the Beloved
• Insightful deep transformative three-centered practices for this journey

IN SESSION 2 OF EACH OF THE MODULES 3-11, YOU’LL DISCOVER:

• Illuminating specific issues of self-care
• Eros and sexuality in the type
• Relational field awareness and skills — relationships and relatedness
• The particular aspect of authentic love in the type — and how to work with all of the types as your initiation into unconditional love
• Video movie clip, poem or song, depicting the authentic love gift
• Understanding and contacting the 9 Aspects of the Divine, towards a boundless and creative spirituality
• Being present to increasing complexity and richness in yourself, your vocation and other people
• The gifts of the type in global and stewardship of the planet and working collectively with others.

MODULE 3: JOURNEYING WITH THE INEXHAUSTIBLE POWER & VITALITY OF ESSENCE A LIFE OF SACRED EMPOWERMENT & VIBRANT PRESENCE (THE AWAKENED EIGHT IN ALL OF US)

The miracle is not to walk on the water, but to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.
— Thich Nhat Hanh

MODULE 4: JOURNEYING WITH THE UNENDING PEACE & BEING OF ESSENCE
A LIFE OF SACRED ACCEPTANCE & UNITY (THE AWAKENED NINE IN ALL OF US)

You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean.
— Alan W. Watts

MODULE 5: JOURNEYING WITH THE ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS OF ESSENCE
A LIFE OF SACRED ALIGNMENT & RIGHT ACTION (THE AWAKENED ONE IN ALL OF US)

There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places. — Wendell Berry

MODULE 6: JOURNEYING WITH THE BOUNDLESS LOVE & THE NECTAR OF ESSENCE
A LIFE OF SACRED RESPONSIVENESS & UNCONDITIONAL LOVE (THE AWAKENED TWO IN ALL OF US)

Whatever happens or doesn’t, a presence is helping.
— Rumi

MODULE 7: JOURNEYING WITH THE INESTIMABLE RADIANCE & GLORY OF ESSENCE
A LIFE OF SACRED VALUE & EMERGENT FUNCTIONING (THE AWAKENED THREE IN ALL OF US)

And everything we now can accomplish will seem derisory to us when the powers of our divine nature flower in glory and act through us
— Iqbal

MODULE 8: JOURNEYING WITH THE UNBOUNDED MYSTERY & DEPTH OF ESSENCE
A LIFE OF SACRED BEAUTY & INTIMACY (THE AWAKENED FOUR IN ALL OF US)

Every creature is a word of God.
— Meister Eckhart

MODULE 9: JOURNEYING WITH THE UNENDING GNOSIS & AWARENESS OF ESSENCE
A LIFE OF SACRED TRUTH & CLARITY (THE AWAKENED FIVE IN ALL OF US)

Everything we think we know is only the beginning of another knowing that itself has no end.
— Iqbal

MODULE 10: JOURNEYING WITH THE IMMEASURABLE AWAKENESS & INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF ESSENCE
A LIFE OF SACRED GUIDANCE, FAITH & PURPOSE (THE AWAKENED SIX IN ALL OF US)

The sacred duty of being an individual is to gradually learn how to live so as to awaken the eternal within you.
— John O’Donohue

MODULE 11: JOURNEYING WITH THE LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES, FREEDOM & JOY OF ESSENCE
A LIFE OF SACRED FULFILLMENT, POSITIVITY AND GRATITUDE (THE AWAKENED SEVEN IN ALL OF US)

There’s a bankruptcy that is pure gain. The moon stays bright when it does not avoid the night. A rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorn.
— Rumi