The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home Book

Having recently taken a class on psychology and spirituality, in which the Enneagram was featured prominently, I was excited by the content and approach Maitri took in revealing the spiritual and psychological potential of working with the Enneagram. Initially, I treated this book as I have any other Enneagram book, simply reading the introductory material and then skipping directly to my type.

Turns out, this is not a typical introductory Enneagram book. Instead of each chapter being a repetitive profile of the individual personality types, Maitri uses the "passions" and "virtues" associated with each type as a way of exploring the spiritual growth of every type. "Passion" here alludes more to the Greek connotation, in terms of an uncontrollable, maladaptive fixation on one way of being. Those familiar with the seven deadly sins will recognize the qualities associated with each type: lust for Eight, avarice for Five, envy for Four, and so forth. Reading only about one's particular passion associated with type, however, will miss the wealth of insight available in the book. Every human is possessed of every passion in some capacity or another, as Maitri reveals with acuity.

The passions themselves are not simply bad habits or negative traits, but patterns of being that keep us locked in our unhealthy patterns and attachments, impeding spiritual and personal growth. Maitri pairs this spiritual insight with an intriguing use of psychoanalytic theory to discuss how the personality becomes locked into place, and how Westerners may use our personalities as a pathway toward spiritual growth. Instead of trying to transcend our habitual thoughts and feelings, our typological fixations, the power of the Enneagram is to bring us more fully into those passions. By inhabiting these passions and finding the emptiness at the core, we can progress toward realization of the virtues.