Releasing the Hold of Dualistic Thinking with Courage, Truth and Love

 By reflecting on the ancient wisdom of the enneagram, we refine our ability to self-observe and through this refinement, we begin to peel back the layers of our created ego structure.

The more time we spend paying attention to how we move in the world, the easier it becomes finding our way to loving ourselves.  This self-love opens each of us to see how all our parts are lovable. Seeing that the qualities that I see as my gifts and tendencies that I see as my faults are purposefully wrapped up together to create one great human…ME. We are the gifts and also the so-called “faults”. We are the light and we are the dark.  

Living life through our judgments

How we see dark and light in our lives ultimately comes down to our judgments. These judgments are directly tied to our enculturation. We have all been enculturated into the lives we live today through our surroundings, our parents, our loved ones, and so on.  They all have helped in the formation of our judgments, and these judgments have formed our dualistic thinking. 

So how does dualistic thinking keep me from growing?

Throughout our lives our brains are taught to make decisions by comparing. We compare two concepts and automatically pick one as being “better”. We are in constant comparison mode by valuing one concept over another. Simple examples in our lives can be choosing work over play or choosing giving over receiving.  More complicated examples can be valuing happiness over sadness, and masculine energy over feminine. 

In each of these examples we are inclined to pick one aspect over another and then move on to our next dualistic choice. We carry our choice forward and close off to any possibility that the “lesser” choice be re-examined or have any value. Also known as being closed-minded.

The Triangle – Courage, Truth, Love

Right in the centre of the enneagram is the triangle that connects THREE, SIX and NINE. This triangle gives us a key to open up our judgments. These can be judgments on others or can also be judgments on ourselves. The triangle is made up of three points. Here in the three points of the triangle lies the clue.

The triangle demonstrates something new called triadic thinking, meaning that we do not have to live with only one of two choices in life. We can hold both conventional choices and approach them with an open mind, therefore seeing a third (triadic) way. This is a new way of seeing the world and our part in it.  Seeing that life is full of all kinds of experiences that we need to live to be complete human beings. We do not have to hold tightly to just one outcome or experience. We can hold them all with an open mind and experience the endless gifts that life has to offer.  This can be uncomfortable at first.

What changes when we do this?

·     We begin to see that there is value in the work we do, but also value the time we take to play and have fun

·     We begin to see that our happiness is a gift to be fully experienced and that when we are sad it is just another part of living all parts of our wonder-filled lives.

·     We begin to see that not only can we live with generosity to all, but we can also be open to receive and let others experience the grace of a giving heart.

·     We begin to see past gender and see the value of each human being’s life.  We can see that the nurturing qualities of the feminine are essential to sustain the manifestations of the masculine. They are meant to work together.

Where do we live our lives stuck in a dualistic way? Where are we closing off to a new way of thinking and a fuller experience of life?

Can we experience the triangle at work in our lives and see how we are called to courageously (SIX) live the truth (THREE) of who we are and to know we matter (NINE) and see that we have love for every human as well as the whole of the planet?

Keep on self-observing…

Dale - Inspired Enneagram