Re: Bottom of the Enneagram and the Void

Posted by Laurence on August 14, 2000 at 04:19:24:

In Reply to: Bottom of the Enneagram and the Void posted by Robin on August 07, 2000 at 19:35:41:

I have one question : "what is J.Searles'type?". It sounds as if she had a big need to come up with her own theory in order to distinguish herself from the flock of other Enneagram theorists. There is little if none reference to actual experience. It is rather filled with much speculation, as if a whole dimension had been skipped. One shouldn't forget that great truth can be gleaned from daily observation and that great discoveries and break-throughs often were made by people having a fresh eye on things, devoid of limitating prejudice or schemes, closer to their inner desire and sensitivity.

: I finally read Judith Searle's September 1997 article "The Gap at the Bottom of the Enneagram" available online at: http://www.ideodynamic.com/enneagram-monthly/

: I'll defer to Searle's expertise on the Enneagram, but at the same time, I feel compelled to clarify items in her article that, to me, represent omissions or possible misconceptions about Buddhism, Hinduism (the Sanatana Dharma), and the Perennial Philosophy in general.

: I think it's possible that 4 and 5 may actually be auspicious positions, being so close to the "Void" at the bottom of the Enneagram. (Searle even doubts whether 4s and 5s have wings to one another. She claims that each have wings to the Void itself.) One indication that the bottom of the Enneagram may be an auspicious position is that several Enneagram references list the Buddha as a Type 5.

: Technically, that is untrue. Siddharta Gautama was a Type 5 persona that masked the underlying Buddha who was beyond any enneatype. The Buddha personified the Void and was made manifest in the world when his mask as Siddharta disintegrated/dissolved. Dissolution of our persona (i.e., mask or enneatype) equates to the attainment of Nirvana. (Technically, that's untrue too. That which is unreal to begin with and is merely an illusion and cannot be destroyed. Our "ennea-mask" can only be recognized to be an illusion -- a mirage, the proverbial "snake in the rope.")

: A key idea in the Perennial Philosophy is to find the authentic Self behind the fabricated persona… to find the Ultimate Reality behind the person (ennea-mask) that we pretend to be. For Hindus, the Ultimate Reality is Atman, the Authentic Self, sometimes characterized as undifferentiated Consciousness. For Buddhists, the Ultimate Reality is the "Void" (i.e., Undifferentiated Homogeneity; Anatman, the "No-Self").

: Searle says that we each don one of these 9 different types of masks (to assert our individuation and our status as individuals, as I interpret Searle's words) in order to escape the Void. And that much is true. But what I want to add is that we individuals misconstrue the Void as "nothingness" and "nonbeing" and "death."

: Rather than nothingness, the Void is thinglessness. It is undivided Consciousness without artificially-fabricated boundaries that create the duality between the subject and the object. It is undivided, undifferentiated Consciousness without the boundaries that divide us into the 9 enneatypes. And rather than nonbeing and death, the Void is eternal Being… or as the Buddhists would say -- the Ground of All Being.

: The purpose of meditating to attain samadhi is to "flatline" -- attaining a thoughtless state where consciousness is uninterupted by thoughts -- rendering a direct taste of the Void. In this way, we overcome our fear of the Void and we can let go of our enneagramatic coping strategies for escaping the Void. We let go of our artificially-fabricated ennea-masks to embrace the Void… attain Nirvana… and finally rest in our Primordial State.

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