Posted by Geenius at Wrok on September 18, 1998 at 10:37:07:
In Reply to: E.gr controversies: an inquiry posted by Brian C. on September 18, 1998 at 01:04:20:
: In a recent posting, Geenius made reference to Enneagram failure possibilities.
: I wonder if this is a topic for discussion. Perhaps to include limitations
: or controversies. For example. I think that there exists some disagreement
: about wing theory, Riso's nine levels, arrow theory, triad arrow theory,Sufi-ism,
: salvation vocabulary, integration versus disintegration. So the question
: I am posing is, ' what do you personally or anecdotely hold as questionable
: or confusing about Enneagram?' The issue might be specific to type or just a
: general observation made by a specific type. In short, where do you
: personally scratch your head or get annoyed with the 'experts."
I agree with almost everything in Riso (or, more to the point, Riso sold
me on his theory with almost everything he wrote), but I think so many of
his celebrity identifications are so far off base that they're worse than
useless. Also, there's a gaping hole in his "childhood origins/parental
orientations" theory: It totally fails to explain how a Three with a Four
wing can be both positively oriented toward his mother/nurturing figure
while also being negatively oriented toward both parents, or how a Two
with a One wing can be simultaneously ambivalent and negative toward his
father/authority figure.
For my part, though, when I run into that, I just cut it out of the theory
and work with the rest. I only bought into enneagram theory to the extent
that it was internally and empirically consistent. Whatever isn't (which
unfortunately includes most of the work of other enneagram authors), I
disregard. So for me it isn't so much a flaw in the theory as something
that shouldn't have been part of the theory in the first place -- and, for
me, isn't.