Enneagram Main Board Archive
object relations theory and enneagram
object relations theory and enneagram
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Enneagram Message Board ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by johnny five on March 19, 1999 at 05:54:10:
Brian C. brought up some interesting things in the O-R (object relations)
string way below on the board, that I want to address here. Brian brought up things like the rapprochement subphase of ego
development (which begins when the child becomes conceptually aware
of separateness from mother and coincides with deflation of grandeur
and omnipotence coupled to growing awareness of vulnerability and
dependence which can lead to narcissistic or schizoid defenses), etc. The point I want to make is that O-R is useful and fits in, but
doesn't answer key issues by itself. O-R theorists like Winnicott
and Guntrip have gotten awfully close to grasping the key issue with
their conceptualizations of 'being'. However, O-R confuses 'being'
with the later stages of ego development, whereas I would say that
when higher consciousness of being is reached we cease to identify
with our egos even though the ego continues to be there. This is
an ontological jump into esoteric spirituality and O-R won't go there. Naranjo's fixations/passions of each number can be seen as psychological
complexes. In Jungian terms, complexes have an archetype at their core,
and that is what is at the core of each ennea-type function.
The various traits of each type are just "the manifestations of these
core complexes, constituted by various self-images, OBJECT RELATIONS,
ego defenses, psychological patterns, modes of behavior and cognition,
and so on." The different characteristics of the 9 types directly
reflect those 9 core complexes. Each core is a unique delusion that
reflects the absence or LACK of one of the 9 particular archetypes. LACK of connection to any of these archetypes is only one of nine FORMS
that the underlying CONDITION of loss of being in touch with UNITY takes.
Reality is a UNITY. UNITY is the non-duality of all of existence and
lies at the center of every traditional spiritual understanding, east or
west. All these traditions use methods of inner work to aid us
in perceiving the nonseparateness of the entire cosmos. They all teach
that human suffering arises from IGNORANCE of this truth. We start out life grounded in contact with nonseparate beingness, but
as we grow our egos have to break away and go through stages of 'growth'
in which it suffers the delusion that it is separate. Whether you make
it back eventually to reestablish contact contact with Beingness often
depends on the adequacy of the early holding environment. Loss of contact
with the archetype at the core of the delusion seems inevitable due to
the need to build a intermediary scaffolding for consciousness stuck
in a tangible biological entity that must assemble in real time , but
there could develop cultures where the break is handled RITUALLY with
effective initiations at appropriate stages of ego development. Our
techno/global culture is not very good at this, hence there are a lot
of psychologically damaged and incomplete people out there. Placed in the right context O-R can be an important tool for helping
people re-access the dimension of Beingness that is missing. It is only
when that connnection to Beingness is too long missing that we usually
see the dysfunctional aspects of ego. The enneagram of Naranjo focuses
on the specific effects of losing touch with awareness of UNITY.
Without connection to UNITY, then there is no sense of Being. Without
Being, then one has only ego, and that is where O-R hits the wall and
can't get past since it still stakes sanity on staying IN ego, staying
identified with ego. Winnicott came so close! Any effort to realize the promise of the deeper enneagram will be
thwarted by the delusion of the separate existence of the self. The root
of ego suffering is that sense of separation. Unless loss of UNITY
is overcome then the delusion of ego separateness makes impossible
the real transformation of self. There is no answer without taking Winnicott's
"continuity of being" to this ontological and mystical level.
You lose contact with Being due to inadequacy in the holding environment
in a very specific way, in one of nine specific ways, that is. We are born able to connect to all 9 archetypes, one of which is
especially powerful in us. Type is pre-set, in-bred, inherent to the
person before birth, but our ability
to 'type' someone is limited by looking in on them through the evolving
genetic filter, so it is often hard to tell what type a kid is until
they've matured a bit. All 9 archetypes represent ONE REALITY, each is just a facet of it.
The 9 archetypes are inherent in all EGOIC structures. They are the
fabric from which all ego consciousness is cut. So, while it is good
to know YOUR TYPE, the real key is to be able to disidentify from the
generic ego structure underlying all the types. It is identifying
with ego in a generic sense that keeps the delusions going and causes
one's suffering. YOUR TYPE is sort of like the freeway entrance ramp
nearest your house, that's all. The key is to work on oneself to regain
access to the realm of Being. The Beingness of UNITY is what releases
us from the ego fixation, not us, ourselves doing the work as egos.
The only way to let Beingness do the job is to use our egos against
themselves to eat the Jungian shadow and disidentify with the ego.
Thinking you are "you as separate ego' is like thinking you are 'your'
car. Ultimately ego has to surrender, acquiesce in its own demise
of separateness, which will seem like a death to it but isn't really.
In our culture that is hard since people often have not yet worked all
the way through all the O-R phases of ego development to the end.
Those people will have violent defensive reactions against getting
too close to experiencing ego demise since for them it will mean
regression and being eaten by the unconscious in a negative way. A common mistake is that people think that because they have read
and understood the pop-enneagram books and know their type that they have
it all licked. Unfortunately, knowing one's pattern is not equal to
actually being free from the fixations and passions. It is not
possible to see oneself completely and accurately without the presence
of the experience of nonseparate UNITY of Beingness. To get there
requires grace only acquired via the long discipline of not identifying
with the ego. In practical terms, it means that in absolutely every
situation one must find the piece of projection that one is making, and
not focusing on the projections made by the other person. That is the
only way for the sunshine of Beingness and UNITY to shine through
and enlighten us. It will not be a path that is comforting and
non-threatening to one's current view of reality. Anyone interested in this line of work should read the work of
A.H. Almaas who is a former physics guy who now researches the
relation of object relations theory with Buddhism, Sufism, Enneagram, etc.
He was a student of Naranjo, and Ichazo wrote the foreword to his latest
book called "Facets of Unity: The Enneagram of Holy Ideas".
The most useful book on object relations by him is called "The Pearl
beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being, An Object Relations
Approach".
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup
|
|
|