Hi,
In my 2 previous article, Enneagram, What Really is it and Summary Key Points of the Fate Reengineering Program, I proposed the possible source of enneagram is from Freud's Theories.
My hypothesis is that Ichazo was fitting Freud's Ideas onto the Enneagram Symbol of Gurdjieff in the 60's. There can be no evidence as Ichazo had not disclosed how exactly he invented the Enneagram. It is just a hypothesis. My hypothesis is based on the following 4 observations:
1. Freudism was still the most popular school of psychology in the 1960's.
2. Ichazo named his invention as the Enneagon of Ego Fixation. Both the terms Ego and Fixation are very popular terms of Freudism.
3. There are many correlation between Enneagram and Freudism, for example, the 9 types was very similar to the 6 types of Psychosexual Development Fixation and the symptoms of the Unhealthy Id, Ego and Superego. Similar concepts of Repression, Acting Out, Defensive Mechanisms, Sublimation (results of Inetgration), Death Instincts (the compulsion to repeat unpleasurable experiences) can also be found in Enneagram.
4. The core concept of Ichazo's Ennegarm, the Essence resembles very much Freud's Theory on the Unconscious. According to Ichazo, the loss of awareness of the Holy Idea beccomes a person's Ego Fixation. We repress unpleasant memories into the Subconscious and we gradually moving away from the awareness. This fixed how we think and act.
I am not saying that Ichazo stole anything from Freud. Might be he was having similar understanding as of Freud. The key purpose of my hypothesis is to make clear that the original Enneagram (or Enneagon) is something related to psychology than to mysticism.
Keith
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