PERSONALITY & SPIRITUALITY


Personality Affects Spirituality
The bible says a lot of things, but what is God’s will for me right now? Today? What sorts of things will truly add to my self-care, spiritual health and wholeness and which things are dead-ends or vicious cycles?
Consider Martha of Bethany in Luke 10:38-42. She believed she was showing love to others and being a servant of God by sacrificing personal time with Jesus. How many of us intuitively seek the most spiritually unproductive things for ourselves—things that sound perfectly in line with Christ’s teachings?
It is easy for us as religious leaders to be like Martha and miss what God is instructing us to do. We sometimes focus on achieving what seems to be the letter of the law at the expense of the spirit in which it has truth. Jesus acknowledges the importance of prayerful self-reflection in ministry: “You actors! First remove the plank from your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)
Let us learn how we intuitively opperate by participating in the following Spiritual Care opportunities this year.
Note: This is being offered to Salem Presbytery, Pittsboro Presbyterian Church and other religious leaders (interfaith welcome!) to help reflect and share what gets in the way of our self-care and what strategies help us overcome such obstacles. Feel free to recommend this to others and invite others to this process.
Step 1: Watch Video
Please do not share the direct link to the video. We are trying to determine how many unique people register to see it. You may complete the survey multiple times to see this introductory video whenever you wish.
Step 2: Read Book
READ The Road Back to You by Cron & Stabile. This is available many places in ebook, audiobook or real book. Bookkshop.org helps support local bookstores with your online orders, if you’re so inclined.
Optional: Share underlines, comments, etc with the free Bookship App. If you want a more participatory, collaborative and interactive reading experience, download the free Bookship App (google play or iOS) and indicate your interest on the video form again (if you didn’t already) and I’ll add you to our reading group so we can share things that strike us as we read.
Do we have to read the book?
Reading a book is recommended, not required. Reading this will help fill in some of our gaps, provide us common language and present some of the same material in a different format. Reading will allow us to formulate more speciffic quesitons for our follow-up Zoom conversation at the end. If you’re strapped for time, it’s okay just to watch the video and wait for the next session.
What if I’m not sure which number tendency best fits me?
It’s very normal if your subtype or enneatype is not clear to you (or others) at first. Some people take years to land on what seems to finally make sense. Take it at your pace and interest-level. As David Daniels wisely said: telling another person what number they are is like showing them the Harry Potter books for the first time and telling them the ending of each one. The time spent reflecting on ourselves is a valuable part of our spiritual journey! I’m willing to be a conversation partner with you about this, if you want.
Further Reading:
There are dozens of other great treatments of the Enneagram if you fall down the rabbit hole.
- Another great “starter” book is The Essential Enneagram by Daniels & Price.
- Beatrice Chestnut’s the Complete Enneagram is one of the few that addresses subtypes.
- Sandra Maitri’s The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram is one of my favorite treatments.
Treat every book as if it’s trying to teach you how to do one of those “magic eye” posters…where you’re looking at a weird image, trying to “get it” and finally your retna gives up its own way of seeing and a new image sudden pops out. It’s much easier to learn about this orally, visually and in person…but books can help fill in clues until, with the help of the Spirit and self-reflection, the enneagram pops and makes sense.
Step 3: Join follow-up Zoom Call
Monday, June 1, CHANGE OF TIME…now 3pm on Zoom
CLICK HERE to register for this Zoom Call
Join us for an in-person gathering to discuss personality, spirituality and self-care after having seen the introductory video or read the book. This is a great place to share your insights and to learn from others about overcoming obstacles to self-care in the midst of church work.
*Depending on the number of people interested and various schedules, we may end up providing other follow-up zoom calls. You can let us know if that is a good time for you when you register for the follow up call using the link above.
About Evan
Dr. Friedman had studied with some of the most influential teachers of enneagram, but also added important emphases of her own. Her way of teaching encouraged participants to not only hear discriptions about the types and see panels of people answering questions related to types…but to embody the types in our physicality and energy. By truly trying to put ourselves in other people’s shoes we can begin to have much greater empathy and understanding for the many perspectives and gifts we all have to share with one another in this world.
Although some people study the enneagram without connecting it to Christianity, Rev. Harrison treasures the connection and believes it is not only one of many very helpful lenses through which to understand the intent of scriptures, but also helps us live the teachings. Enneagram teachings are not “secret knowledge” nor is this wisdom necessary for salvation. The growing framework of the enneagram represents the wisdom most of us learn over years of interacting with others (and our self) anyway. Appreciation of our personality helps us hear God’s word to us and “remove the log from our eye” in our continued efforts to help other people with their struggles.
You can contact Rev. Harrison to set up a time to talk about personality and spirituality by emailing evan @ pittsboropres.org (no spaces)
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