Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Marianne Williamson, from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles
Our Enneagram type is a mimic of our Higher Self. We long to be complete, to let our light show through, but our ego gets in the way and limits us. Most of the time we are too afraid to let go, but we do all have times when we glimpse our best self and peak experiences when our Higher States flow through.
When we first learn about our Enneagram type in trainings, for very good reason, the focus tends to be on the Lower Self. We become all too familiar with our so-called ‘sins’, the Lower Emotional States of Anger, Pride, Deceit, Envy, Avarice, Fear, Gluttony, Lust and Sloth and the way they manifest via the Lower Mental Fixations of Resentment, Flattery, Vanity, Melancholy, Stinginess, Doubt/Cowardice, Planning, Vengeance and Indolence. The Lower States are really ways in which we separate ourselves from others and from our best selves.
For balance, however, we need to become aware of our Higher Emotional States, the Holy Virtues of: Serenity, Humility, Honesty, Equanimity, Non-Attachment, Courage, Constancy, Innocence and Right Action and the Higher Mental States or Holy Ideas, such as Perfection etc. and to be sensitive to times when they are operating so that we can build on them and integrate them into our lives more and more.