Why the Enneagram Works

No. 48 ~ A.F. Bradley

BRIEF ‘CATCH-UP’ NOTE:

Apologies for not posting lately. I’ve had a few activities in between my three regular weekly workdays that needed priority attention.

First, my younger sister and her two sons moved from Florida to Tennessee not long ago; she has occasionally needed help adjusting to her new life here. So, I’ve been a bit busier with that than usual, helping her out with a few necessary things.

Second, I started having some physical issues last year, which stem from two areas of my body, one being the lumbar region of my spine (lower back). That’s being ameliorated or “managed,” as they say, without my having to undergo surgery. It has affected my balance and gait a bit, and there is some mild pain, especially at night when I lie down. But, so far, it’s okay, and I’m getting by.

Also, I’ve learned from medical scans and tests that I have a medium-sized internal tumor or mass or growth which is now scheduled to be biopsied. The doctor says that whether it’s discovered to be malignant or benign, it will still have to be completely removed. Although the chances are typically against this kind of tumor in this location being benign, we shall pray and hope for the best. : ) That’s about all I’m prepared to say on that at this point.

Third, I’ve started another novel (or screenplay?), and as anyone who likes to write knows, when those ideas start to spark and fly through the ether of the brain, it’s very difficult NOT to think about them and develop them further into a cohesive plot, storyline, characters, arc, subplots, and all that good stuff. So, I’m in the early synopsis, outlining, and treatment stages of that.

I’ll do my best to attend to these things while, along the way, fitting in Enneagram-related posts here on Medium and my Substack mirror site.

Lastly, I just want to reiterate and re-emphasize that the purpose of my starting this blog was and is to detail, to the best of my ability, what I have learned about the Enneagram personality framework over the past 35+ years. It is, at its root, a triadic model of **ontology, which is the study of Being/Reality *itself**, or the “ground-motive” of all things (as Herman Dooyeweerd would say). God is the supreme Source of all things, and the human Son of God is the universal gate, the door, the portal to God’s immanent interior Presence in us (our DIRECT and INTIMATE EXPERIENCE OF GOD), granted us by grace and activated and accessed through faith*.

Human beings were and are created as tripartite beings — with body, spirit, and soul — in “the image and likeness of God” (Gen. 1:26,27). I still believe that 100%; every day, I continue to find it abundantly evident all around me.

In fact, I was again vividly reminded of this fundamental triadic principle in celebrating the Easter holiday recently:

There is LIFE (1), there is DEATH (2), there is REBIRTH or RESURRECTION (3), whether in the cycles of nature or in the cycles and components of human life — biologically, psychologically, and spiritually (Gen. 2:7). Jesus taught this principle explicitly and implicitly through his earthly life and ministry, as did his disciples.

Anyway, thanks for reading!