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The enneagram of the Trinity

Fundamentally the enneagram is a tool ‘for examining the properties of certain three-part systems’ – so it should be possible to follow its logic and give some consideration to that ultimate ‘three-part system,’ the Trinity.

The doctrine of the Trinity is a model for helping to understand God. It is not explained directly in Scripture: it was developed by the church to emphasize the key things we understand, as Christian people, about the one God revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

If there is to be an enneagram of the Trinity, it will be an enneagram of the ways in which human beings understand God and relate to God. The classic ‘three persons of the Trinity’ will provide its shape, and the finished analysis should clarify some of the ‘properties’ of this ‘three-part system.’

To begin, we are looking for one main contrast: not so much a contrast ‘within God’ as a contrast in the ways in which ‘human beings understand God and relate to God.’ Ideally it will be a head-heart contrast – and here it is, among the so-called ‘proofs for the existence of God.’

The church still officially recognizes two proofs for the existence of God, which are independent of the story of Jesus – and they can be categorized immediately as one for the head and one for the heart.

The first is the argument from creation: the fact that something exists rather than nothing; indeed, the fact that there is space for the ‘something’ to exist at all.

From this we discern the existence of a creator.

Science is no problem here. Science explains in ever-greater detail how creation works – not how it came to be here in the first place.

This ‘proof’ does not tell us much about the nature of God, but it does show that we are ultimately dependent on something far greater than ourselves – and we can name it both ‘God’ and ‘creator.’

This logical rational proof is a proof ‘for the head.’

The other ‘proof’ is very different – but it also works backward from what we can see to what we cannot see.

The second proof recognizes this: that every human heart is yearning – for meaning, for purpose, for something more than this physical life alone can provide.

This is the proof ‘for the heart.’

Again, it does not tell us much about the nature of God – but what the heart so evidently seeks we can name as ‘God.’

As Christian people, we would also name this God ‘for the human heart’ as ‘Holy Spirit’ – God who will dwell in our hearts.

In the official teaching of the church, these ‘proofs for the existence of God’ are mere sidelines, noted in passing. They are the proofs ‘independent of the story of Jesus,’ proofs for those who will never hear of Jesus.

Logic and reason – for the head – have identified God who is creator. The longing of the human heart points to God who is Holy Spirit. Now Jesus of Nazareth is placed at the very center of Christian faith and teaching: God in our human flesh and blood – incarnate and directly engaging with our world.

Jesus in his years in human flesh and blood – ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ – is the very center of the system at NINE.

‘The Risen Jesus’ of the New Testament – after the resurrection – is still Jesus, but has rather more in common with the concept of God that we name Holy Spirit – for this is not only the Jesus of the resurrection appearances, but the Jesus who met Saint Paul on the road to Damascus, after the ascension, and the Jesus who meets with us today in the Eucharist. This Risen Jesus is still Jesus – but distinctively at the ‘Holy Spirit’ end of the ‘Jesus’ zone: at ONE in our enneagram of the trinity.

Saint John’s Gospel begins with the wonderful poetic preface naming Jesus as the eternal Word of God – with God even before time began. This is a concept of Jesus close to the creator – at the ‘creator’ end of the ‘Jesus’ zone, at EIGHT.

One of the difficulties in trying to read the trinity straight from the Scriptures is that Saint Paul often uses two phrases almost interchangeably: ‘Spirit of Jesus’ and ‘Spirit of Holiness’ – or Holy Spirit. But this need not be a problem. Saint Paul’s ‘Spirit of Jesus’ is a perfectly valid concept of God – beyond ‘Risen Jesus’ and on the way toward ‘Holy Spirit’: it belongs at the ‘Jesus’ end of the ‘Holy Spirit’ zone.

At the foot of the diagram we expect ‘creator’ and ‘Holy Spirit’ to meet at the extremes in a way that is distinct from their interaction at the top of the diagram. Here we see beyond God as creator to God as omnipotent – infinitely powerful. And we see beyond God as ‘Holy Spirit with us’ to God as ‘Holy Spirit everywhere’ – omnipresent.

And finally, at the ‘Jesus’ end of the ‘creator’ zone, we can place the name that Jesus invites us to use for our creator God. The one who made us is involved in our lives, and cares for us like a perfect parent: Jesus invites us to call on God as ‘Father,’ a human image for our creator God – at the ‘Jesus’ end of the ‘creator’ zone.

The classic model of God as Trinity has been expanded through the enneagram into a model of nine ‘concepts’ of the one God – drawing in more scriptural images, allowing the three concepts to blend more naturally into one, and retaining all the distinctiveness of the classic trinitarian model.

In the ‘Jesus’ zone we have not only Jesus of Nazareth – God in human flesh in the holy land in ad 30 – but also those other concepts of God the Son: the eternal Word and the Risen Jesus.

In the ‘spirit’ zone we have the God who is the true ‘Spirit of Jesus’ – not only in our hearts, but everywhere in creation.

In the ‘creator’ zone we have the omnipotent God who is also the creator God – and who cares for us and watches over us, the ‘Father’ God.

At the top of the vertical scale we have Jesus of Nazareth – vulnerable even to death, walking the earth at a particular time in a particular place. At the foot of the diagram we see the God who is eternal, all-powerful, and everywhere. Those who talk less of the Trinity and more of ‘God and Jesus’ have the two ends of this scale in mind. This is also the Great Creator Spirit of eastern Orthodox prayer.

Moving up the vertical scale, THREE and SIX present the God who creates, and longs to be in our hearts – more intimate concepts than those at FIVE and FOUR – and then SEVEN and TWO and EIGHT and ONE are concepts of God ever more closely connected with the concept of God made present in Christ.

The final part of the analysis would involve the connections made by the arrows – and any correspondence with the strategy board. And it appears that many Christian people do indeed relate to God primarily through home base and its two connected types.

For SIXes, God is our creator and we are God’s team – called by Jesus of Nazareth and equipped by the Holy Spirit in our hearts: SIX and NINE and THREE.

For NINEs, Jesus of Nazareth is our example, our leader, and our guide, uniting and bringing peace – connecting us to God the creator, and sending the Holy Spirit: NINE and SIX and THREE.

For THREEs, the Holy Spirit is with us, inspiring us, and leading us, making all things possible – uniting us with Jesus of Nazareth and with our creator: THREE and NINE and SIX.

For ONEs, the perfection of the Risen Jesus is central – opening the way to God who is the compassionate Father and to God who is omnipresent Spirit: ONE and SEVEN and FOUR.

For EIGHTs, the sense of God’s eternal Word confronting the world is central – at EIGHT – and the contrast within the nature of God is God’s omnipotence at FIVE alongside God’s compassion – the Spirit of Jesus – at TWO.

For TWOs, the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts is central. This Spirit is everywhere – accessible to every human heart – but also confronts the world as the eternal Word: TWO and FOUR and EIGHT.

For SEVENs, God is the Father who will take care of everything – so all will be well, come what may. And the Father God is also the omnipotent God, who was able to bring Jesus even through the ultimate pain of crucifixion and death into resurrection life: SEVEN and FIVE and ONE.

For FOURs, God’s Spirit is everywhere – and is the Spirit of Jesus who is risen and alive: FOUR and TWO and ONE.

And for FIVEs, observing the universe, God is the all-powerful one – and yet God longs to relate to us as ‘Father,’ and reaches out as the eternal Word: FIVE and SEVEN and EIGHT.

Our enneagram of the Trinity – an analysis of nine aspects or images of God – has mapped on to the strategy board, showing how God reaches out not only to every one of us, but to every part of who we are.

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