The Journey Toward Wholeness Study Guide

Suzanne Stabile

• Publisher: IVP Formatio
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781514002148
• eBook ISBN:
  9781514002155
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Personality in Psychology

"The Enneagram teaches us that there are nine ways of being in the world, and it highlights the nine habitual, predictable ways that we get ourselves into trouble," writes Suzanne Stabile. "Without hearing the stories of how challenging it has been for other people, we end up thinking we are the only ones struggling."

This is why group discussion and shared experience around Enneagram themes can be so helpful. Each of the six sessions in this companion study guide to Suzanne Stabile's book Journey Toward Wholeness includes the following:

• An overview of the session theme
• Discussion questions
• An opportunity to journey deeper into the session's theme
• Ideas for applying whatwe are learning between sessions

Bonus content in this volume includes insights from people in each number space about how they are learning to bring up their repressed center (doing, thinking, or feeling). The struggle isn't the same for each of us, but we can journey toward spiritual and emotional growth together.

1

Safeguarding Our Souls

Even when there is much to do, we must first guard our souls.

THE JOURNEY TOWARD WHOLENESS

READ

The Journey Toward Wholeness part one, “Triads: Naming and Managing Your Dominant Center of Intelligence”

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Welcome! I’m so glad that you have chosen to spend some more intentional time working through the concepts presented in The Journey Toward Wholeness. I’m hopeful that this offering will give you the opportunity to explore the essence of who you are—essence referring to who we are at our core, our spiritual being, uniquely created by God. Moving on from there, you can begin to allow pieces of your false personality to fall away.

The work of the Enneagram is primarily soul work, and soul work is never one and done. While we might wish for instant change or quick fixes, those just aren’t real choices for transformational work. Instead, there is the offer of a lifetime journey. Once we begin the spiritual journey there isn’t an end point during this lifetime, just an invitation to keep journeying.

But culture not only encourages our desire for immediacy, it also most often grants it. We can have what we want right now: credit cards offer us the opportunity to make home purchases we can’t currently afford. We read the CliffsNotes of great literature instead of reading the whole book. And watching the latest movie no longer takes a trip to the theater because it can appear instantly in our living room.

I think of wholeness in terms of wholistic living, not a place where we arrive. In other words, wholeness itself is a journey. In fact, wholeness sets the table for all transformative moments, and transformative moments increase our understanding of wholeness.

We often want to control our own transformative experience, but that desire actually negates a true understanding of transformation. We have some control when we want to change something, and little or none when it comes to an opportunity for transformation. Unfortunately, you just can’t write “wholeness” on your to-do list for Thursday!

Your triad is determined by your first response when you encounter information or situations.

Because we seek immediate gratification we’re losing the understanding of what it’s like to even be on the journey. We have a plan for almost everything, but when it comes to the spiritual journey, we’re nomads. We never get “there.” We just keep journeying toward wholeness.

Of course, there is great value in unpacking these pages by yourself, but I am hopeful that you’ll go through this workbook with a trusted friend or small group. A partner or group can help keep you accountable to doing your work. Some Enneagram numbers might be tempted to speed-read their way through the book so that they can “finish.” Others might have sincere intentions of methodically working through the information but never quite make it past the first few pages. Somewhere in the middle is ideal—thoughtfully engaging with the material—and a friend or group will help keep you on track.

Let’s start by taking some time to learn about the person or people you’ll be going through this workbook with. If you’re planning to embark on this journey with a spouse or sibling, you can probably skip the first question, but leave room to be curious and surprised. You never know what you might learn!

• ■ Share your name, Enneagram number, and how long you’ve been doing Enneagram work.
• ■ Share why you are interested in embarking on this journey n...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Safeguarding Our Souls
• 2 Managing Our Dominant Centers
• 3 The High Side of Stress
• 4 Stances
• 5 Bringing Up the Repressed Center
• 6 Transformation
• About the Author
• Also Available
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press
• Copyright