Acknowledgments
I want to thank Russ Hudson and Don Riso, my teachers at the
Enneagram Institute, who laid the foundation for my understanding
of the Enneagram through my certification and faculty process. My
first serendipitous encounter was in 2006 at a Part One Training
at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, San Francisco, when, minutes
after Russ had started in on one of his funny-as-hell teaching jogs
through the Type Eight, a resounding yes echoed through my core.
I felt this yes everywhere in my body. The duet of Russ and Don
was a joy to my heart and implanted in me an understanding of
body, heart, and mind that I rely on today. Russ, in particular, has
been a force of support, compassion, inspiration, confidence, and
healing for me. Training personally with Don and Russ for several
years was an amazing opportunity.
Much thanks to Lynda Roberts and Gayle Scott, as they
contributed greatly to my understanding and teaching of the
Enneagram. Their commitment to growth and the highest and
clearest transmission of the Enneagram has touched me deeply.
Deep thanks to all of the teachers and students in the Enneagram
world who have inspired and supported me. Thank you to serendipity,
the guidance from the Unseen, when I was greeted with a deep and
profound yes in my interior when I attended my first AA meeting
forty years ago. Thank you to the vast array of recovering and
xiv | The Alchemy of the Enneagram in Transforming Addiction
attempting-to-recover men and women in Alcoholics Anonymous
and in other modalities. You have been such a gift to me.
Most notable is my dear friend Eric S., a beautiful recovering
Type Seven, brimming with abundant joy, compassion, creativity
energy, and humanity. Thank you, Eric.
Thank you to a dear Diamond Heart teacher and friend Leah
Chyten, who kept prodding me, sometimes kindly, sometimes
fiercely, to finish this book. She said, “If you are deeply depressed,
you must continue and finish the book. Only death can stop you.
Get it?” which did get my attention. Thank you to Maggie Simpson
and Linda Walters, whose encouragement to continue and publish
was a great and loving service to me.
Thank you to my coach, Lou Kaucic, an unnaturally optimistic
Type Seven, for his continual reminder of my strengths, for
pushing me to let go of perfectionism on the journey to
completion of the book, for paving the way for the completion of
my Professional Coaching Certification with Co-Active Training
Institute, and for inspiring me to apply the Enneagram to my
coaching practice.
Thank you to Stephen Aronson, who, in 1996 during a therapy
session, suggested that I read Don Riso’s Personality Types and
said, “Michael, pay attention to the Type Four.” Upon reading that
chapter, I was unmasked, seeing for the first time the vivid and
powerful dynamics of my personality type. He also handed me In
Search of the Miraculous by P. D. Ouspensky—a remarkable story
about G. I. Gurdjieff—in which more humility lessons torched my
self-image. Steve continues to be a light of guidance, assisting me
in seeing more precisely (and with a sense of humor) the wild and
tricky patterns of my Enneagram type, and guiding me to a more
practical understanding of Gurdjieff, whose core teachings inform
much of the work I do with the Enneagram.
Thank you to Stephen Andrew, for the many years together
co-facilitating men’s transformation and recovery groups, and for
always reminding me of the potency of compassion for men.
Thank you to my loving, creative, courageous, and deeply
supportive wife, Donna Lynn, whom I met twenty-six years ago
when I was exiled to the Christmas pack-line at LL Bean by the
walloping hand of fate. I was gripped by an incessant voice speaking
through me: I love you, Donna! I love you, Donna! It was love at
first sight. Thank you, Donna, for the many hours you have spent
reading my words, critiquing, always reminding me of what is best
and finest within me, and for loving me generously and steadily.
To my dear friend Richard Huston, my personal Samwise
Gamgee, who has traveled with me through the Mines of Mordor,
there and back again as Mr. Frodo would say, walking with me while
I faced the Great Balrog of fate that had arisen unexpectedly as I
was busy making other plans.
Thank you to other folks who inspired me: my Type Six dad and
Type Two mom; my loyal and beloved Type Two sister, Kathy; my
irrepressible and kind-hearted Type Nine daughter, Chloe; my oh-so-kind
and quirky Type Five son, Christian; God in all forms (most
notably, the periodic table); Pema Chödrön for her magnificent
and continued teaching on unconditional friendliness and how to
make peace with the dynamics of our personality patterns (most
notably found in her books The Wisdom of No Escape, Start Where
You Are, Welcoming the Unwelcome, and When Things Fall Apart, all
ageless and timeless works on transforming our acquired patterns);
Desmond Tutu; John Lennon (surely a Type Four); Eckhart Tolle;
Leonard Cohen; J. G. Bennett; and all of the participants who have
joined me in Enneagram workshops and inspired me with their
authentic search for truth. You have been the food for my heart
and soul.
Lastly, thank you to my awesome editor, Jessica Vineyard, a
beloved Type Three (well, maybe an Eight), who has so skillfully
organized my writing and translated it into a more clear and
understandable work.
Also, I’d like to thank Christy Day for her beautiful book design
artistry, and Martha Bullen for her guidance, project management,
and book production expertise.
