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.
Acknowledgments xv
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.
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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.