This workshop will explore the connection between the Enneagram and the brain. Drawing from my recent book, “The Neurobiology of the Enneagram,” and my scientific article, “A Neuroscientific View on the Enneagram of Personality,” the Enneagram will be paralleled to the discoveries made by neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp. Panksepp identified seven primary emotional networks in the brain: FEAR, RAGE, GRIEF, SEEKING, LUST, CARE, and PLAY. These seven emotional systems will be correlated to the Enneagram Triads and Instinctual Drives. In summary, FEAR corresponds to the Head Triad, RAGE to the Body Triad, GRIEF to the Heart Triad, SEEKING to the Self-Preservation Instinct, LUST to the Sexual Instinct, and CARE and PLAY to the Social Instinct.
As such, the Enneagram Type patterns and Instincts may be rooted in these hardwired emotional brain networks located in the midbrain and limbic system. Furthermore, the Enneagram Passions can be correlated to learned emotional responses that develop as a result of the above primary emotional systems being shaped by secondary conditioning processes. The Enneagram and neuroscience are two mutually enriching fields of study, and their alliance can potentially pave the way for a revolutionary understanding of the mind.
About Speaker
Saleh Vallander is a medical doctor and teacher of the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs systems. His work is centered around the integration of the Enneagram with modern neuroscientific principles. In 2022, he wrote “The Neurobiology of the Enneagram,” an in-depth exploration of the neuroscientific basis of the Enneagram Types and Instincts. His article, “A Neuroscientific View on the Enneagram of Personality,” has recently been published in a scientific journal. He is also the author of “27 Passions,” a new model that clarifies the internal dynamics of the three Instincts and their relationships to the Passions. Vallander’s other works include “The Enneagram, the Myers-Briggs, and the Brain” and “On the Evolution of Enneagram Types.”