Energy and Will - Part 4
April 4, 2025
Though we are willing to expend energy on the things that give us joy, we can exhaust ourselves in the quest for happiness. When our children were small, we made the necessary trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I say “necessary” because taking the family to Disney World has become an American ritual. Though we had a lot of fun at Disney World, I believe we went primarily because we didn’t want our kids to feel left out of their culture’s living fantasy.
They say every nation has a collective Enneagram ego number. If true, our country may likely have the collective ego numbers of Three or Seven. The energies from those two points seem to fascinate our collective and drive our media and economy. In a nutshell, what makes up those two energies? Point Three is about success, status, and all that goes with it, such as having the right image. Three Ego Types also place a lot of stock in accomplishing, building, and winning, all of which we Americans admire greatly.
Many people driven by Three Energy put continuous effort into having the right stuff and doing the right activities. When it comes to our collective American ego, I think our unhealthy Three fixation reinforces our placing more importance on outer image than in inner substance.
Unhealthy Seven energy is composed of over-indulgence, living in the future, gaining more pleasant distractions, and fun. All these have the outstanding characteristic of helping us to avoid pain, which is another American pastime. The Ego Types Three and Seven seem so engrained in our culture that it will possibly take something out of the ordinary to transform the fixations into mature soul qualities. In the 1920s, America reached an apex of fun, excess, image-making, and frivolity. It was the flapper generation and wearing the glitz and dancing until dawn were fashionable. But prohibition and then the Great Depression stifled all that. After the extreme shift, America reached a new balance.
It’s constructive for individuals and collectives, regardless of their ego types, to look at where energies flow and to understand why they flow there. Threes are not image chasers at their core as their outward layer appears. Instead, their soul desires interconnection and community. On its deepest level, its priority is making Sacred Kinship, not creating a particular image. Healthy and conscious Threes understand what makes harmony — that we all work together for the common good and that they do not have to be separate doers so that things get done…the laws underpinning the universe take care of that. This brings them hope.
On the surface, ego-type Sevens lily pad hop from one exciting, bright, shiny object to the next. But at their core, Ego-Type Sevens are grounded, reflective, and live in the now, not the future. Healthy and conscious sevens are interested in Sacred Joy more than fun only. Sacred joy is a deep happiness from being guided by inner wisdom, that leads us to our work. This allows the holy plan to flow from that. The souls who make up our country will save us, not our collective ego.
We can put our energy into things that seem to bring us joy or into things that bring us abiding joy.
Spiritual practice: Do your soul and ego ever work in harmony? If so, list the things they cooperate to bring about.
Self-inquiry: What is your definition of joy?
Dear God,
I pray for deep joy that lasts even when I am sad. Amen
