Think of someone you've been trying to help. Now notice how much of you is leaning forward. In this fourth episode of The Enneagram & the Delusion of Separateness, Rev. Nhien Vuong continues around the Enneagram to Point 2, exploring the delusion Almaas calls Separate Will: the belief that we have a will of our own, apart from the whole, and that the flourishing of those we love depends on our steering.
Drawing on Almaas's teaching on Holy Will and Holy Freedom, the ancient story of the farmer who tugged on his sprouts, and a beloved prayer from A Course in Miracles, Rev. Nhien explores how this delusion lives in all of us and the particular shape it takes for Type 2, where personal will so often hides inside helping. She offers a guided pause to bring to mind someone you've been trying to help, and closes with an invitation into humility and receiving—where we stop being the source of love and become part of its circulation.
Take a few minutes after listening to sit in silence and notice what begins to arise.
Chapters
0:00 Leaning Forward
0:46 Welcome
1:37 The Delusion of Separate Will
3:20 The Farmer and the Rice Sprouts
5:44 Pride: Giving Rather Than Receiving
6:17 The Gift of Attunement
8:06 Holy Will & Holy Freedom
9:18 The Butterfly and the Cocoon
10:25 An Invitation to Radical Faith
11:49 A Prayer from A Course in Miracles
13:40 True Help Trusts the Growing
15:23 A Moment to Pause
17:10 Waking Up from Separate Will
18:09 The Virtue of Humility
19:20 “I’m So Bad at Receiving”
20:42 Receiving in Centering Prayer
23:08 Becoming Part of Love’s Circulation
23:31 Next Week: Point 3
23:41 Closing Benediction
How might we bring more love and goodness into the world without judging or othering? Explore this with Rev. Nhien in Unity Metaphysics & the Enneagram, Part 2: Error, Forgiveness, and Seeing Beyond Judgment: https://evolvingenneagram.com/unitymetaphysics-2
New to these teachings? Part 1 is available as a self-paced course and offers a lovely foundation: https://evolvingenneagram.com/unitymetaphysics-1
Learn more about our Contemplative Practices & the Enneagram (CPE) groups: https://evolvingenneagram.com/contemplative-enneagram-community
Source text for this series: A. H. Almaas, Facets of Unity: The Enneagram of Holy Ideas
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