07-815 Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Ego and Nine Aspects of Essential Presence

With Rev. Michael Pergola, Rev. Karen Watt & Rev. Tony Zito

OSIS Credit Value: 1

$90 Public, $75 OSLA Students & Alumni

Distance Learning ONLY


This course is adjunct to 07-814 Integral Spirituality: Exploring the Common Core of Human Wisdom

The Enneagram is a powerful topology whose roots can be traced to many of the world’s great wisdom traditions. One of its unique aspects is that it provides both a psychological and spiritual map of our inner landscape. It correlates well with a variety of spiritual teachings including the ancient Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Sufi traditions. Each of these traditions describes perceptual patterns similar to those described by the Enneagram. Rather than put people in boxes, the Enneagram seeks to help us escape from the boxes and habitual patterns we find ourselves in. It is a dynamic tool for understanding how our ego develops and how we can let go of the unconscious patterns that control us so we can reconnect with our essential nature.

The spiritual Enneagram describes nine characteristic ways we turn away from our essential nature as the ego develops. In this process (of ego development) we are in the thrall of a particular passion that drives our behavior and creates a false face of personality that becomes the characteristic way we show up in the world. These habits of mind act as a screen that filters the way we experience reality. Learning about our perceptual screens is the first step in noticing how they control us. We will explore the beliefs, defenses, emotional patterns and behavioral predispositions that stem from our core wounds and that unconsciously direct our life. This allows us to expand the various perspectives we take of life’s experiences, and to re-access the lost qualities of our essential nature.

Rev. Michael Pergola MA, MBA, JD. Co-Founder & President of One Spirit Learning Alliance has pursued an understanding of consciousness in individuals and collectives for over 30 years. A long time student of the world’s wisdom traditions, he served as Chief Knowledge Officer at a large bank for six years, and practiced law at Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering for nine years. He has a JD and MBA from Cornell University and a Masters in Organizational Dynamics and Individual Development from the University of Pennsylvania. He is an Enneagram teacher, a facilitator, mediator, meditation teacher, biofeedback practitioner, and executive coach. He teaches and consults to Fortune 500 companies in the areas of leadership, communication, organizational learning and creativity. He develops and teaches courses in a wide variety of areas including: Integral Spirituality, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life, and Spiral Dynamics. In his various roles Michael applies his understanding to support others in developing personal mastery and the capacity for skillful action.

Rev. Karen Watt, M.A., is an ordained interfaith minister, a consultant to business, educational, and non-profit organizations and a personal and business coach. She is a trained facilitator, a certified mediator, an experienced educator, a certified Enneagram teacher, and a board member of One Spirit Learning Alliance. Karen has facilitated organizational learning and coached both individuals and teams in large corporations. She served as a lead teacher and Board President at the Institute for the Advancement of Service in Alexandria, VA., and has a Master’s Degree from George Washington University. In her various roles as teacher, counselor and coach she provides a safe space for individuals to understand the “limits to growth” that impede their development as full human beings. Karen nurtures her student’s capacity for personal mastery, self knowledge, and skillful action in their personal and professional relationships.

Rev. Tony Zito, M.D., is an ordained Interfaith minister, retired psychiatrist, pianist, cook, meditator, and avid student of the world’s spirituality. Tony has a deep knowledge of both psychology and spirituality. He expresses his understanding in a down to earth and human way that creates safety and the opportunity for insight. Living with spiritual principles through abundant and trying times in life has brought Tony to a deep and practical spirituality well suited to life in contemporary society. Tony is a gifted teacher who energizes his students as he inspires them to a deeper way of knowing.