Entropy Part 4
March 4, 2026
Entropy Part 4
Wouldn’t it be amazing to know when we are about to trick ourselves into believing something that is not true?
When a difficulty arises, we can cope by sliding into our unchecked ego’s favorite reaction, which is the path of least resistance, and of course, spiritual entropy. The ego is well-practiced in invading us with thoughts, assumptions, and defenses triggered by our fixation. And we are so used to our fixation’s running commentary that we swallow it hook, line, and sinker. Then our behavior unconsciously expresses the fixation.
The problem is that the fixation is built on an illusion that the world is a certain way. But this perception is rarely accurate. For example, Ego Type Ones’ fixation is ego-resentment. After they separated from essence in their soul child, they view the world as fundamentally off-kilter and wrong. This triggers their fixation, so they resent all those who do not do the right thing, or who will not listen to them about the right decision. So, they slide right into ego-resentment when they disapprove of someone’s behavior, or when the status quo doesn’t meet their standards. This can trigger behaviors such as judging, monitoring, and resenting. Frequently, the One resents themselves because like everyone, they are not perfect.
And in Threes, the fixation is ego-vanity, which is the personalization of everything in light of their image as a success. They actually feel helpless and like a failure after having separated from their soul child, and their fixation on ego-vanity is to compensate for that feeling. By appearing as a prototype of society’s image of success, they hope to counter any perception that they are failures. They are driven by the perception that the world is deteriorating. So, as efficient and separate doers, they are driven to turn things around, build things up, and receive the praise for it. This is exhausting and disingenuous. Isn’t it ironic that the Three’s ego fixation on doing is entropic?
The Enneagram outlines each one of the fixations. Ego Type One is ego-resentment, Two is ego-flattery, Three is ego-vanity, Four is ego-melancholy, Five is ego-stinginess, Six is ego-cowardice, Seven is ego-planning, Eight is ego-revenge, and Nine is ego-indolence. Each is our ego’s way of seeing the world and dealing with it. Each is a path of least resistance.
The word fixation is quite descriptive of the phenomenon it names: entrapment in an unmovable and self-perpetuating cycle. We are trapped in our fixation, however distorted it may be, because it appears to address the perception of the world we had before we lost touch with Essence. Awareness of the fixation and its irrational presuppositions is the first step in diminishing, or even erasing, it from our lives.
I know a dear Seven who is often trapped by ego-planning which is a manifestation of their fixation of gluttony (self-indulgence). This is their natural “go to” when a challenge arises, which typically involves discomfort, boredom, deprivation, or pain. Their continuous planning is a form of over-consumption, a type of self-gratification that takes their mind off the current difficulty and out of the present moment. Gluttony and Planning that follow is their natural reflex: it’s the path of least resistance but also the road to ultimate disintegration. But like most of us, the fixation says, “Relax, I’ve got this,” then we unwittingly comply. This Seven finally learned about their fixation and they no longer buy its messages hook, line, and sinker.
There is hope and healing instead of entropy. A remarkably healing way to counteract and heal our fixation is to subject it to the Living Enneagram. The virtue, the idealized and essential aspects, as well as the Holy Idea of each type, are potent antidotes to the fixations. When they are embodied, we are no longer trapped in the eddy of the fixation’s whirlpool that drags us downward.
The Living Enneagram is a teaching method at the Institute for Conscious Being. A person who wants to heal their fixation asks questions to all nine people, each representing one of the nine points on the Enneagram. These nine people respond to the questioner’s question as living embodiments of the Holy Ideas and the Virtues. And as such, they answer to the questioner’s question from their point’s higher attributes. Because we have all nine Virtues and Holy Ideas within us, the answers go deep and wide. The healing is remarkable.
Spiritual practice: Take your fixation, write it down, and list the many ways it plays out in your response to life. Now, beside your fixation, write the Virtue and Holy Idea. Write how these counteract the fixation. What happens to the energy level of your fixation now that it is seen in the light of truth?
Self-inquiry: What would you be like if you could embody and live from your virtue and Holy Idea?
Prayer:
Dear God, Just knowing that my fixation is not based on truth changes everything. It echoes your teaching; “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” I pray for the truth, Dear God. Amen
