Your Impact Part 4
April 21, 2025
Your Impact Part 4
The word "impact" can be a noun or verb. It refers to a substantial effect on something. It can be a strong collision or a forceful impression that any entity has on another entity. It is derived from the Latin word "impactus” meaning "pushed against."
In our Consciousness Studies and the Enneagram, we know that at certain intervals in our lives, something forcefully impacts our level of consciousness. These things can be people, health matters, births, unexpected gains, promotions, new relationships, deaths, losses, ideas, or anything that “pushes against” us. Many of these things are positive, yet many impact us negatively. When something affects us or “pushes against” us, we must respond. It can be as strong as a collision or a less forceful circumstance that throws us off our footing but to be impactful, it calls for a reaction. For something to have been impactful, it means we can no longer continue as we did before the impact. We must make an accommodation or a change.
In Enneagram teachings, such impacts are referred to as “shock points.” These occurrences are anything that significantly impacts our perception of reality, and as a result, we must adjust our response to reality. For example, a death or a birth causes a shift in our psyche and behavior. A new life entering our world affects our daily life and may cause us to be aware of things we had never before been conscious of. Whether this new life is a delight or an inconvenience, it can be a shock that forces us into a new reality. A significant loss can shock us into the awareness of things about life that we never saw before. Therefore, we must accommodate our new reality.
Two thousand years ago, a man named Saul persecuted Christians. One day, while traveling with others on the road to Damascus, he experienced a shock point. A tremendous light blinded him, and he heard the risen Christ say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4-8) His life was never the same — he eventually became Paul the Apostle, who sacrificed his all for the cause of the Kingdom of God. This shock point changed Saul’s entire view of reality, his self concept, and his purpose in life.
Though most of us have not had the experience of Paul, we have had life-changing impacts that significantly reoriented our lives. Hopefully, each impact or shock brings us to a higher level of consciousness. Spiritual growth is not linear; it is best explained as a circular helix, a spiral on which we gradually ascend to higher levels of consciousness.
The spiral of consciousness consists of one escalating rung after the other. Within each rung is an Enneagram (see Becoming Conscious page 228.) We stay on the same level of consciousness, circling the Enneagram within that rung until something forces us to the next higher rung. That something changes our conception of ourselves, others, and the world. We cannot unknow what has been revealed to us; we can never return to the previous level of consciousness. The impact was too profound.
Spiritual practice: What was your last shock point, and how did it change your perceptions?
Self-inquiry: Why would you choose not to go through a shock point?
Dear God,
I pray to continue the spiral of consciousness with your strength. Amen
