Some Enneagram students who are not in the heart center find themselves strongly identifying with the heart center without understanding why. This is because we all have another ego type in the other two centers. For example, an Ego Type Five in the Mind Center might have Type Two as their strongest identification in the Heart Center, and perhaps a Nine, Eight, or One as their strongest identification in the Body Center.

The personality types in the Heart Center are the Two, Three, and Four. These types share a profound disconnection from their own lovability.

What last pulled your heartstrings? What broke through the wall that stands between us and our emotions? We all have such a wall. It is necessary in this world, where sad and heart-wrenching things happen all the time. The wall protects us from breaking down at the drop of a hat and from being emotionally incapacitated over and over in any given day. But the wall can thicken and become a barrier to our souls instead of a protection. Or the wall can be breached, flooding us with emotions.

Why do we feel such empathy when we see injustice, pain, or human need? Because our heart's center of intelligence instantly tells us that something is not right. Something has gone against the human spirit or our sense of decency, sense of morality, fairness, or human dignity. The heart does not stop to analyze; it responds. In harmony with the body’s instinctive center, it brings tears, compassion, or even the urge to act. In this way, our heartstrings become part of our moral compass.

Welcome to this series of Daily Reflections on Heart Strings.

You’ve likely heard this phrase used in tender moments:

“That movie pulled on my heartstrings.”

“Whenever you say you love me, it tugs on my heartstrings.”

“I saw that little puppy in the pet store, and she stirred my heartstrings.”

“When you told me of the family’s plight, it touched my heartstrings.”

Greed is often associated with stinginess and never wasting anything. This causes me to muse….

When we think of greed, we usually picture stinginess with money, possessions, or power. But I believe another, deeper kind of greed is perhaps the most profound. It is the withholding of ourselves, our hearts, and our presence. 

A giving heart is the antidote to a greed-ridden heart.

A giving heart is not ruled by fear of scarcity but overflows with abundance that displaces that very fear.

In becoming conscious, we awaken to the truth that we are not our appearance, personality, or possessions. We are our soul, our most authentic self, and our soul’s relationship with the Divine is the only thing we truly have, and the only thing that matters. Yet our culture tells us otherwise: “You are not enough unless you have enough.” The problem is, “enough” never arrives.

Greed is the reluctance to relinquish what we hold dear. In its worst form, it includes holding on to what other people hold dear even if we do not value it. Greed can also mean the desire for what belongs to another. What one person treasures may seem worthless to someone else. Greed is deeply personal. And it can be weaponized.

Greed easily morphs into lust. These two passions are woven into one another, which is why the Enneagram reveals their deep connection. Greed is the passion of Ego Type Five, while Lust is the passion of Ego Type Eight. One of the inner lines of the Enneagram links these two points, reminding us that greed and lust both spring from an unhealthy ego that has lost touch with the Virtues and Holy Ideas of the soul.

The word “greed” comes from the Old English “grædig,” meaning “hungry” or “voracious.” It points to a hunger that is never satisfied, marked by a desire to hold on, to never run out, and to secure what we value.

When we do not want to forgive, we can pray for the power to do so. As reflected upon earlier, prayer can be a vital part of spiritual alchemy, that profound transformation that takes place in our spirit. Prayer changes things, by also changing us. By aligning with the Divine, our thoughts and intentions shift from an egocentric orientation to a soulcentric one; this is a game changer. 

None of us alive today personally carried out the great injustices of our history. We did not commit the genocide of Native Americans, enforce Jim Crow laws, or place Japanese Americans in camps. We did not enslave people as property. Yet, we all live in a world that in part, those acts created. 

Those who have been sexually abused find great healing in therapies designed for these specific issues. Over the years, exercises and techniques have been developed that move the client along to confront their fears, shame, anger, and hatred. Eventually, the person refuses to allow the perpetrator one more minute of robbing them of their happiness and peace. This is a turning point in this therapy because they see a way forward with freedom from the attachment to anger, which paradoxically binds them to the perpetrator. Forgiveness is the highest form of detachment and resolution. 

In my work with dear souls who have been abused, the issue of forgiveness comes up regularly. Many victims simply cannot comprehend how their parent or anyone could harm an innocent child. Many are victims of sexual abuse. The memories of this and the heartache it causes are profound, long-lasting, and in many cases, life-altering. The continuing hurt makes the abuse even more difficult to forgive and to put in the past. 

As reflected about yesterday, we need divine super qualities to do things we cannot do on our own. So, forgiveness and self-forgiveness require divine qualities of self-compassion and grace, which the ego and personal willpower alone cannot supply. This is done through a process of spiritual alchemy. 

The spiritual road to self-forgiveness takes its own path. When regret weighs heavily on us, we may try to make amends, but even then, guilt often lingers. Even when we know God has forgiven us, we may hold on to the guilt. What we truly long for is resolution within our own soul; we want to feel free and at peace again. This requires extending to ourselves the grace of forgiveness.