Customer Reviews

The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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I read this book about two years ago so unfortunately it is not fresh in my memory. However, the book did make a big impression on me at the time and I have frequently recommended it to others who have just begun their enneagram inquiries. I had previously read three books written by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson (Personality types, Understanding the Enneagram, and another less impressive I can't remember the title...). I found that "The Enneagram of passions and virtues" was the perfect next-step in learning about the enneagram. Each chapter more profound than the next, everything tying together beautifully. The author basically underlines nine virtues and nine passions- She goes into decent detail over the pairing of these virtues and passions. She says that she has found that most people relate most frequently with one of these pairs of virtues and passions. An example of this would be "Envy vs. Equanimity" or "Fear Vs. Courage". I really recommend this book to someone new to the enneagram, someone who is looking to dig a little deeper. This begins with basic psychology, like Riso and Hudson, but goes beyond into the realm of the spiritual and existential (which, if you continue looking into the enneagram you are going to find its roots in spirituality anyway.) This book really helped me to understand myself and others, also what to do with the information in Riso and Hudson's books.

Another really great thing about this book is that it was much more of a gateway into this topic because it had so many great sources that after I finished reading this book I knew exactly where to go next. I was able to trace some of the roots and history of the enneagram as well as read other authors (such as Claudio Naranjo and Gurdjieff) who have written a great deal about the enneagram.

Finally, one criticism I do have about this book is that... well.... it was a bit cheesy. It seemed like the author would ocassionally go off for a few pages about how you can let your heart go free and let your soul go and move towards the light of ever-loving majestic type crap. I didn't really mind it at the time I was reading it, but it was a bit of a turn off. I guess it was just a bit excessive.

All in all, wonderful amazing book for the right person at the right time. Highly recommended to enneagram beginners. This book can be very intense and really open your eyes to human behavior and human intentions. It can really open you eyes and wake you up. This is a good thing.

Reading Sandra Maitri is a little like wading through dark waters with gems in the creek bed. Reading is not quick and easy, but there are many rewards if you persist. I highly recommend any works of Sandra Maitri.

Sandra Maitri's book is useful for someone who knows a little about the enneagram (to the point at which they have narrowed down the possibilities for their type and appreciate the potential for understanding human experience provided by the enneagram). Then one wonders: Where do I go from here with this system?
S. Maitri provides a somewhat broad perspective on where she sees that people can go with the enneagram as a map into new territory. She focuses on a duality for each type, one choice seeming to lead us to an evolution our ego structures underwent when we were young, and we were filtering our experience through the lenses of the various types in order to enhance our survival and establish a distinct identity, and other visceral (or what one might call instinctive) goals of humans, and the other seeming to lead to greater and greater levels of interconnection and unity, as we probe (and possibly go beyond the sharp boundaries we established for ourselves when young) the seeming universal, within our particular experiences, and which transcend our particular filters or ennea-types.
She obviously seems convinced that this "higher" pursuit takes us in a direction beyond our materialistic orientation of science and technology, but what this might mean seems somewhat elusive (despite using capitalized words like "Being", suggestive of a supernatural orientation). She presents quite a balanced perspective, and frequently brings into the picture Freudian or Freudian-related viewpoints. This particular psychological vantage point is helpful, due to the broad interests of Freud and those who advanced the science after him.
I thought that her project in this book was very ambitious, and perhaps deviated a little into vagueness and superficiality by attempting to make so many connections. On the other hand, this large perspective is a valuable one to be exposed to as one person's vision about a direction for further investigation after assimilating some of the important ideas about the enneagram.

Great subject. Boring book. I find that the Riso/Hudson version of the E is great for work on the personality. But limited. When I encountered their version of it, I thought that the older E with the passions, virtues, holy ideas, fixations, was outdated.
With authors like Maitri, I found that I was dead wrong. The passions and virtues speaks of an aspect of the Work, a psycho/emotional inner alchemy.
One problem I have found about her two books is a sense of repetative language, and a constant attempt to force intellectual language. You can tell that she is not the dry, intellectual Almaas. But still tries to be. And fails. Got sort of sick of the fluffy talk about true nature, and "obvious" facts, such as how we are not our bodies and so on.
I would have enjoyed more talk about how one's energies get redirected and transmuted into the virtues with inner work. Instead of the transformation just happening. Very much felt that is was missing something.

The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues is a great book to have if you are interested in the Enneagram. It describes our strengths "virtues" and our weaknesses "passions" as each enneagram type. This is a book you will want to read and re-read and one you will want to have on your reference shelf.

Most books on Enneagram tell you similar things about your type. This book however gave me much more in depth material that was hard to process (the author does not tipy toe around the issues) but very important to learn and work with. I highly recommend this book, as well as her other book "The Sprititual Dimension of the Enneagram", for those that are seriously working on themselves.

Excellent review with a Freudean twist of the "Seven Deadly + 2 Sins". Was hoping for more insight of the underlying processes inherent in the Enneagram symbol that Gurdjieff, Bennett, Ouspensky and Vollmer discuss and how that relates to traversing the Enneagon.