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Moral Healer's Handbook: The Psychology of Spiritual Chivalry (God's Will Be Done, Vol. 2) (God's Will Be Done, Vol. 2)

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The Enneagram or Enneagon is a nine-pointed symbol currently being used as a personality system. Anyone interested in the mysterious history of the enneagram and enneagon symbol should study this book. Although not necessarily the definitive work on the subject, it does present a Naqshbandi (Designers) Sufi use of the symbol. This is important because both Gurdjieff and Oscar Ichazo, the two major channels through which the enneagram has entered the West, claimed to have studied with Sufis of this very school. In Conversations with Oscar Ichazo, Ichazo talks specifically of an encounter with the enneagon while studying with Sufis in Afghanistan. At least two separate sources claiming to be Sufi, Idries Shah and Sheikh Kabbani, assert Gurdjieff's contact with the Naqshbandi. Bakhtiar's work is scholarly and complex and not for average sensation-seekers looking for simple party games. She moves from the psychological and medical usage of the symbol to the astrological, alchemical and spiritual use. There are similarities and differences with the Ichazo and Gurdjieff traditions and the more recent developments derived therefrom, but it's up to the reader to decide what makes sense to him or her. For more info, see The People of the Secret by Ernest Scott, The Teachers of Gurdjieff by Rafael Lefort, and The Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi Sufi by Sheik Kabbani, as well, of course as the works of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Shah, Ichazo, Claudio Naranjo, and Helen Palmer.These last two authors are probably the best introductions to the current Enneagram for those who know little about it. Bakhtiar's work is for those who want to know more.