Identity Sacred Enneagram

 I'm reading a book called The Sacred Enneagram.  I have heard of the Enneagram, but really don't know much about it.   My assumption has been that it is a type of personality test though the tiny bit of reading I've done so far makes me think that maybe that's not quite right. And I think I saw this book recommended somewhere, though I can't remember where.  Anyway, I'm only on chapter 1 though I've skimmed a couple of other chapters (kind of hoping to find the "personality test" that would identify my enneagram number).  

But I love these things so far.  The author relates a story on the first page of his spiritual leader, Father Larry Gillick, visiting an elementary school.  After he spoke to some of the students, a girl came up to him and suddenly she said, "You're blind!"  He said, "That's not news to me."

The young girl replied, "You don't know what you look like."  Then immediately she whispered, "You're beautiful!"

The author, Christopher Heuertz then explains that to some extent most/all of us are blind...we don't see our own beauty.  He writes:

Each and every one of us is beautiful.  Each and every one of us is beloved by God.

From this starting point we can begin an honest interrogation of the depths of our identity, of who we really are.  When we accept our inherent beauty, we find the courage to examine what makes us beautiful-to honestly encounter both the good and the bad, the shadow and the light. (16)

He also explains the difference between identity and dignity...identity tells us who we are and dignity tells us what we are worth.  He asserts that "all humanity bears the imprint of the Divine, that we are made in the image of God.  This is the starting point for drawing forward our sense of dignity, the intrinsic value that is ascribed not earned, based on our essence in reflecting a good and loving God.  If we can start with the grace of resting in our dignity, then the truth of our identity flows forward" (17)   In other words, we have value because we are children of God, and once we truly understand that, we don't try to find our value in things that we DO or DON'T DO.