Studying the Enneagram, we recognize three primary "centers" of intelligence: The Head (thinking), The Heart (feeling), and The Gut (doing/being). I add a fourth, The Resultant. To truly master ourselves, we must look at the three natural materials we are made of—and the one material we choose to create.
The Gut: The Arboreal Body
The body is an Arboreal Heart because it grows and requires deep nourishment; it is a living organism that takes form depending on its pruning and its environment. Much like a chestnut and an oak thrive in disparate microclimates, each individual has a natural element and inherited preferences.
What we consume becomes the very stuff of our cells; we must pay attention to our supply chain. This holds as true for what we consume with our eyes and ears as with our knife and fork. Without wind, trees become flimsy and brittle; exercise your body as the wind exercises the tree and your elderhood may feel as strong as an ancient oak.
The Head: Mind of Stone
The mind is a heart of Stone—the foundation upon which our understanding is built. We approach knowledge as masons approaching a monument. A stone heart endures, incorporating new information into its existing base like a statue being carved from marble.
Each of us is the artist of our own mind. While stone is less apt to change its fundamental nature quickly, it will eventually be refined into architecture or eroded into sand by the environment. We are not just made of these ideas; we are the Stewards of them.
The Heart: Heart of Water
Emotion is a heart of Water. It is the great regulator of our internal ecosystem. Emotions can be still and preserved like Ice, or excited and pressurized like Steam. Both states are useful but can be damaging if not harnessed—frozen to death or refrigerated; scalded or harnessed for energy.
In its truest state, emotion flows smoothly with gentle ripples and occasional swells. It functions best in a cycle: it must be absorbed "uphill" to recharge our deeper aquifers until the body—the "Biotic Pump" of the Arboreal Heart—releases it as a gentle mist to rain again as nourishing, cleansing thoughts.
The Resultant: Iron Intention
If the Body, Mind, and Heart are the raw materials, then our Intention is the heart of Iron. This is a fourth center—the result of how we use the other three. Iron takes immense effort to forge. It requires the "Heat" of experience to become malleable, the skillful force of a blacksmith to hammer into shape, and the quenching of real-world practice.
Depending on the wielder, this Iron becomes either a Tool or a Weapon. When our Stone Mind is wise and our Water Heart is flowing, we forge tools that build. When our Arboreal Body is neglected or our Heart is frozen, we often forge weapons that divide.
Conclusion
By grounding ourselves in the Stone of the mind, nourishing the Arboreal body, and honoring the Water of emotions, we determine the quality of the Iron we bring into the world. When these centers are in harmony, we cease to be a collection of parts and become a living landscape—as enduring as a mountain, as vital as a forest, and as purposeful as an artist’s brush.
Which center do you find hardest to steward? Is your 'Wooden Body' currently lacking wind, or is your 'Water Heart' trapped as ice? Let's explore the alchemy of our being.
