Years ago I got into the Enneagram, and one of the things that a number of Enneagram teachers talk about is your childhood wound—how it not only has a unique role in forming your personality but may also help point you toward patterns in your life and underlying desires that are there for you to discover. “Desire” is a topic that comes up a lot in this podcast. Father Jim [Martin] returned to this vocational question several times throughout his book, “What would you do if you could do anything you wanted to do?” Another way to say it: What leads you to sacrifice and wholeheartedness? For the last memoir I wrote, a jazz saxophonist I interviewed put it this way: “Music pulls me deeper into being.” I think that’s a beautiful way to put it. What pulls you deeper into being?
Of course this requires some digging in order to uncover the deepest yearnings of one’s heart. Maybe someone’s desire for wealth on the surface is actually a deeper desire for security. Maybe a desire for fame is actually the desire to be known and valued for who they are. Maybe someone’s desire for a partner or spouse is a deeper desire for connection and acceptance.
All of these things are there for us to discover within ourselves. I’ll close with this line from another great memoirist, Elizabeth Gilbert: “I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure.” The joy of life, I’d add, is discovering that treasure alongside our family and friends.
—from Franciscan Media’s Off the Page
with host Stephen Copeland, featuring James Martin, SJ
