Excruciatingly exquisite beauty. 

Feeling into the depths of what is most heart felt and what affects us at the deepest levels.
 
Indistinguishable between pain and joy, suffering and exhalting. 

To know true beauty in its purest essence is to know the depth of being human and what matters most. 

This four capacity of the Enneagram is what is most missing in organizations and teams in business. While it is not necessary to go to the depths and linger there in business, it is essential to understand this reality exists within each of us and that we must allow it to be present in ourselves and with others. If not we lose what is most important, what really matters and gives life meaning and satisfaction. 

If we attend only to achieving what can be produced in the shortest amount of time with the fewest resources to make the greatest profit, we miss the rich opportunity to experience what it is to give our true gift to the world. It is not enough nor is it sustaining to only produce, transact or exchange matter. That will fall away and nothing will have been gained or developed.  That is not about evolving.  That is about surviving to the detriment of our selves and others.  To truly evolve it is essential to allow time to dwell in what is truly important in our hearts and to have that understanding be the ground for our doing. 

We see organizations and individuals within organizations suffer from a lack of meaning. They become doers and resources that are expendable rather than gifts that are valued and encouraged to develop.  When people are at the end of their lives and reflect back on what mattered to them it’s not that they didn’t make more money or produce more.  At the end of most of our lives we will remember and hold onto what mattered most while we were alive.  For most of us it will not be the pursuit to prove our worth to some standard that is not worthy of our sacrifice. Most of us will remember how we loved, who we loved and how we were loved and why that mattered.  If we are lucky we will have been seen for who we truly are within and through our work.  Then our work will be an expression of the best of us and will help us grow. Organizations and individuals thrive when this part of being human is allowed and encouraged to be present and a part of the conversation. 


So who will take the first step?  Will it be you?  Will you dare to open the door of your heart, walk deeper inside and shed light into the darker spaces so that you begin to see what is most real and true?  Or will you wait until the final moments and regret not having the courage to live life on your own terms and in your own way?

Excruciatingly exquisite beauty is what is in the depth of our souls.  It is bittersweet and what we long for most.  To be fully human asks only everything of each of us. It calls us to let go of what we hold on to so desperately in order to receive what we most need and experience the richness of living on purpose, with meaning with one another. It is true contact with what is most desperately needed in this world and in life today.