Molière’s Tartuffe and My Enneagram Studies
Full cast of Tartuffe, Samford University Theatre, 1979
Blog 46
From the January 15 entry in Theatre Is My Life! Tomorrow is Molière’s 352nd birthday.
“The envious will die, but envy never.”
Madame Pernelle in Moliere’s Tartuffe, (Act V, Scene 3)
Today is Jean-Baptiste Poquelin’s — stage name: Molière’s — birthday. His Tartuffe was one of my favorite plays to produce, contained some of my best-loved costumes to create, and was filled with one of my dearest groups of students: Paul and Mariann, Theresa, Sammy, Charles, Andy, and Tammy. The themes in the piece deal with hypocrisy and deadly sins such as lust, greed, and pride — and there is some jealousy, too. Madame Pernelle speaks of this envy as never dying.
Over the last year, I have studied and actually been certified by the Institute for Conscious Being to teach the Enneagram, an ancient wisdom system that uses a nine-sided figure to illustrate the compass of possible personality types. It is used by people who want to develop their awareness of the complexity of human nature and relationships and is a very deep and enlightening spiritual tool.
I have discovered that I am beginning to be an integrated Four. In my earlier days, I was what I might call a flaming and broken Four (The Creator, Individualist, Romantic), which means that I was sensitive, melancholy, self-conscious, and temperamental — along with being creative, expressive, and special.
An unbalanced Four is overwhelmed with the desire to be different, and yet never feels truly authentic. For a long time, I searched for my true self in my own quest for the Holy Grail. What I found in my Enneagram studies was hard to swallow at first: the passion or deadly sin of a Four is envy. I never thought of myself as jealous or covetous. But, as a Four, what I yearned for was the wonderful, genuine life I felt others were leading. I desired the real experience I saw in some people’s professional or domestic situations. Everyone else was so much luckier than I was. I was discontent and I spiraled downward.
I had already begun balancing myself before I learned about the Enneagram. Thriving Fours want to analyze their experiences and by doing so, come to terms with who they really are. Through many spiritual practices, I realized that I have a wonderful life and I could let go of negative feelings from the past. So Madame Pernelle is right in one way, envy will never die all over the planet. But it has, for the most part, departed, from my life.