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Reflection: Thinking-feeling-doing + Being.​
​Contemplative Enneagram Summit
1 Question Poll!

Hi Reader,

Keith here, with 1 quick question before we jump into the reflection!

We recently asked whether our community preferred "course or retreats" more as the format for spiritual teaching & practice.

It was quite revealing! And we certainly learned that lots of you are hungry for retreats.

Below is a follow-up questions we'd love you input on.

This information will help us create and design new programs and formats as we head into program planning for 2027 (thanks in advance for your feedback!

👇

If Closer Than Breath offered an online contemplative retreat day, what length would feel ideal for you? 〇 2–3 hours ​ A shorter half-day retreat 〇 4 hours​ ​A spacious half-day retreat 〇 5–6 hours​ ​An extended retreat day with more silence, teaching, and breaks 〇 7–8 hours​ ​A full-day online retreat

Thank you for sharing your input here...it really does help 🙏

We're hoping to send a series of one-question surveys every other week and promise to keep them short and sweet!

Now on to a reflection 👇

“ Behind personality is essence.​ ​Behind essence is the Real I.​ ​Behind the Real I is God.​ ​ ​― Attributed to G.I. Gurdjieff

A teaching often attributed to G.I. Gurdjieff says:

'Behind personality is essence.​
​Behind essence is the Real I.​
​Behind the Real I is God.'

I’ve been thinking about this as our Contemplative Enneagram Summit approaches.

Most of us spend a lot of life caught in what I call our "thinking-feeling-doing self." The self that is busy. Busy:

Thinking.
Feeling.
Doing.

Thinking - Feeling - Doing.

All. Day. Long.
😆

The Enneagram helps us see the patterns underneath all that activity: the ways we seek love, safety, control, belonging, peace, significance.

And sometimes that realization is humbling.

Oh. I do that again.

But the goal isn’t to get rid of personality.

Our personality gives life texture, color, and individuality.

👉 The problem is when we mistake our patterns for the whole of who we are.

---

Luckily (!) Beneath I am anxious, I am successful, I am needed, I am afraid, there is something simpler:

I am.

Before I am this or I am that...

I am

Our naked presence.

Our simple being.

Our deeper self.

Gurdjieff might have called this "Real I."

👉 I see it as God's Being shining in our finite being; God's infinite I AM hidden in plain sight in our finite I am.

And this is where contemplative practice becomes so powerful.

Meditation and Centering Prayer invites us, again and again, to loosen our grip on thought, emotion, and reaction, and rest in something deeper.

Not freedom from personality.

Freedom within personality.

The ability to notice a our mental-emotional-behavioral patterns without automatically becoming it.

To feel an emotion without being swallowed by it.

To become more fully human while resting in the deeper Ground of our being.

---

This is what I’ll be exploring in my special Early Bird bonus session:

The Open Heart & Meditative Mind​
​How Centering Prayer takes us beneath the busy mind, softens our personality patterns, and opens us into the presence of our deepest Self.

I’ll be offering this live teaching + practice session as a bonus for everyone who registers for our upcoming Contemplative Enneagram Summit before Early Bird pricing ends on September 1st!

If you wish to join me, click here to explore the Summit and register during Early Bird (email events@closerthanbreath.com for scholarship support if needed!)

👉If you wish to join me & others, click here to explore the Summit, and register before Early Bird ends Tuesday, September First.

Personality.

Presence.

The deep I am.

The Great I AM.

God, closer than breath.

🙏

Blessings, my friend,
— Keith Kristich

🙏
— Keith

P.S. Keep scrolling to make sure you get signed up for September's Contemplation Day and see a new Members-Only Book Club on Anthondy DeMello's book Awareness.

Upcoming Events

Next Contemplation Day -
Saturday, Sept. 12

The Enneagram can help us recognize the armor we use to navigate the world: patterns and strategies that protect us, but can also limit our freedom.
​
Together, we’ll explore what it means to create more space between who we are and the armor we carry, opening toward greater freedom and ease.

Through somatic and visualization exercises, reflection, and writing prompts, you'll explore your own relationship with these patterns and practice returning to a deeper sense of self beneath them.

Cost is flexible: $15–$40
​​
And truly—if cost is a barrier, just reach out. We want this to be accessible to everyone.

Register below and share with a friend 👇

Event Details 🗓️ Saturday, September 12, 2026 ​⏰ 10:00am - 11:30am ET (7:00am PT | 3:00pm BST)

You've already registered for this offering! If you want to forward this to a friend, they can register below 👇 ​The Enneagram for Liberation​

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Centering Prayer Essentials

Whether this is your first time hearing about the practice or you’ve practiced with us before, this course will ground us in the silence and Presence that anchor all we do.

We're offering this course on two schedules:

Wednesday - Friday October 7, 8, & 9​ 11:00am - 12:15pm ET ​(8am PT | 4pm BST) Register Here

Mondays November 2, 9, & 16​ 1:00pm - 2:15pm ET ​(10am PT | 6pm BST) Register Here