The first enneagram book I ever read was Helen Palmer's original The Enneagram. That book changed my life, and Palmer's insights still continue to surprise me. I thank Helen Palmer for showing me the ways that other people are different from myself, and the ways they are the same.

The second enneagram book I read was Don Richard Riso's Personality Types. Through his clear, direct writing, and later through his personal teachings, I found deeper perception, and suddenly I discovered I could directly taste the flavors of the nine types, by receptively allowing other people's being to soak into me. Don Riso became my primary teacher, and with his partner, Russ Hudson, transformed my studies into a life-affirming, overwhelmingly absorbing calling. I thank them both for the gifts they offer the world.

Many others have contributed immeasurably to this calling. Included among them are my dear friends, Michael Macleod, David Fauvre, and Katherine Chernick, and the dozens of fellow enneagram enthusiasts I have met at workshops and seminars, plus the hundreds of people I have worked with in groups and private sessions. Finally, I owe tremendous gratitude to those thousands of people I have lovingly observed in the course of my "field work" as a student of the enneagram.

May we all find peace and abundant joy
when we have finished our times
on this amazing planet.

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introduction