Growing As An Enneagram Nine: The PeacemakerSýnishorn

Your Gut vs. Your Conscience 

Nines receive all information first in their guts before it gets sorted by their hearts and heads. The gut is an instantaneous reaction you make without real thought; it doesn’t need to consult the mind, and it doesn’t care how you may feel. It just knows. The gut is one of the most mysterious things about how God made us. 

Your gut is not your conscience. They do function similarly but they are very different things. 

The gut is an immediate instinctual reaction to information, decisions, and situations around you. Your gut may be trying to tell you whether something is safe to participate in, if someone is good to be around, or even if you have the time/space to do what someone is asking of you.

Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit, who is our conscience, will guide you with much more of a thoughtful, teaching voice. 

The gut says, “Look away! This is a dangerous person. Maybe if they don’t see you, they’ll go away.” 

The Holy Spirit says, “You see that homeless man? I want you to go up to him and pray for him.”

Our gut, when we are healthy, has been coached by the Holy Spirit. Our gut can be taught from God’s Word what is right and wrong, and what is pleasing to our heavenly Father. This is why, after some time, the gut may feel very similar to the Holy Spirit. However, the gut is still you, and the Holy Spirit is still God. There’s a huge difference.

A good example of this would be hearing a good friend explain why they don’t think reading the Bible is important; in this situation, both your gut and the Holy Spirit will be making you squirm in your seat. However, your gut may want you to remain silent to preserve the peace and your friendship, whereas the Holy Spirit will be prodding you to speak the truth in love to this friend and to gently expose the error in their thinking. 

Have you ever felt a tension like this inside yourself? That’s proof that sometimes your gut and the Holy Spirit are at odds, and they are most definitely very different things!