(Dis)Orientation to Time
How is it already August? No, how is it only August? What is time anymore, anyway?
Perhaps you’ve asked yourself similar questions lately. Or perhaps you’ve somehow maintained a grounded sense of where you are on this wobbly, disrupted continuum of time that is life in 2020. If that’s you, how? No really, I want to know.
Trauma can distort our sense of time in myriad ways. And with the COVID-19 pandemic, its economic fallout, the fight for racial justice in the face of police brutality, and the ambient political unrest that is escalating as we approach the November 3rd election, 2020 has been a year of both collective and individual trauma for nearly everyone I know. There is no apparent end in sight to these traumas, and the uncertainty alone is disorienting.
Melissa Kircher of Enneagram Paths noted in a recent post that what we are experiencing right now could be called “time trauma”––that simultaneously “processing a future that’s unknown, a present that changes hourly, and a past that is [being] re-evaluated” can create a sort of disorientation to time that impacts our “mental emotional, and physical health.” I couldn’t agree more and certainly feel these impacts daily.
Even in the fog of this confusion, though, we each have a starting place. Understanding what that starting place is may help us anchor ourselves to reality even as the time warp pulls us this way and that. Conveniently, “orientation to time” is included in the Enneagram map of our personalities.
Orientation to Time
Enneagram stance theory says that we each have a basic orientation to time–– tethering us primarily to the past (4,5,9) , present (1,2,6) , or future (3,7,8). In this stressful year, I'm often finding it hard to think outside the present moment. Given the urgency of the challenges we face and the anxiety many of us are feeling, that makes sense. But in other moments I'm noticing an increased influence of my orientation to the past (as a person who identifies with Enneagram type 4) in both positive and negative ways.
The orientations to time according to Hurley & Donson* are as follows:
1 - Make the present the way it should be
2 - Respond to the needs of the present
3 - Work toward future goals
4 - Revere the past
5 - Reflect on past experiences
6 - Make the most of the present
7 - Work on future plans
8 - Work to make the future just
9- Preserve the past
What do you think? Can you observe your type’s orientation to time at play in your life?
Generally speaking, I’d say my penchant for nostalgia, resistance to the new, attachment to old favorites in music and film, and obsessive curiosity about our origins and history all square with 4’s tendency to “revere the past.” At the start of this pandemic, though, I experienced a lot of movement to and between both my resource points––2 in stress, 1 in security. I talked with others who experienced a similar rapid movement along their lines of both stress and security, challenging the assumption of some that we’d all be plunged into our stress numbers for a while. I truly believe that we get access to things we need to better take care of ourselves from both of our resources points and that we make these moves intuitively. With some awareness and intentionality we can make efforts to ensure these moves are more helpful than harmful.
I first noticed the energy of 1ness in early-to-mid-March as it became clear COVID-19 was serious and close to home. I efficiently stocked up our pantry, disinfected the house, made sure we had enough supplies to quarantine for 2 weeks if needed, etc. I readily followed the guidelines specified by healthcare professionals and was already frustrated with those not “following the rules.” I had ample energy to take these steps and felt confident it was the right way to handle things. It makes sense to me that the first move I observed was to my security point, as I have health conditions that require me to prioritize protecting my compromised immunity in everyday life. This wasn’t yet uncharted territory, and in fact it was a “secure” spot initially.
As things developed, I noticed a move toward 2 happening as I became very focused on what my husband and parents needed to do to stay safe. There was a lot of emotion driving me as I initiated more contact with each of them, trying to to make sure they were staying home and taking all necessary precautions when they weren’t. I was trying to be helpful by providing information, hand sanitizer, etc. While all this was legitimately helpful to some extent, I noticed a temptation to overdo it.
Fatigue started to set in, as it tends to when we spend too long in our stress and security zones. Gradually I returned to the home base of 4ness as it became clear we’d be in this for the long haul.
Part of what can come with this movement along the lines is a shift in our time perspective. Like with anything in these dynamics of the Enneagram, the move doesn’t change our primary, default orientation to time, but it can shift or widen our perspective. This is often needed and helpful in adjusting to new situation, solving a problem, or experiencing healthy growth and development. But what does this look like practically?
“MATURITY is the ability to live fully and equally in multiple contexts; most especially, the ability, despite our grief and losses, to courageously inhabit the past the present and the future all at once. The wisdom that comes from maturity is recognized through a disciplined refusal to choose between or isolate three powerful dynamics that form human identity: what has happened, what is happening now and what is about to occur.
Immaturity is shown by making false choices: living only in the past, or only in the present, or only in the future, or even, living only two out of the three.
Maturity is not a static arrived platform, where life is viewed from a calm, untouched oasis of wisdom, but a living elemental frontier between what has happened, what is happening now and the consequences of that past and present; first imagined and then lived into the waiting future.
Maturity calls us to risk ourselves as much as immaturity, but for a bigger picture, a larger horizon; for a powerfully generous outward incarnation of our inward qualities and not for gains that make us smaller, even in the winning.”
-David Whyte, Consolations
Same Storm, Different Boats
While we may all be in the same storm(s), we are certainly not all in the same boat. And unfortunately, as is usually the case, the challenges of 2020 have hit those who were already the most vulnerable among us the hardest.
Racial Politics of Time (Brittney Cooper, TED)
“…That desire to mitigate the impact of race and racism shows up in how we attempt to manage time, in the ways we narrate history, in the ways we attempt to shove the negative truths of the present into the past, in the ways we attempt to argue that the future that we hope for is the present in which we're currently living...
I believe the future is what we make of it. But first, we have to decide that time belongs to all of us.”
–Brittney Cooper
the fullness of time
In Enneagram terms, Drew Moser has proposed that an additional obstacle to living fully in time is a pattern of repression in our orientations to it. In addition to the dominant time orientation, he proposes that some of us repress the present (4,5,9) , repress the future (1,2,6) , or repress the past (3,7,8). Here’s a bit more of what Drew has to say on the matter and how this work can help us with discernment and better decision-making:
“It’s important to note that each type represses a time perspective from differing motivations and is manifested in different ways. Generally speaking, in my work with students, I encourage them to consider the three perspectives on time as distinct lenses of discernment. When we employ all three lenses, we are able to discern our lives with more clarity and wisdom. By focusing intention and attention to our repressed perspective to time, new insights emerge that help us with wise decision-making. For example:
When 3,7,8s slow down and reflect upon their pasts, they let their emotional centers catch up with their heads and bodies, and they learn from past mistakes and difficulties, helping break out of unhealthy habits and cycles. This is Sacred Delay.
When 1,2,6s lift their gaze to see beyond their present circumstances, they become more open to a vibrant future beyond the tyranny of the urgent, helping them not be so focused on present tasks. This is Sacred Vision.
When 4,5,9s choose embodiment in the here and now, they become more aware of what is, rather than what was or what could be, helping them resist unhealthy retreating tendencies. This is Sacred Presence.
When we cultivate all three perspectives on time, we live in the fullness of time.”
When Time Belongs to All of Us
I long for a reality in which the default, functional assumption is that time belongs to all of us.
May it be so.
May we do the work to make it so.