Sophia Institute online Courses

Anthroposophy in Everyday Life
Course 4: The Four Temperaments
Lesson 4.2.

Introduction

These courses concern themselves with specific lectures given by Rudolf Steiner under the heading "Anthroposophy in Everyday Life". The courses address how the insights of Anthroposophy can be applied to practical aspects of our lives, change our thinking and feeling, and help us with the task of self-development. These courses are of interest to anyone who wants to deepen their experience of Anthroposophical research, prepare for teaching, become a better parent or simply wants to understand the world-view of Anthroposophy using a practical approach.

In these courses the student will be guided through an in-depth study of original lectures by Rudolf Steiner. The lectures are given in their original form but divided into ten segments which each constitute the basis for the ten lessons of the course. Each lesson includes the study of a portion of the lectures, tasks and questions, and the necessary background material. The tasks and questions are designed in such fashion that they contribute to a deepening of the understanding of the study material and insights of Anthroposophy, relate the text to our modern time, and provide guidance to the student through the exercises detailed in Steiner's lectures.

The student will not only gain a better understanding of Anthroposophy and Waldorf Education, but also experience self development and inspiration, the result of which can be applied to any task in life.

Each course consist of 10 lessons which include study material from lectures by Rudolf Steiner, assignments and tasks.

Time for completion for each course: 2 months
All study materials will be made available online and via email.

Study Material for Course 4 Lesson 2

Lecture IV of Anthroposophy in Everyday Life. The Mystery of the Four Temperaments. A lecture by Rudolf Steiner given in Karlsruhe, Germany on January 18, 1909.
Part 2
It is an oft-repeated and a justifiable opinion, with regard to all the realms of human spiritual life, that man's greatest riddle here in our physical life is man himself. And we may truly say that a large part of our scientific activity, of our reflection, and of much besides in man's life of thought, is applied to the solving of this human riddle, to discerning a little wherein the essence of human nature consists. Natural science and spiritual science try to solve from different sides this great riddle comprised in the word Man. In the main, all the more profound natural scientific research seeks to attain its final goal by bringing together all the processes of nature, and so forth, in order to comprehend the external laws. And all spiritual science seeks the sources of existence for the sake of comprehending, of fathoming, man's being and destiny. If then, on the one hand, it is unquestioned that in general man's greatest riddle is man himself, we may say that in relation to life this expression may have a still deeper significance, in that it is necessary on the other hand to emphasize what each of us feels upon meeting another person: namely, that fundamentally each single person is in turn an enigma for others and for himself because of his special nature and being. Ordinarily, when we speak of this human enigma, we have in mind man in general, man without distinction regarding this or that individuality; and certainly many problems appear for us when we wish to understand human nature in general. But today we have not to do with the general riddles of existence, but rather with that enigma, not less significant for life, which each person we meet presents to us. For how endlessly varied are human beings in their deepest individual essence!

When we survey human life we shall have to be especially attentive to this riddle which each person presents, for our entire social life, our relation of man to man, must depend more upon how in individual cases we are able to approach with our feeling, with our sensibility, rather than merely with our intelligence, that individual human enigma which stands before us so often each day, with which we have to deal so often. How difficult it is regarding the people we meet to come to a clear knowledge of the various sides of their nature, and how much depends in life upon our coming to such clear knowledge regarding those people with whom we come in touch. We can of course only approach quite gradually the solution of the whole riddle of the human individual, of which each person presents a special phase, for there is a great gap between what is called human nature in general and that which confronts us in each human individual.

Spiritual science, or as we call it more recently, Anthroposophy, will have a special task precisely regarding this individual enigma — man. Not only must it give us information about what man is in general, but it must be, as you know, a knowledge which flows directly into our daily life, into all our sensibilities and feelings. Since our feelings and sensibilities are unfolded in the most beautiful way in our attitude toward our fellow men, the fruit of spiritual science, of spiritual scientific knowledge, will be revealed the most beautifully in the view we take of our fellow men because of this knowledge.

When in life a person stands before us, we must always, in the sense of this spiritual science, or Anthroposophy, take into consideration that what we perceive outwardly of the person is only one part, only one member, of the human being. To be sure, an outer material view of man regards as the whole man what this outer perception and the intellect connected with it are able to give us. Spiritual science shows us, however, that the human being is something very, very complicated. And often, when one goes more deeply into this complexity of human nature, the individual is then also seen in the right light. Spiritual science has the task of showing us what the innermost kernel of the human being is; what we can see with the eyes and grasp with the hands is only the outer expression, the outer shell. And we may hope to come to an understanding of the external also if we are able to penetrate into the spiritual inner part.

In the great gap between what we may call human nature in general and what confronts us in each individual, we see nevertheless many homogeneous characteristics in whole human groups. To these belong those human qualities which today form the subject of our consideration, and which we usually call the temperament. We need only utter the word ‘temperament’ to see that there are as many riddles as men. Within the basic types, the basic colorings, we have such a multiplicity and variety among individuals that we can indeed say that the real enigma, of existence is expressed in the peculiar basic disposition of the human being which we call temperament. And when the riddles intervene directly in practical life, the basic coloring of the human being plays a role. When a person stands before us, we feel that we are confronted by something of this basic disposition. Therefore it is to be hoped that spiritual science is able to give also the necessary information about the nature of the temperaments. For though we must admit that the temperaments spring from within, they nevertheless express themselves in the whole external appearance of the individual. By means of an external observation of nature, however, the riddle of man is not to be solved; we can approach the characteristic coloring of the human being only when we learn what spiritual science has to say about him.

Course Outline

Course AEL1: Practical Training in Thought
Lesson 1: Introduction. Practical Thinking. Unpractical Thinking.
Lesson 2: Right Attitude and Proper Feeling for Thinking.
Lesson 3: Real Practice of Thought. Practical Exercises in Thinking I.
Lesson 4: Thinking through Observation.
Lesson 5: Practical Exercises in Thinking II.
Lesson 6: Practical Exercises in Thinking III. Example of a Practical Thinker.
Lesson 7: Practical Exercises in Thinking IV. Focused Thinking.
Lesson 8: Practical Exercises in Thinking V. Painting the Mental Picture.
Lesson 9: Practical Exercises in Thinking VI and VII. Arriving at Conclusions.
Lesson 10: Conclusions and Observations. How Thinking Changes.

Course AEL4: The Four Temperaments
Lesson 1: Introduction. Physical, Etheric, Astral, Ego.
Lesson 2: Pedagogical Issues I.
Lesson 3: Practical Exercises I.
Lesson 4: Practical Exercises II.
Lesson 5: Practical Exercises III.
Lesson 6: Practical Exercises IV, V, VI.
Lesson 7: Practical Exercises VII.
Lesson 8: Pedagogical Issues II.
Lesson 9: Practical Exercises VIII.
Lesson 10: Practical Exercises IX. Conclusions.

Tasks and Assignments for Lesson AEL 4T 4.2.

Please study the provided segment of "The Mystery of the Human Temperaments." Then please turn to the tasks and assignments for this lesson that are listed below (in the submission form).

Please send your completed assignment via the online form or via email.

    Submission Form for online Courses 4TEMP2