Sophia Institute online Courses

Anthroposophy in Everyday Life
Course 4: The Four Temperaments
Lesson 4.5.

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 5

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 5
If now we consider the one stream, that which lives in the line of heredity, we find that there the individual is drawn into a stream of existence through which he gets certain qualities: We have before us some one possessing the qualities of his family, his people, his race. The various children of the same parents have characteristics conditioned in this way. If we consider the true individual nature of a human being, we must say that the soul-spiritual essential kernel is born into the family, the people, the race; it envelops itself with what is given by the ancestors, but it brings with it purely individual characteristics. So we must ask ourselves: How is harmony established between a human essence which perhaps has acquired centuries earlier this or that quality and the outer covering with which it is now to envelop itself, and which bears the characteristics of family, people, race, and so forth? Is it possible for harmony to exist here? Is it not something in the highest sense individual which is thus brought into earth life, and is not the inherited part at variance with it? Thus the great question arises: How can that which has its origin in quite other worlds, which must seek father and mother for itself, unite with the physical body? How can it clothe itself with the physical attributes through which the human being is placed within the line of heredity?

We see then in a person confronting us the flowing together of two streams; of these two streams each human being is composed. In him we see on the one side what comes to him from his family, and on the other what has developed from the individual's innermost being; namely, a number of predispositions, characteristics, inner capacities and outer destiny. An agreement must be effected. We find that a man must adapt himself to this union, in accordance with his innermost being on the one side, and on the other in accordance with that which is brought to him from the line of heredity. We see how a man bears to a great degree the physiognomy of his ancestors; we could put him together, so to speak, from the sum of his various ancestors. Since at first the inner essential kernel has nothing to do with what is inherited, but must merely adapt itself to what is most suitable to it, we shall see that it is necessary for a certain mediation to exist for that which has lived perhaps for centuries in an entirely different world and is again transplanted into another world; the spirit being of man must have something here below to which it is related; there must be a bond, a connecting link, between the special individual human being and humanity in general, into which he is born through family, people, race.

Between these two, namely what we bring with us from our earlier life and what our family, ancestors and race imprint upon us, there is a mediation, something which bears more general characteristics, but at the same time is capable of being individualized. That which occupies this position between the line of heredity and the line which represents our individuality is expressed by the word TEMPERAMENT. In that which confronts us in the temperament of a person we have something in a certain way like a physiognomy of his innermost individuality. We understand thus how the individuality colors, by means of the qualities of temperament, the attributes inherited in the succession of generations. Temperament stands right in the middle between what we bring with us as individuals and what originates from the line of heredity. When the two streams unite, the one stream colors the other. They color each other reciprocally. Just as blue and yellow, let us say, unite in green, so do the two streams in man unite in what we call temperament. That which mediates between all inner characteristics which he brings with him from his earlier incarnation, on the one side, and on the other what the line of heredity brings to him, comes under the concept temperament. It now takes its place between the inherited characteristics and what he has absorbed into his inner essential being. It is as if upon its descent to earth this kernel of being were to envelop itself with a spiritual nuance of that which awaits it here below, so that in proportion as this kernel of being is able best to adapt itself to this covering for the human being, the kernel of being colors itself according to that into which it is born and to a quality which it brings with it. Here shine forth the soul qualities of man and his natural inherited attributes. Between the two is the temperament — between that by which a man is connected with his ancestors and that which he brings with him from his earlier incarnations. The temperament balances the eternal with the transitory.

This balancing occurs through the fact that what we have learned to call the members of human nature come into relation with one another in a quite definite way. We understand this in detail, however, only when we place before our mind's eye the complete human nature in the sense of spiritual science. Only from spiritual science is the mystery of the human temperament to be discovered.

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 4.5.

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
    AEL 4TEMP5