Choleric, sanguine, melancholic, and phlegmatic temperaments: 17c., part of the Grande Commande. The grande commande was a commission ordered by Louis XIV for statues intended to decorate the parterre d’eau of the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, as initially conceived in 1672. Designed by Charles Le Brun from Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, the statues were executed by the foremost sculptors of the day.
We can also relate the temperaments to the elements. The melancholic connects with the earth, the most physical substance of the four elements. The phlegmatic temperament is strongly related to the element of water which has a peaceful quality … unless disturbed or in a tight spot: Think of the water rushing down a narrow canyon or the high sea turning into a wild and dangerous place during a storm! The sanguine lives in the air and often has an airy quality. Finally, the choleric element can be found in the fire both in its potential for warmth and energy, but also in its destructive force.
Interestingly Steiner gives different correlations for the temperaments for children and adults.
" … if the I dominates — that is, if the I is already very strongly developed in a child, then we discover the melancholic temperament … If the astral body rules, we have a choleric temperament. If the etheric body dominates, we have the sanguine temperament. If the physical body dominates, we have the phlegmatic temperament." (from "Discussions with Teachers" by Rudolf Steiner)
Rudolf Steiner explained this difference as follows: "In later life these things (the relationship of the temperaments to the members of the human being) are connected somewhat differently, so you will find a slight variation in a lecture I once gave on the temperaments. In that lecture I spoke of the temperaments in relation to the four members of the adult. With children, however, we certainly come to a proper assessment when we view the connection between temperament and the four members of the human being as I just described. This knowledge about the child should be kept in the back of our minds as we try to discover which temperament predominates through studying the whole external bearing and general habits of the child." (from "Discussions with Teachers" by Rudolf Steiner)
So - Steiner speaks about a shift in this relationship from child to adult. Generally we can use the ideas in "Discussions with Teachers" to be applied for the school age child, the description in "The Mysteries of the Human Temperaments" as applicable to adults.
Another differentiation can be observed when we look at high school age children and young adults who are in the age range of ages 14 - 21. Beginning with this phase and in later life the seven soul types can be distinguished.
We can also relate the temperaments to the elements. The melancholic connects with the earth, the most physical substance of the four elements. The phlegmatic temperament is strongly related to the element of water which has a peaceful quality … unless disturbed or in a tight spot: Think of the water rushing down a narrow canyon or the high sea turning into a wild and dangerous place during a storm! The sanguine lives in the air and often has an airy quality. Finally, the choleric element can be found in the fire both in its potential for warmth and energy, but also in its destructive force.
Interestingly Steiner gives different correlations for the temperaments for children and adults.
" … if the I dominates — that is, if the I is already very strongly developed in a child, then we discover the melancholic temperament … If the astral body rules, we have a choleric temperament. If the etheric body dominates, we have the sanguine temperament. If the physical body dominates, we have the phlegmatic temperament." (from "Discussions with Teachers" by Rudolf Steiner)
Rudolf Steiner explained this difference as follows: "In later life these things (the relationship of the temperaments to the members of the human being) are connected somewhat differently, so you will find a slight variation in a lecture I once gave on the temperaments. In that lecture I spoke of the temperaments in relation to the four members of the adult. With children, however, we certainly come to a proper assessment when we view the connection between temperament and the four members of the human being as I just described. This knowledge about the child should be kept in the back of our minds as we try to discover which temperament predominates through studying the whole external bearing and general habits of the child." (from "Discussions with Teachers" by Rudolf Steiner)
So - Steiner speaks about a shift in this relationship from child to adult. Generally we can use the ideas in "Discussions with Teachers" to be applied for the school age child, the description in "The Mysteries of the Human Temperaments" as applicable to adults.
Another differentiation can be observed when we look at high school age children and young adults who are in the age range of ages 14 - 21. Beginning with this phase and in later life the seven soul types can be distinguished.
The changes in temperament also seem to develop over time with most children, often there are two temperaments which are predominant and over time one of the two becomes the leading temperament.
Another interesting and beautiful aspect of the temperaments is the realization that we also seem to have our phases of our life - so to speak - ruled by one of the temperaments.
"The evidence of temperaments can be seen in nature as well as in human beings. Think of the wind, for instance. We may speak of the different types of wind coming from the four points of the compass. These four winds are the most significant manifestation of the year's seasons - spring, summer, fall and winter. We may think of the year as having four ages like man - childhood, youth, manhood and old age - for in them both we see many characteristics which are comparable. The temperament of normal childhood is sanguine. Like the airy, changeable spring season the child is unsteady; he is cheerful, briefly depressed, confident, despondent, hopeful or downcast. He laughs and weeps. The normal youth is choleric, full of outbursts like summer thunderstorms. The temperament of middle age, with consciousness of the gravity of life, is melancholic, comparable to autumn. Old age is phlegmatic. Here complete serenity is reached, a state of balance and outer inactivity, life's winter." (Frederick Hiebel in The Questions of Temperament)
When working with adults in a therapeutic way, in consulting or with biography work, we can create exercises that bring focus and consciousness to the life phases briefly described above by Friedrich Hiebel. For instance we might create an exercise where we try to describe or express with art certain experiences (for instance trials in life) in four different ways reflecting the four phases of childhood, youth, middle age, and old age.
By Conrad Rehbach
Learn more about the four temperaments ... via the Sophia Institute online course The Four Temperaments
Another interesting and beautiful aspect of the temperaments is the realization that we also seem to have our phases of our life - so to speak - ruled by one of the temperaments.
"The evidence of temperaments can be seen in nature as well as in human beings. Think of the wind, for instance. We may speak of the different types of wind coming from the four points of the compass. These four winds are the most significant manifestation of the year's seasons - spring, summer, fall and winter. We may think of the year as having four ages like man - childhood, youth, manhood and old age - for in them both we see many characteristics which are comparable. The temperament of normal childhood is sanguine. Like the airy, changeable spring season the child is unsteady; he is cheerful, briefly depressed, confident, despondent, hopeful or downcast. He laughs and weeps. The normal youth is choleric, full of outbursts like summer thunderstorms. The temperament of middle age, with consciousness of the gravity of life, is melancholic, comparable to autumn. Old age is phlegmatic. Here complete serenity is reached, a state of balance and outer inactivity, life's winter." (Frederick Hiebel in The Questions of Temperament)
When working with adults in a therapeutic way, in consulting or with biography work, we can create exercises that bring focus and consciousness to the life phases briefly described above by Friedrich Hiebel. For instance we might create an exercise where we try to describe or express with art certain experiences (for instance trials in life) in four different ways reflecting the four phases of childhood, youth, middle age, and old age.
By Conrad Rehbach
Learn more about the four temperaments ... via the Sophia Institute online course The Four Temperaments
