My sister says I am archetypal - I choose to see this as a compliment. Her observation resulted from our exchange today when I told her - 'remember the four humours - choleric, sanguine, melancholy, and phelgmatic? Whatever happened to them?'
I see these ancient Greek humours as a key to how we interact and behave. Melancholy is so much nicer than depression. Choleric makes a bad temper so much more acceptable. My older sister (on her deathbed) said to me that she wished she had lived her life with more passion (sanguine) but then she wouldn't have been who she was.
I know I fluctuate between these humours - some days I am sanguine - passionate for some cause. Often phlegmatic - whatever............. Able to conjur up choleric as happened when I took my car in for a simple oil change and they tried to scare me into an expensive repair! And melancholy when I feel sorry for myself and just want to have a good old pity party.
Reducing our emotions to these four simple components allows us to accept the ebb and flow of our volatile natures. I don't think it is a bad thing.
Whatever happened to the humours? Look up Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education. Followers of Waldorf (and perhaps theosophists too, I don't know) still believe in that paradigm for the emotions. "The four humors of Hippocratic medicine were black bile (gr. melan chole), yellow bile (gr. chole), phlegm (gr. phlegma), and blood (lat. sanguis)." from Wikipedia. You must have some pretty rich blood there, ha!
ReplyDeleteMust account for my love of crafting Waldorf Dolls! It's in my blood, ha!
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