Mary’s School of Sanctity

Lesson #35 About the temperaments – further reasons why we study them

More about why we study the temperaments – what’s the point?

Because we humans were made to praise, revere, and serve God[1], and because we carry out this precept in the way we deal with our neighbor, it is important to try to understand ourselves and our neighbor well.  To better understand our neighbor, we should start with self-knowledge, which includes knowing our own inclinations.

We can and do know that by our fallen human nature we humans have general tendencies, i.e. concupiscence of the flesh, concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life,[2]  but we must not forget that each of us also has his own natural dispositions and inclinations.   Hence, we study the inclinations people naturally have when we study the basic four temperaments.  One important aspect of our study of the temperaments, AND a goal we have in our study, is to find our own strengths and weaknesses and to use our strengths to overcome our weaknesses.  This is a means to our perfection. 

Each of the temperaments has a set of typically found strengths and weaknesses.  So, our challenge in our life is to work out our salvation by discovering our strengths and weaknesses, and with God’s help, of course, to use our strengths to overcome our weaknesses.  Thus, God intends for us to hew away at the things of our temperaments which are not favorable to a charitable relationship with Him and our neighbor.  In this way, too, He wills us to use the God-given strengths we have to glorify Him.  This is indeed what the saints did.[3]

Therefore, when we study the temperaments, we can come to better appreciation of our neighbor by recognizing his temperament and thereby seeing how we can work more harmoniously with him.  Another beneficial aspect of this knowledge is that it helps us to avoid rashly judging our neighbor, and in turn, this fosters our practice of compassionating our neighbor.   

With all this in mind, we can easily see that there are many good reasons to learn about the four basic temperaments and the possible combinations of these, and how people with the temperaments interact with each other.

One important additional consideration to make is to reflect upon Our Lord and Our Lady.  Both Our Lord and Our Lady had in their genetic make-up a perfect mixture of the four temperaments.  How do we know this?  They were both immaculately conceived and without any stain of sin for the entire duration of their lives.   It is also fitting that they would both be a perfect blend and balance of the four temperaments and would have nothing that would stand out as a genetic weakness.  God intended that they both would be models for us to imitate.

Setting forth the overall scheme of looking at each of the temperaments.

·         For each temperament, we will set out a listing of its general strengths and weaknesses.

 

·         We will discuss how a person with each temperament, who is of good will, uses the strengths to overcome the weaknesses.

 

·         We will discuss how a person with each temperament, who is of bad will, does not use the strengths to overcome the weaknesses.

 

·         We will discuss aspects of the prayer life/spiritual life of each temperament.

 

·         We will discuss the typical temptations which impact each temperament and how the temptations can be counteracted.

 In our next lesson, we will begin our treatment of the choleric temperament