The Elements
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Premise 5.
The ancients were
not so far off in their belief of the four
basic elements: Air, Earth, Fire, and
Water.
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Premise 6.
There are
atributes of all things in nature that can
relate to the four basic elements.
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Premise 7.
There are
personality traits in all people that can
relate to the four basic elements.
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Premise 8.
As an individual,
I may find a connection to a thing in nature
that shares the elements of my
personality.
Please
bear with me on this. It's likely to get
philosophical and a bit jumbled because I'm
still working it out for myself.
Much of
the information in this section is based on the
Keirsey Temperment Sorter. More detailed
information on this subject is available on
their webpage so I won't go into it
here, but you may want to take the profile for
yourself.
Four
styles of commonly observed human behavior have
been noted since the time of Hippocrates. Each
of these four temperaments is driven by four
different core need sets and is naturally adept
at particular skills. These core needs and
skills are summarized in the chart below. These
four temperaments are called Guardian, Artisan,
Idealist, and Rational.
Core Needs and Skills of the Four
Temperaments
|
Temperament
|
Core Needs
|
Skills
|
Element
|
|
Guardian
|
Membership and belonging
Responsibility and duty
|
Logistics and
facilitation
|
Earth
|
|
Artisan
|
Freedom and action
Excitation and variation
|
Tactics and
performance
|
Fire
|
|
Idealist
|
Identity and
self-actualization
Meaning and significance
|
Guidance
and advocacy
|
Water
|
|
Rational
|
Knowledge and competence
Willpower and mastery
|
Strategy
and design
|
Air
|
Now,
understand that any given individual will
demostrate each of these temperments to one
degree or another. I myself have taken the
Temperment Sorter numerous times and get
varying results, but normally fall into the
iStP (Artisan / Craftsman) category. For a full
explanation of these terms, visit the Keirsey webpage,
but I'll try to provide the basics, as I
understand them.
According
to Keirsey, any given individual will be either
Extroverted (E) or Introverted (I). Similarly,
an idividual will be either Intuitive (N) or
Sensing (S); either Feeling (F) or Thinking
(T); either Perceiving (P) or Judging (J). The
degree to which we exibit these characteristics
determines our temperment. Individuals who
primarily are Sensing / Judging (SJ) are
considered "Guardian" types. Individuals who
are primarily Sensing / Perceptive (SP) are
considered "Artisan" types. Individuals who are
primarily Intuitive / Feeling (NF) are
considered "Idealist" types. Individuals who
are primarily Intuitive / Thinking (NT) are
considered "Rational" types. The other
characteristics determine the "Sub-Type", in my
case, Craftsman. By sorting all this out into
the 16 possible sub-types, a picture begins to
form of the individuals temperment.
I f we
expand this idea to include the elements as
shown in the table above, we can see a
corelation to the Pagan table below.
The Elements
|
Earth is the element of stability
and of the body. It is wisdom, strength,
growth and prosperity. It is the physical
earth and the very heart of life.
|
|
Fire is the element of change and
passion. It is creativity, motivation, will
power, drive and sensuality. It is
sexuality, both physical and
spiritual.
|
|
Water is the element of emotion
and subconscious. It is love, purification,
intuition, mysteries of the self,
compassion and family.
|
|
Air is the element of the mind.
It is intellect, inspiration, imagination.
It is ideas, knowledge, dreams and
wishes.
|
So, by
looking for something in nature that exibits
these charateristics in the same relative
proportions, we may find an identity with
nature on a more personal level. Admitedly, its
the details in this area that I still have to
work out for myself. But, that's just one more
facet of the Journey that I'm on. Where you
start or end is immaterial, it's the Journey
itself that is of value.
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