The Four Temperaments สี่คุณลักษณะธาตุแท้ของความเป็นคน

ทุกอย่างในโลกนี้ย่อมมีลักษณะเฉพาะของมัน พืชแต่ละชนิดมีคุณลักษณะไม่เหมือนกันเราจึงใช้ประโยชน์จากมันตามวัตถุประสงค์ต่างๆของเราได้ สัตว์ต่างๆก็เช่นเดียวกัน ไม่ว่าจะเป็นจำพวกสี่เท้า/สองเท้า/ไม่มีเท้า จะเดิน/ห้อยโหน/คลานหรือชอบบิน ล้วนแล้วแต่มีคุณลักษณะเฉพาะของมัน ถ้าเราเรียนรู้ให้ดีเราก็จะนำมาใช้ประโยชน์หรืออยู่ร่วมกันได้อย่างดี มนุษย์/คนเราก็เช่นเดียวกัน ถ้าเราเรียนรู้คุณลักษณะเฉพาะของแต่ละคนได้ดี/หรือเรียนรู้ได้มาก เราก็จะนำมาใช้ประโยชน์หรืออยู่ร่วมกันได้อย่างดี แต่การเรียนรู้คุณลักษณะเฉพาะของมนุษย์หรือคนนั้นช่างลึกลับซับซ้อนและต้องใช้ความพยายามอย่างมากเพราะมนุษย์หรือคนเราปรับตัวได้เก่งและไม่แน่นอนถาวรเสมอ

สี่คุณลักษณะธาตุแท้ของความเป็นคนแยกออกดังนี้
1.พวก Melancholic หรือพวก ใจหดหู่ง่าย/ระแวง/ระวัง/หวาดกลัว พวกนี้มีลักษณะเช่นไรเรามาเรียนรู้กัน

The melancholic person is but feebly excited by whatever acts upon him. He is self-conscious, easily embarrassed, timid, bashful. He prefers to work and be alone. He is deliberative; slow in making decisions; and perhaps overcautious even in minor matters. He often lacks self-confidence and initiative. He is reserved and distant except to intimates friends. He is frequently moody or gloomy and very sensitive; easily hurt. The thinking of the melancholic easily turns into reflection. His thoughts are far reaching. He is penetrating. He likes to search for the cause and correlation of things. He looks at life always from serious side. It is difficult to move the melancholic to quick action, since he has a marked inclination to passivity and in activity. He finds it difficult to form new acquaintances and speaks little among strangers. The melancholic is a man of missed opportunities., he easily gives way to others, and does not stubbornly insist on his own opinion. He often displays great reserve and thereby gives the impression of modesty and humility; in reality he retires only because he is afraid of being put to shame. He allows others to be preferred to him, even if they are less qualified and capable than himself for the particular work, position, or office, but at the same time he feels slighted because he is being ignored and his talents are not appreciated. He can hardly forgives offences. Strong aversion easily takes root in his heart against persons from whom ha has suffered, or in whom he find this or that fault. He is very suspicious. He rarely trusts people and is always afraid that others have a grudge against him.

From what has been said so far, it is evident that it is difficult to deal with melancholic persons.

คำศัพท์ที่น่าสนใจ
 be reserved  ชอบสงวนตัว/ท่าทาง/ไม่ชอบแสดงออก
 be deliberative   ชอบคิดโน้นคิดนี่/คิดมาก
 be penetrating   ชอบคิดลึก/มากด้วยคำถาม
 a man of missed opportunities   คนที่พลาดโอกาสดีบ่อยๆ
 a grudge  ขุ่นเครืองใจ/หมางใจ
 a marked inclination  มีแนวโน้มเอียงที่เห็นชัด
 passivity and inactivity  ไม่ชอบแสดงออกและไม่อยากทำ
 acquaintance   คนทั่วๆไปที่ได้พบเจอ
 to distant himself from   ชอบทำตัวออกห่าง
 aversion   ที่เกลียด/ที่ไม่ชอบ
 be feebly excited   ตื่นเต้นง่าย

2.พวก Choleric ใจร้อน/โมโห/แล้งน้ำใจ/มักใหญ่ เป็นธาตุไฟ เรามาเรียนรู้คนพวกนี้กันหน่อย

 He is self-composed; seldom shows embarrassment, is forward or bold. He is eager to expressed himself before group if he has some purpose in view. He is insistent on the acceptance of his ideas or plans; argumentative and persuasive. He is impetuous and impulsive. He is self confident and self-reliant. He exhibits strong initiative; tends to elation of spirit; prefers to lead. He is quick and decisive in movement; pronounced or excessive energy output. He is not satisfied with the ordinary but aspires after great and lofty things. The natural virtue of the choleric is ambition; his desire to excel. A very great impediment for the choleric in his yearning for great things is his imprudent haste. He is stubborn and opinionated. He thinks he is always right, wants to have the last word, tolerates no contradiction, and is never willing to give in.

He relies too much on his own knowledge and ability. He refuses  the help of others and prefers to work alone, partly because he does not like to ask for help, partly because he believes that he is himself more capable than others and is sure to succeed without the help of others.

To his mind others are ignorant, weak, unskilled, slow, at least when compared with himself. He shows his contempt of his neighbor by despising, mocking, making belittling remarks about others and by his proud behavior toward those around him, especially toward his subjects.

He is domineering and inordinately ambitious. He wants to hold the first place.to be admired by others.
He has two heads but no heart. He is vehemently excited by contradiction, resistance, and personal offenses. This excitement manifests itself in harsh words which may seem very decent and polite as far as phrasing is concerned, but hurt to the core by the tone in which they are spoken. Nobody can hurt his fellow man with a few words more bitterly than a choleric person.

He cannot be without work, and he works quickly and diligently. He is persevering and full of courage in spite of obstacles. He can be placed at difficult posts and everything can be entrust to him. In his speech he is brief and definite; he abhors useless repetitions. If he is well instructed, he can apply his good talents to the best advantage. He is naturally the born and never discouraged leader and organizer. He can keep a secret like a grave.

คำศัพท์ที่น่าสนใจ
be self-composed    คนหนักแน่น
be domineering      ชอบข่มคนอื่น
harsh words  ถ้อยคำรุนแรง
contempt    ดูถูกคน
to manifest   แสดงออก
can be entrust   ไว้ใจได้
be brief and definite    สั้นๆและได้ใจความ
to abhor    เกลียด/ไม่ชอบ
be stubborn and opinionated   หัวรั้นและเอาแต่ความคิดตน
argumentative and persuasive    ชอบโต้แย้งละชอบชักชวนคนให้เชื่อตาม
be insistent   ดึงดัน/ไม่ลดละ

3. พวก Phlegmatic  เย็นชา/ไม่รู้ร้อนไม่รู้หนาว/เนืองๆ มาเรียนรู้ลักษณะพวกนี้กันหน่อย

 He is deliberative; slow in making decisions; overcautious in minor matters. He is usually indifferent to external affair, slow in movement, and exhibits a constancy of mood. He has little inclination to work, he inclines to work that does not require much thinking, he prefers repose and leisure, with him everything proceeds and develops slowly. He is not easily exasperated either by offences, or by failures or sufferings. He has no intense passions and does not demand much of life. He is very much inclined to ease, to eating and drinking; is lazy and neglects his duties.

He has no ambition, and does not aspire to lofty things, not even in his piety. External influence has little effect upon him and internal personal motives are lacking. It is necessary to explain everything most minutely to them, and repeat it again and again. The reaction from him is feebly or entirely missing. Eventual impressions fade away very soon. Animals used to symbolize the Phlegmatic is the turtle.

คำศัพท์ที่น่าสนใจ

be overcautious   ระแวงเกินควร
a constancy of mood    อารมณ์เรื่อยๆไม่ค่อยเปลี่ยนแปลง
inclination   แนวโน้ม/เอนเอียงไปทาง..
be exasperated   เหนื่อยหน่ายต่อ
lofty things   สิ่งเลิศๆ/ดีๆ
fade away very soon  จางหายไปเร็ว
impression   สิ่งประทับใจ
do not demand much of life     ชีวิตนี้ไม่ต้องการอะไรมาก
repose and leisure  ความสงบสบายๆไม่วุ่นวาย

4. พวก Sanguine  เริงร่า/อยู่ไม่สุข/จุ้นจ้าน/ชอบสังคม มาศึกษาคุณลักษณะพวกนี้กันหน่อย

 He seldom shows sign of embarrassment. He is eager to express himself before a group; like to be heard. He prefers group activities; work or play. He makes adjustments easily; welcome changes; makes the best appearance possible. He has frequent fluctuations of mood; tends to frequent alternations of elation and depression. He is quickly aroused and vehemently excited by whatever influences him. The reaction follow immediately, but the impression lasts bur a short time.

He seeks wide and broad range of friendships; is not selective, forms acquaintanceship easily. He is keenly alive to environment, physical and social; likes curiosity, he prefers activities requiring pep and energy. He is satisfied with the superficial and with a part of the whole. He loves light work which attracts attention, where there is no need of deep thought, or great effort. He always imagines that he has grasped the subject wholly and perfectly.

The sanguine is always changing in his moods; he can quickly pass from tears to laughter and vice versa; he is fickle in his views; he is unstable in his resolutions. This inconsistency often causes people to think that the sanguine person has no character; that he is not guided by principles. He resembles a bee which flies from flower to flower. He is the very opposite of the melancholic person who is given to introspection, who prefers to be absorbed in deep thoughts and more or less ignores the external.

The sanguine looks at everything from the bright side. He is optimistic, overlooks difficulties, and always sure of success. If he fails, he dose not worry about it too long but consoles himself easily. He has a habit of poking fun at others; to tease them and to play tricks on them. He feels happy when praised and is therefore very susceptible to flattery. It is hard for the sanguine person to be impartial and just. He has a remarkable faculty of drawing the attention of his fellow men to their faults without causing immediate and great displeasure. He does not find it hard to correct others. If it is necessary to inform someone of bad news, it is well to assign a person of sanguine temperament for this task. When dealing with the sanguine person it is advisable to think twice before taking him into confidence. He must be kept under strict supervision and guidance; he must be carefully guarded against bad company, because he can so easily be seduced.

คำศัพท์ที่น่าสนใจ

embarrasment  ความเขินอาย
fluctuations of mood   อารมณ์เปลี่ยนแปลงง่าย/ขึ้นๆลงๆ
and vice versa   ในทางกลับกัน
to console   ปลอบใจตนเอง
to correct others   แก้ไขความผิดคนอื่น
strict supervision   เฝ้าดูอย่างเข้มงวด
to be absorbed in   หมกมุ่นอยู่กับ
pep and energy  เริงร่า
be superficial   ทำอะไรผิวเผิน/ไม่ลงลึก
displeasure   ไม่สบอารมณ์
the internal  สิ่งต่างๆภายใน
the external  สิ่งต่างๆภายนอก
faults  ข้อผิดพลาด


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