The Master Game: Pathways to Higher Consciousness (Consciousness Classics) by de Ropp Robert S

Author:de Ropp, Robert S.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gateways Books & Tapes
Published: 2003-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

Problems of Balance

This brief review of Sheldon’s typology hardly does justice to the system. It has in it several elements which must be separately evaluated to give a full picture of type. The most elusive of these elements, one of great importance to every student of Creative Psychology, is the capacity to harmonize conflicting traits in temperament. The higher the total of the index of temperament and the more equally it is distributed among the three components, the greater is the potential of the individual. Thus a 3-7-2 and a 4-4-4 both have a total of 12, but of the two the 3-7-2, with his predominant somatotonia, may have an easier temperament to integrate than the 4-4-4. The latter may be pulled in so many different directions that he may end by achieving nothing at all. Such types often take refuge from their conflicts by stupefying themselves with alcohol, taking drugs or deliberately adopting a mediocre disguise. T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) reacted in this way when, rejecting all the roles made available to him by his natural power of leadership and heroic aura, he took refuge in the anonymity of the R.A.F. as “Aircraftsman Shaw,” exclaiming: “there is nothing more restful than taking orders from fools.”

An exceptionally rich temperamental endowment results in “Promethean” or “Faustian” man, a type perfectly exemplified by Goethe. This complex genius, who played the roles of scientist, administrator, traveler, poet, artist, lover and mystic with equal enthusiasm, whose surging torrential productivity would have sufficed to supply three lesser geniuses, was practically torn to pieces by his own conflicting elements. “Alas, two spirits dwell within my breast, the one forever fighting with the other.” Faust is not satisfied with little Gretchen whom he seduces and abandons. He must have Helen herself, he must be master of the Sign of the Macrocosm and of the Microcosm. “From heaven he demands the loveliest stars and from the earth each joy it has to offer, and all that’s near and all that’s distant won’t satisfy his fathomless desires.”69

Such is Faustian man. Goethe, after several close calls with both madness and suicide, managed to live to the age of eighty-two and leave behind him collected works which fill 150 volumes. The fact that he was able to do this was due, undoubtedly, to an understanding of the principals of Creative Psychology which he obtained early in life and which guided him afterwards. The whole of Faust is a treatise on this subject, one of the richest in all literature but, like so many works of this kind, intelligible only to one who “knows the language.” Other Faustian men who have not had this guiding light have been less fortunate.

The aim of Creative Psychology is to give the student an understanding of his essence. Once he really knows his type, he can estimate accurately his innate capacities and live within the limitations they impose. A 7-1-1 index of temperament should inform its possessor that his greatest danger lies in his

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