Melancholy
Chilled, withdrawn, internalized, sad
Sadness
The precondition to the restlessness or lethargy of acedia. It is the inner hollowness that forces an individual outward in quest of the joy that cannot be found within. It is the consequence of repressed anger or frustrated desire. A wave of gloom can come over a person apparently for no reason at all (John Cassian). Everything simply seems too much. Afflicted individuals pull into themselves, shun their friends, and avoid the regular routine of life. The black bile of bitterness fills every nook and cranny of a depressed indivual's heart. It will be important for him to set his sights on the eternal horizon in order to transcend the darkness of the present. Sadness is deadly because the depressed cannot live the life to which they have been called. Cassian compares the victims of tristitia to useless, moth-eaten garments and to worm-infested beams unsuitable for the construction of the temple of God. A wholesome, happy person is one who stands in proper relationship to God and neighbor. Solomon Schimmel speaks of the "melancholy of modernity." Sadness is not only still with us; it seems, become a major contaminant in the polluted air we breathe. <Kenneth C. Russell, John Cassian on Sadness, CSR, Volume 38.1, 2003>
Sadness
The precondition to the restlessness or lethargy of acedia. It is the inner hollowness that forces an individual outward in quest of the joy that cannot be found within. It is the consequence of repressed anger or frustrated desire. A wave of gloom can come over a person apparently for no reason at all (John Cassian). Everything simply seems too much. Afflicted individuals pull into themselves, shun their friends, and avoid the regular routine of life. The black bile of bitterness fills every nook and cranny of a depressed indivual's heart. It will be important for him to set his sights on the eternal horizon in order to transcend the darkness of the present. Sadness is deadly because the depressed cannot live the life to which they have been called. Cassian compares the victims of tristitia to useless, moth-eaten garments and to worm-infested beams unsuitable for the construction of the temple of God. A wholesome, happy person is one who stands in proper relationship to God and neighbor. Solomon Schimmel speaks of the "melancholy of modernity." Sadness is not only still with us; it seems, become a major contaminant in the polluted air we breathe. <Kenneth C. Russell, John Cassian on Sadness, CSR, Volume 38.1, 2003>
Choleric
Hot, dry, closed, unsympathetic, impatient, quick to judge, no patience for concepts or ideas.
Phlegmatic
Cold and damp, his pique never turns into anger but drips covertly from the edges of his speech; for all his pleasures and sensory focus, his affections never seem to move him to the sort of excitement and fervor.
J. Stephens Russell, Dialogics in AELRED's Spiritual Friendship
Cistercian Studies Quartlerly, Volume 47.1 2012
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