FVLE - "Goethe"

JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE 

1) PHYSICS ("owner") 

2) WILL ("nobleman") 

3) LOGIC ("skeptic") 

4) EMOTION ("gawker") 

Goethe is one of the few who, albeit unconsciously, but accurately described his psychotype. He did so, however, in a rather peculiar way: first, in poetic form; second, by starting his functions from the end, from below; and finally, the occasion for Goethe's description of his order of functions was his correspondence dispute with the evangelist John, who began his preaching with the words: "In the beginning was the Word" (Jo. 1.1.). 

Goethe discovered the Gospel and his soul (or rather, the order of functions) rebelled against such an unquestioning definition of the Beginning of all beginnings. So he decided to argue: 

"In the beginning was the Word." From the first lines 

Mystery. Did I get the hint right? 

After all, I don't put my word that high, 

To think that it is the basis of everything." 

In the beginning there was Thought. Here is the translation. 

It conveys this verse more closely. 

I will consider, however, that right away 

Don't ruin the job with the first sentence 

Could a thought breathe life into a creature? 

"There was Power in the beginning. That's what it's all about, 

But after a little hesitation 

I reject this interpretation. 

I was again, as I can see, confused: 

"In the beginning was the Cause," the verse says. 

In this passage from Faust one is struck not so much by the impertinence of Goethe in arguing with the apostle as by the fact that the apostle's opponent in this matter was none other than Goethe - himself recognized as the greatest master of the word. It seemed that how could the brilliant poet, novelist, and playwright declare: "I do not set the word so high." And yet. The best way to explain this phenomenon is through psychosophy: Goethe had the 4th Emotion, and, naturally, regardless of his occupation, in his inner hierarchy the value of the word as an emotional retransmitter could not be significant. 

Above the Word Goethe put Thought, i.e., Logic. But he did not hasten to put it as the basis of the universe, but simply placed it above the 4th Emotion, as the thing more valuable in his opinion, thus prompting us that Goethe had the 3rd Logic. 

Further on in Faust we read: "There was a Power in the beginning. This is the point, but after a little hesitation I reject this interpretation. Force, if its nature is not mechanistic, is synonymous with the Spirit, the Will ("power of the will"). And since Goethe put Force above the 3rd Logic, but not in the first place, Goethe's 2nd Will appears quite clearly in this his decision. 

So, what is paramount in Goethe's system of values? "In the beginning was the Cause," he proclaimed, presenting the physical act (the Cause) as the beginning and support of the universe, i.e., simply put, his 1st Physics. 

What was really at the beginning and who was right in this dispute: John the Evangelist or Goethe - is not the point. The main thing is that by reflecting on the origins of the world Goethe unwittingly built his system of values, and with it his psychotype. The difference between the Goethe of "Faust" and the psychotypical "Goethe" is only in terms. Let us compare: 

Goethe ("Faust") "Goethe" (psychotype) 

1) Case 1) Physics 

2) Strength 2) Will 

3) Thought 3) Logic 

4) Word 4) Emotion 

It was also characteristic of Goethe's type to contrast the First Function with the Third, i.e., in this case, the First Physics with the Third Logic. Recall the classical one: 

"Theory, my friend, is dry, 

But the tree of life is green." 

Remarkably, however, by the age of 60 there came a moment in Goethe's life when, having healed his natural ulcer in the 3rd Logic, he was able to part with the innate fig leaf of skepticism. And when young Schopenhauer with fervor of the same, but his 3rd Logic tried to return the wizened old like-minded man to the bosom of skepticism, assuring him of the perfect helplessness of reason, Goethe, pitying his young opponent and sympathizing with him, still did not find words of comfort for him. 

The biographer wrote about the poet experienced at the time of the metamorphosis: "In the scientific interests of Goethe changed. Had he not previously been skeptical of mathematics and astronomy, as to the invisible sciences? Hadn't he kept away from stars and numbers because his five sacred senses were powerless here? Now he extols astronomy as the only science that rests on an absolutely solid foundation and can step through infinity with complete confidence... 

Before, he had attacked Newton because his Goethean eye did not see what emerged from Newton's experiments. And now he is again arguing about the same subject with Schopenhauer, a young Kantian. "How," Goethe exclaims, "does light exist only because you see it? No! You yourself would not be in the world if light did not see you!" Goethe thus became one of the lucky few who achieved harmony while still in this life, without waiting for the transition to the next world in which all ulcers, including those of the Third Function, are healed. 

* * * 

Expressive and somehow particularly consistent were the fruits of Goethe's 2nd Will manifested in his work and destiny. Let us begin with the poems. One of the last is as follows: 

"When in the vastness of nature, 

Where, repeatedly, everything flows, 

Countless vaults are growing 

And each vault grows into a vault, 

Then the star and the worm are wretched 

Equal before the power of being, 

And we think we are at peace in 

God All the world's crowds." 

Surprisingly deep, intelligent, heartfelt and true. The capacity of the poetic form . only intensified the effect of the feeling of the 2nd Will of the author: strong, flexible, calm, democratic. In prose Goethe spoke of the same organic sense of aversion to caste:"...in the human spirit, as in the universe, there is nothing that is above or below; all require the same rights to a common medium." 

The most interesting thing, however, is that Goethe's "nobleman's" ethics left an indelible mark on a field that seemed quite distant from philosophy and morality - the natural sciences. The fascination of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Privy Counselor and king of European literature, with botany, zoology, and anatomy, which is remarkable in itself, is doubly remarkable because it was not intellectual curiosity that drove Goethe on the path of natural science, but the Will. 

An initially unconscious sense of the injustice of the scientific dogmas of the time led Goethe to rush into battle even when it came to the classification of plants. Paying tribute to Carl Linnaeus as a botanist, Goethe, prompted by his 2nd Will, could not help but rebel against the recognized authority when the fate of the picture of the world was being decided. Goethe wrote: "After Shakespeare and Spinoza, Linnaeus made the greatest impression on me, precisely because of the contradiction he aroused in me; for what he forcibly tried to separate must, because of the deepest need of my being, come together." As it turned out in time, in the dispute between Goethe and Linnaeus, Goethe was right, and later on plant morphology developed precisely in the direction he indicated. 

Goethe's anatomical investigations developed in the same direction. At the time, science was dominated by the theory of human exceptionalism in the animal world on the grounds that among the bones of his skull there was no intermandibular bone, indispensable for the skulls of other mammals. Goethe, of course, could not get past such a blatant genocide against our lesser brothers and, taking a child's skull in his hands, found the unfortunate bone, shaming once again the credentialed donkey scientists. 

* * * 

To put it bluntly, "Goethe" is one of the lucky few, about whom nothing can be said but: "Here God has bestowed beauty of body and soul. Indeed, looking at "Goethe", one can only envy: the abundant, lush relief flesh of the 1st Physique is ennobled in "Goethe" by the calm, firm, strong spirit of the 2nd Will and therefore does not look vulgar. Goethe himself was often called the "Olympian", and deservedly so - there is something Olympic in the form of "Goethe": in the large, powerful body, in the bearing plastic, in a slow, quiet, but weighty speech, in a calm, somewhat distracted gaze. The feeling of strength, reliability, peace and comfort is the first and unchangeable impression in contact with the Goethe. 

The figure of Goethe has recently become of particular interest in connection with the political sphere. The relevance of such interest in this case is conditioned, oddly enough, by the fact that the democratic political system is becoming dominant in the world. And under such conditions psychology has a place to run wild. I will not reveal America if I say that democracy is built on the electoral principle, not on the dynastic right of succession and not on the right of the strongest. In the latter two cases, common for past centuries, the psychologist had nothing to do, because the psychotype of the ruler was a matter of chance and arbitrariness. Democracy creates different conditions, when the sympathies and antipathies of the electors play a decisive role in matters of power. Not to say that democracy knowingly denies the right to power to some psychotype, and leads another, on the contrary, into the royal chambers under the arms. But there is no doubt that democracy has its favorites and its stepchildren. 

"Goethe" in general is a darling of fortune, a general favorite. In politics, too. And not without reason. Here is the most approximate list of "Goethe", who by the will of fate found themselves at the top of the power pyramid: Emperor Diocletian, George Washington, Tsar Alexander II, Ronald Reagan, Hosni Mubarak, Helmut Kohl, Boris Yeltsin. 

What can be said of the "Goethe" politician, based on his order of functions? Obviously, Physics 1 makes him a consistent supporter of private property, a man inclined to regard personal enrichment as a sinless affair. Goethe himself half-jokingly and half-seriously said that if he had been born in England, he would not have been born without an income of 6,000 pounds. A similar point, but on a national scale, was made by "Goethe" politician Ronald Reagan: "First of all, I want our country to remain a place where a man can always get rich. And the practice of economic reforms by Reagan, Kohl, and Yeltsin shows that reliance on private-proprietary interest is not a declaration, but an intrinsic need of the "goethe" Physics 1. 

While taking care of the public welfare, the Goethe never forgets about himself. When a delegation came to Emperor Diocletian, the only princeps in Roman history who had voluntarily retired, with a request to return to the throne, he exclaimed: "Don't bother me with any nonsense; better to see what cabbages I have now. George Washington's business at Mount Vernon was as busy as national affairs, even in America's darkest days. 

The use of force in politics is internally very close to Goethe's 1st Physics. Think of Reagan with his "peace by force" doctrine and his attacks on Libya and Lebanon. Remember Yeltsin's aggression in Chechnya and Hosni Mubarak's brutal massacres of Islamic fundamentalists. Even when fate spares the Goethe from using arms, his impulsive propensity for violence comes out of him like an awl from a sack. It has been written of Kohl that he "can wrestle with his opponents in the most trivial way. As a young man his quarrels with the Social-Democrats were not without physical violence. The chancellor must have remembered his youth, when last year he threw himself headlong into a crowd which threw apples at him in Halle. In a word, the Goethe cannot be called a pacifist in politics. 

But no matter how one feels about the problem of political violence or the regulation of the economy,1 the "goethe" physique already disposes voters to one's own appearance. The height, weight, and facial features of the aspirant to power are not the last factor in democratic elections. For all the other usually vague virtues, it is still more pleasant to have a man of unquestionable presentable appearance as head of state: tall, lean, with a lush sculpted face, etc., which is almost always answered by the Goethe and is aware of his advantage. For example, about Kohl it was written that "the Chancellor attaches political importance to his weight - 120-125 kilograms with a height of 193 centimeters. The chancellor says bluntly that he "owes his imposing appearance to many things. 

The 1st Physics would have made a "Goethe"-politician an inveterate villain and robber of a national scale, of which history has known many, if his 1st Physics had not been held by the iron bonds of the 2nd Will. The Second Function, as has been said, is the best side of man, and if the Will is on the second step, the worst features of the First Function are not cancelled, but considerably smoothed, levelled out. Thus, the 1st Physique of the Goethe neither in public nor in private life makes him a robber nor a stingy man, he is rather a stingy, calculating man, nothing more. 

The "Goethe's" propensity for violence is also ennobled by the 2nd Will. This type one would like to call "the sheriff", so much so that this Hollywood image accurately conveys the external side of his psychology. "Goethe" both in life and in politics is a noble hero, a man of few words with stone fists, bull-headed tenacity and a pure heart. That was the image Reagan played in the movies, and nothing changed when he traded an acting career for a political one. For nothing in the substance of his nature changed with this exchange. Like a Hollywood sheriff, the Goethe, when he uses violence, must know that he has a legal and moral justification for it, without which violence is both highly desirable and completely impossible. Let's open our heads in our minds to the unceasing inner torment of the Goethe, to the constant storm raging in his chest, when the chronically itching stone fists of the 1st Physics have to be held in the steel handcuffs of the 2nd Will. 

"Power for me is responsibility, not pleasure," said Hosni Mubarak, and perhaps the equation between "power" and "responsibility" captures quite accurately the essence of Goethe's politics. It is also true that power is not a pleasure for him. The examples of Diocletian, Washington and Yeltsin, who voluntarily gave up power, are clear evidence of this. 

"Responsibility" is a key word in Goethe's political vocabulary, and voters feel that he can be trusted. When Kohl was still a candidate for chancellor, voters were asked: Would they buy a used car from him? Most answered positively. And you don't even need to know the Germans particularly well to understand the significance of this result. Few of the politician's contemporaries would have passed this test. 

As already mentioned, the 2nd Will is naturally democratic, so that the nature of the Goethe is in perfect harmony with the political system, a circumstance which increases his chances of coming to power. The original democratism does not leave the Goethe even when he has the steering wheel in his hands. 

First, in his work he strives for consensus, trying to sit his team exactly at the round table and not at any other table. This is an excellent quality, but, like all good things, not without a flaw. One journalist wrote: "The quest for consensus has sometimes lead Reagan into deadlock, sometimes even paralyzing his will. That would happen when the positions of his advisers differed sharply. That is why he so often followed contradictory impulses. 

Second, the "Goethe" politician is characterized by what political scientists call "delegation of responsibility," i.e. the boss does not try to hold all political strings in his hands, but gives his assistants complete freedom within the limits of their authority. Fortune magazine once asked, "What can managers learn from Reagan?" And he himself answered, "Gather around the best people you can find, give them authority and don't interfere." Among other things, it was a pebble in the eye of Jimmy Carter, who, grasping at everything himself, often found himself at a standstill, overwhelmed by piles of big and small things. 

In Reagan's gullibility, however, was a strength as well as a weakness. He ignored the Iran-Contra scandal and did not even have the courage to demand a response from his national security aide before the scandal began. They wrote of Reagan: "This approach was characteristic of Reagan in almost every area of foreign policy. He usually announced a tentative course, with his concepts of the state of affairs so vague and his perceptions so simplistic that he depended on his staff to a greater extent than most other presidents in all circumstances." 

"Goethe," to put it bluntly, is no goldsmith. Although fate usually rewards him with a sophisticated mind, and life can give him a decent education-the 3rd Logic does its job. The 3rd Logic makes him usually speak slowly, with difficulty, diligently simplifying his vocabulary. This fact creates the impression of the Goethe as a strong, reliable, but short-tempered and simple-minded person. Strangely enough, the supposed simplicity of the Goethe also works for his political image. The average voter does not like intellectuals, so the image of "his man" with his robust physique gives the Goethe a head start in elections. One political scientist wrote: "Kohl preferred not to go deep into papers, he relied more on his advisers, deliberately creating the image of a 'good-natured giant', a bit 'simple-minded'. 

When Reagan was running for governor of California, his opponent used what seemed to be a win-win tactic: always emphasizing Reagan's incompetence. But paradoxically, despite the obvious fairness of the criticism, it "benefited not him... but Reagan. but for Reagan! Speaking to voters, it was as if Reagan was saying: I am one of you, I am a simple man who does not know what is happening at the top, I just want to take the governorship to get to the bottom of it. Thus an amazing phenomenon arose with Reagan's personality: in the eyes of voters, his weaknesses were easily transformed into his strengths, and most critics were eventually forced to admit the pointlessness of their attempts to demonstrate that this popular leader simply did not know what he was talking about." 

Thus, even the Third Function, which usually works against its owner and does not paint him at all, is gilded for the "Goethe" even in a democracy, and in fact his entire order of functions ensures that his political career is trouble-free. In short, the Goethe is not only the favorite of the gods, but also the favorite of the voters. 

* * * 

Another remarkable character trait of the Goethe associated with the 3rd Logic is that he tended to be superstitious. The same Reagan put a cherished coin in his pocket every morning, threw salt over his left shoulder when he spilled something, and avoided going up and down stairs before eating. But Goethe is no mystic, and such fables are no guide for him at all. He is an empiricist by nature, an apostle Thomas the Unbeliever, who believes only in what he can see and feel. Therefore, Goethe's superstition is rather protoskeptical. The 3rd Logic, finding no foothold in the mind to analyze and predict life, simply defends itself with old-fashioned omens against it, having no real faith in them. So, "Goethe" is superstitious, but superstitious on occasion, from skepticism. 

The innocuous tendency toward superstition does not end with the manifestation of Goethe's 3rd Logic. Like any vulnerable function, it carries a direct threat to those around it. For example, the story of one of the two most tragic duels for Russian literature is connected to Goethe's 3rd Logic. The psychotypical peculiarities of Pushkin's death in a duel will be discussed in a separate place. We shall now speak of Lermontov's death. 

For all the apparent unkindness, tolerance, relaxedness, impenetrability, as if dormancy of the demigod, there is a word - and this word is "fool" - capable of turning Goethe into an enraged bull, suddenly silently, impulsively setting in motion the stone fists of his 1st Physique. And the tragic consequences of such outbursts are not uncommon. Lermontov's death in a duel is one of the saddest examples of such outbursts. 

Lermontov's unfortunate murderer Martynov was called "the statue of the commodore" by his contemporaries and described as "tall", "handsome", "silent", "the noblest man". Martynov was a "Goethe". That is why, having arrived in the Caucasus, Martynov first of all dressed up in exaggerated "Circassian" attire, and even put an incredibly large dagger on his belt in accordance with his 1st Physique. Lermontov ("akhmatova"), a scoffer and a sarcophagus, of course, could not miss a magnificent opportunity for mockery: his caricatures of Martynov made up an entire album. Everywhere he could, Lermontov ironically characterized Martynov as "a highlander with a long dagger. Martynov tolerated all this in his "Goethean" complacency, but he tolerated it until a woman came between him and Lermontov. 

The fact is that before Martynov's arrival in the Caucasus, Lermontov had enjoyed the attention of a local socialite. With the appearance of handsome Martynov the situation changed, the lioness shifted her attention to him. Lermontov's bile from this circumstance, understandably, was not diminished. And so at one of the parties, where all three were present, in a sudden silence that arose throughout the room, like a cannon shot, sounded Lermontov's pronouncement of French "poignard" (dagger). Martynov went pale, approached Lermontov, and said: "How many times have I asked you to keep your jokes to the ladies," and went out. 

The question of who initiated the challenge remains moot. Yes, and it is not important, the duel in such a situation was inevitable. In the evening, in a thunderstorm, they dueled. Martynov came to the barrier, Lermontov remained standing. The second-in-command commanded "two-three," but no shot was fired. The duelists obviously had no desire to fight. Tension was growing. The irritated seconds shouted: "Come together or I will break up the duel." And then Lermontov utters the phrase that cost him his life: "I will not shoot with this Fool". Martynov immediately pulls the trigger and Lermontov falls dead. 

People who knew both duelists evaluated the event this way: "As a poet, Lermontov rose to genius, but as a man, he was petty and obnoxious. 

These shortcomings and a sign of reckless persistence in them were the cause of the death of a brilliant poet from a shot made by the hand of a good, hearty man, whom Lermontov drove by his mockery and even slander almost to madness. Contemporaries, rightly seeing in the cause of the duel the dissimilarity of the characters of the duelists, have not seen and could not see the reason for the death of the poet. After all, as often happened at the time, the duel could do without shots, shots in the air or at the feet. No, the good-natured Martynov suddenly lost all his good-naturedness and shot precisely in order to kill. And the reason for Martynov's sudden ferocity lay in the word "fool" carelessly uttered by Lermontov. "Fool!" - is a kick in the groin for the 3rd Logic, and if it is combined with the 1st Physique, as in "Goethe," a purely impulsive response in the form of physical violence is almost inevitable. 

* * * 

Finally, there is a circumstance that provides a happy opportunity to say a few words about "goethe" not only as a person, a scientist, a politician, a writer, but also about the manifestations of his psychotype in the visual arts. 

To begin with, "Goethe," by virtue of the 1st Physics, prefers three-dimensional art, i.e., sculpture, plastic art, of all kinds of fine art. Two-dimensional art (painting, graphics) are too ephemeral, too incorporeal for the excessively carnal nature of the 1st Physics. Goethe himself was a famous collector of copies of ancient sculptures, and his collection of cameos was considered one of the best in Europe. 

But in order to understand not only what he loves, but also how the "Goethe" psychotype is directly manifested in the fine arts, we should turn to the work of one of the greatest sculptors of the twentieth century - the work of Henry Moore. An architect who visited the sculptor's studio while Moore was still alive said, "...the sculptures are especially good among wildlife, for they become part of the landscape. Sheep hide in their shade from the summer heat, and the whimsical silhouettes of the figures merge with the hills and trees. Most of Moore's works are deformed female figures: fat-assed, with powerful hips and small, almost decorative heads. When not needed, the head may be absent at all: the sculptor prefers to speak to the viewer in body language... (3rd Logic?) "Moore himself said about his work: "One of the properties that I would like to think is inherent in my sculpture is strength, durability, inner energy..." We can add from ourselves - and peace. 

In a review of the Moscow exhibition of Henry Moore it was reported that a museum curator, who lived for several days among the Moore sculptures, thought that a stay among them should be prescribed for nervous people instead of tranquilizers, such an amazing sense of balance and tranquility endowed these sculptures. Indeed, the sight of Moore's mighty, powerful, normally reclining female torsos is unusually calming, and at the same time can serve as an illustration of both the external and internal mental state of "goethe. 

* * * 

Describing the exterior of the Goethe, one would like to describe him this way. A large, muscular, growing creature. A look that combines energy, good-naturedness and absentmindedness. Gesture and facial expression relaxed. He is silent. he does not easily choose his words. His hair leaves the impression of being well-groomed, but in a kind of loose state. Women overuse makeup. Clothes are expensive, often overly opulent, but not flashy.