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"It was a feeling Ryan had, so it didn't have to make sense. At least not right away. The thing to do was let his mind work on it while he wasn't looking."
Elmore Leonard
The Major Fours
Resolutions of 2 / Resolves to 6 / Antagonised by 3 /Antagonises 5
Friends 4,8 >2 / Lovers 4 / Allies 7,1 / Rivals 7
4 lies between the pure logical expression of the individual mind of 3 and the socialised being of 5. Until they resolve, Fours are caught between the Threes' extrovert nature, which antagonises them, and the balanced arrangements of the Landscape Fives, which they, in turn, antagonise with their perceptions of fault-lines and errors. They have reserves of ability but are often blocked from expressing it by this sensation of difference from normal expectations, but at the same time, they are drawn far too readily to the 5 of the Landscape of conclusions. Where Eights can be generous with their thoughts, Fours are generous with their time and space. Fours are antagonised by 3, and so they are anxious about standing out on their own, and remain always untrusting of their own powers of expression and don't like to be exposed to examination. They have hidden resilience and tenacity and can flourish in unlikely situations.
In a seeming contradiction to their underlying capability, Fours often start off with little idea of how long things take to do, how far places are separated on the Landscape or what constitutes an achievable plan of attack. But because of this, launching an enquiry or beginning any project holds no fears (though having to finish one does). This ability, however, also gives them a lack of realistic perspective, at least at the beginnings of any examination of a problem. Argue with a Four and you will probably end up in a widening gyre of metaphors, allusions and offbeat parallels. Fours get results often by sticking to activities and staying faithful to an approach to a problem for long periods of time (when combined with a Landscape Minor), often failing to drop them when they lose their purpose or when conclusions cannot still be reached. Completing and finishing things can be a problem for Fours, and they can infect almost everything they do with little errors, and which Fours may not like in a theoretical sense but yet think are unimportant in the scheme of things. But given a second go at something, Fours usually not only get it right but also improve upon the solution. They naturally think by association, and can make the most revealing connections between diverse phenomenon and ideas.
What marks them out from others is their continual evolving understanding of what is going on and how things happen, and they are, in combination with the Landscape, happy to stick to a task without any end in sight, learning all the while. They are resilient learners who cope with their inhibitions by gradually piecing together the lessons of life and composing appropriate actions. For Fours, knowing something can often be, at first, a de-stabilising influence. In the everyday, Fours begin to establish a point of view with ideas that seem to be oblique to the point, although later analysis will show that they were more right than they seemed.
Fours have a developing conscientiousness but they are not very thoughtful or considerate to those on the Landscape, even though they know that the correct forms of behaviour are important to them. They antagonise the Landscape with their often unconscious undermining of basic social arrangements, and often miss the point about a social engagement. Without a Landscape or energy (7, 3) Minor, Fours can often be rather lost in the social reality, hanging on to odd ideas and being generally frustrated by what seems to them the naturalness of others.
As a fertile sign, Fours are associative and intuitive thinkers who 'see' directly to solutions that others find difficult to understand without logical analysis. They do well as mavericks in philosophical or science subjects but do less well in formal academic structures. They have the knack of finding analogy and the metaphor for whatever they teach, but they make reluctant lecturers, and they would probably be most inspiring outside of the formal class, extemporising on whatever catches their fancy. They are likely to be most interested in the mystery of teaching and learning, and in how knowledge gets transferred in the process. They would make a good addition to the creative department of any business, especially advertising or film. They are best when out on their own, working at their own tempo. They are self-sufficient and resourceful and enjoy their own company but may be seen as unrealistic and daydreamers by others. Whatever they do, they will try to bring to it the touch of the poet.
Much of Four's mental effort goes into discovering why they should support the orthodox solution, since their main mode of intellectual examination is to think their way from a solution rather than towards it. As a fertile sign, Fours have a broad base of assumed knowledge although their drive towards 6 gives them an underlying persistence in their search for the right answer that surprises many. They are tuned to the image and visual perceptions generally. They understand the world readily in terms of cycles and patterns, and they try to combine intellectual knowledge and cultural history in a single pattern, often leaping to an assumption based on a pattern in order to explain a phenomenon. Fours love to conceptualise and categorise, and they can look at everything, including people, in terms of categories.
Give Fours a pat way of thinking about something or a pat answer to a problem, and another way of thinking about it will suggest itself, without he or she necessarily being conscious that that is what they are doing. They don't like to take other people's words for anything that they are particularly involved with. On the other hand, Fours want to be right. They know, deep down, they are mostly right about most things, even if they cannot phrase this knowledge in a way that convinces others. They have a high degree of anticipation of what others think. This tendency, modulated by the Minor, makes them answer the question not spoken and the implicit idea.
Fours are highly sexually aware, and sex can easily be in the air in social encounters. Fours are ready to make sexual partnerships, and their sense of well-being and contentment comes from sexual satisfaction as much as it does from creative thought. Fours have a knack of making their sexual relationships iconoclastic exercises in subversion, and the presence of Fours may subtly undermine the hierarchy of community relationships they are in and the accepted reward system that keeps them society stable.
Being off the Landscape, Fours hunt for the higher purpose of human relations. They acquire a strong romantic imagination early. They like to confront the puzzles of consciousness, and can revel in the paradoxes of humanity's existence. They have a strong sense of guilt but a weak sense of the appropriate duty and can be easily directed by others who play upon this weakness. The Minor with which the Major 4 is paired is very important to the way Fours view their personal responsibilities. They resolve towards 6, below the horizon line and into the night, and where they intensify their interest in dream and pattern and take on melancholy airs and intermittent depression.
4 is a fertile sign, and the direction of expression is outwards from the broad, unfocussed base of the interior of the mind. In energy terms, Fours have passions and feelings disconnected from a concrete reality that often seems to them to be distant. (This is why Fours can work best inside a supporting structure.) This disconnection is a necessary factor in creative thought, but it also tends to give Landscape a reason not to give Fours consideration.
Being off the Landscape, Fours are a little suspicious and paranoid about orthodoxy, but they see the other side of its coin namely, lies and deceit. They are, after all, the Antagony to the authority of reasonable community-oriented solutions offered by 5. So, Fours are certainly likely to be attracted to unlikely explanatory scenarios or be suspicious of surface explanations, and are less than impressed by authorities. They can think the worst when they are uninformed not just of the Establishment but also of friends and colleagues. They are ready to doubt in themselves even when others approve of them, and the fear of failure can be inhibiting. Indeed, they may be too ready to assume their faults cause the failures of others.
In 5, there is the notion of place in the established hierarchy of approved places—a garden, if you will, in which every item has been placed and ordered with reference to every other. Fours cannot help but upset this order and to re-assign values, but may be unable to provide concrete replacements for them, only hints of where things should go, what re-arrangements would be necessary. If a Four wants to make contact with the Landscape, he or she needs people to help them do it, and when they work, associates and their needs often hamstring them.
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