Western esotericism is a term that refers to a wide range of cultural and scholarly traditions in Western society that lie outside of the mainstream. Esotericism refers to the study of hidden meanings and symbols that are contained in philosophical, historical and religious texts. Therefore, Western esotericism largely focusses on European culture and ideas but those which are not usually considered part of orthodox thought. As such, Western esotericism lies outside the traditions of mainstream Christian belief as well as rationalism for the Age of Enlightenment. It is connected with many strands of culture, including art, music, literature, magic, occultism and pseudo-science, among others.
In an attempt to work out how people view themselves and the world around them, introspective self-reporting questionnaires have been used by psychologists and psychotherapists since the times of Karl Jung. The Myers-Briggs personality test was developed from these original methods to form a structure around which people would be able to identify as one of sixteen distinct personality types. These are made up of four so-called dichotomies each which can be interpreted in two ways, thereby allowing for a total of sixteen possible combinations that correspond to the aforementioned personality types. The Myers-Briggs personality test was developed in the Second World War and after it to allow psychologists to determine the personalities of individuals according to the examples outlined in the Myers-Briggs personality indicator.
There are several different types of emotional intelligence. Specifically, EQ is an emotional quotient of emotional intelligence which means that a score is made of various types of emotions in order to measure and compare them. More widely, EQ is an ability which allows someone to distinguish between multiple emotional states and act accordingly. For example, an emotionally intelligent person would be able to differentiate between feelings of frustration and anger. Crucially, EQ means adjusting your behaviour in response to your own emotional state as well as recognising the feelings of others and adapting to them. In this regard, emotional intelligence is closely linked to empathy.
