A

104 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind

working together with automatic Mercy thought. I then suggested that
automatic Perceiver and Mercy thought and the internal world of Perceiver
and Mercy thinking operate in exactly the same way, and that the only
difference between these two aspects of thought lies in the method by
which information is allowed to enter. We then compared the advantages
and disadvantages of each of these two methods. Finally, we took a detour
into neurology.
If automatic thought and the internal world operate in the same way,
then we can gain some clues about how one works by looking at the
operation of the other. Therefore, I would like to take another look at the
topic of object recognition, the simplest form of Mercy-Perceiver
interaction.
Normally, when we think of an
object, we are reminded of some
specific thing which just „sits there‟: a
car, a knife, a pair of scissors—in
other words, a collection of bits which
is spatially related. You can see this
type of fact illustrated by the diagram
of the „car.‟ Notice how the Perceiver
fact of „car‟ ties together the individual Mercy elements of wheels, motor,
steering wheel, doors and seats. All of these Mercy experiences are
connected by space: The wheels are at the bottom, the engine is (usually)
at the front, the doors are on the outside, and the steering wheel is
somewhere in the middle.
When we discussed facts and Perceiver processing, however, we said
only that Perceiver thought notices connections between individual Mercy
experiences; it looks for events which belong together. We did not say
anything about space. We only assumed that these connections involved
space—that the various bits were above, below, inside and behind each
other.A

It is also possible for Perceiver
processing to tie together Mercy
experiences which are connected by
time. Analyze, for instance, the process
of jumping off a cliff. First a person
jumps, then his body sails through the
air, and finally it goes „splat‟ at the
bottom of the slope. Unlike the Mercy
experiences which make up the fact of a „car,‟ these Mercy experiences do
not occur at the same time. Rather, one event occurs, and then the next.

A Here is another example of being tripped up by an assumption.

CAR

Jump

Splat!

FALL