106 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
Now that we have come up with a theoretical idea, let us see if we can
find some examples which can lasso this „castle in the air‟ and bring it
down to the solid earth of real experience. We will start by expanding upon
the idea of a „spatial‟ internal object.A
Think, for instance, of a picture hanging on a wall, or a sculpture sitting
in a museum. These definitely are spatial objects—they sit there and do
nothing. But, they are usually more than just objects. Rather, the artist or
sculptor is attempting to say something: First, he is trying to tell us about
his system of belief. If he puts a soup can on top of a pile of garbage, he is
making a statement about consumerism. He believes that there is a
Perceiver connection between trash, food, and society.
Second, not only is the artist telling us about his beliefs, but his identity
and his feelings are usually involved as well. Have you ever tried to
criticize a work of art? The average artist takes this as a personal attack.B
When you condemn what he has produced, he thinks that you are
condemning him. The relationship between art, identity and emotions is so
strong that it has become almost taboo to
denigrate the work of an artist. These
days, in fact, one can produce just about
anything without being condemned as
long as it is called art.
I suggest that another example of an
object living within the internal world of
Mercy and Perceiver thought is religion.
First, every religion is based upon some
set of beliefs—a group of Perceiver facts
which fill the internal world of Perceiver
thought. Second, religion is strongly
related to identity. It touches me and tells
me what I should think, say, do, and so
on. Finally, religion definitely addresses
emotional topics. If some person wants to know facts about issues such as
life, sickness, death, morality and God, he turns traditionally to religion for
answers.
I suggest that religion and morality are often viewed as something
static—like a picture hanging on the wall. We speak of attaining a „state of
perfection‟ as if it is some location or place to be reached. We „quiet our
hearts‟ and „become still‟ so that we can „meditate on God.‟ We view God
A This section illustrates how I did much of my research. First, I would use
the theory to come up with some new ideas. Then I would look at real life
to see if my ideas made any sense.
B Art usually involves Teacher emotion as well as Mercy feelings.