150 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
Notice that I am not referring to minority rights. With minority rights,
each visible distinction defines its own 'truth' and its own understanding;
each skin color, disease, or „lifestyle‟ tries to impose its own views upon
society in general. An emphasis upon rights reinforces the natural thinking
of the child, by teaching him, incorrectly, that general understanding can
be rooted in specific Mercy experiences. Multiculturalism, in contrast,
combines individuality with cooperation. Visible differences are accepted,
but they do not define understanding. Rather, understanding transcends
individuality.
For instance, the country of Canada has a French minority and an
aboriginal population. Both of these groups have a unique culture. If
Canada wanted to pursue multiculturalism, then it would respect these
minorities while at the same time applying the same set of rules to all
groups of people. This combination, I suggest, would teach generality. On
the other hand, if Canada accepted Quebec as a „distinct society,‟ in line
with its desire, and then awarded „nation status‟ to the aboriginals, as they
also want, then it would follow the path of minority rights in which
individual experiences define understanding. This approach, I suggest,
would not teach generality.
Common Sense
Parents and other authority figures appear to be responsible for
determining the Perceiver 'absolutes' of their children. The emotional
significance of these persons inevitably and invariably mesmerizes the
Perceiver rooms of their offspring into 'believing' their words and actions
as absolute 'truth.' A
At the same time that emotional pressure is programming Perceiver
strategy in the child with the 'facts' of culture, another influence is at work
encouraging Perceiver strategy to „wake up‟ and to snap out of its mental
trance. We will refer to this mental influence as common sense.
Common sense tells us that certain Mercy experiences always occur
together. For example, look at a tree. Close your eyes and the tree vanishes.
Open your eyes and the very same tree appears, as if by magic—if you did
not ruin the trick by moving your head while your eyes were closed. But
everyone knows that closing your eyes does not make the world disappear.
Exactly. Notice the key phrase: “Everyone knows.” In other words, our
internal Perceiver worlds have great confidence in the belief that objects
immediately—it was an obvious and visible external difference. This
knowledge of personality became a natural tool for teaching generality.
A Just a reminder. Notice how we put the words in vertical single quotes
whenever we refer to information which enters the Perceiver internal world
via the emotional route.