Another Look at Conscience 157Similarities, on the other hand, are noted best by a Perceiver observer
which is awake and searching in an alert manner for connections between
Mercy experiences. Second, the Perceiver information is also incompatible.
Approval conscience is programmed by defining experiences—these are
single events which barge into the internal Mercy world. Similarity, in
contrast, is a search for connections between events. The person under
approval conscience, however, is so busy looking at individual situations
that he seldom raises his head to examine the big picture.
Similarity is only examined, therefore, by natural conscience.
Unfortunately, it takes time to develop common sense. Perceiver knowing
is not gained instantly, but must be built up over time as facts survive
emotional pressure. For example, most teenagers know that having sex can
lead to babies, but it is amazing how often this elementary Perceiver belief
is trodden underfoot in the heat of romance. Suddenly, Perceiver strategy is
blinded by the emotional sizzle of hormones, mesmerized by the ecstasy of
the moment—fully convinced of the emotional 'fact' that this Perceiver
connection could not possibly apply to me or to „us.‟
Is the teenager totally to blame? No. Instead, I suggest that much of the
fault lies with two potential weaknesses of natural conscience. First there is
the question of an adequate „hook.‟ Many teens in our coddled Western
society have never identified with serious consequences. Therefore, the
Perceiver connection of conscience has no Mercy „hook‟ with which to
operate. Second, even when the „hook‟ is present, the Perceiver connection
between cause and effect, as it relates to babies, is statistical. The
connection between „jumping off the cliff‟ and „going splat‟ is fairly
reliable, but sex, in contrast, does not always lead to pregnancy, just as
smoking does not always cause cancer.
Let us look further at the Mercy „hook‟ in teen sex. Remember that a
Mercy situation is always seen in the light of the element with the strongest
emotion. Suppose, for instance, that „getting pregnant‟ does not lead to any
major negative emotional consequence, or that the girl lives in a culture in
which teenage mothers are accepted as part of society and in which male
„conquests‟ are seen as an approved sign of
masculinity. Possibly there is an abortion
clinic nearby. Maybe motherhood leads to
significance or easy free money from the
government. The end result is that the
couple will view a possible baby simply as
part of the price for a romance. Sex will be
the major element in the situation, whereas
thoughts about a baby will be secondary.
Warnings by parents and other adults
against teenage pregnancy will not be
taken seriously, because the „hook‟ within