164 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
upon which our common sense is based. Eventually, our overall level of
Perceiver confidence will be insufficient to handle the emotional pressures
of daily life. Common sense itself will then fall into the threshold of
uncertainty, and we will lose the ability to function as normal humans.
This point will mark the end of societal freedom. Like the typical panic
attack victim, we will huddle in our private dens, hoping against hope that
we can prevent the devastating random attacks of mental confusion. To
compensate for our mental insecurity we will demand an external world
which is fixed. Any alteration of the status quo will be mercilessly
squelched. Already we see the beginnings of this societal nausea.
We grow up with Perceiver mode programmed by opposing methods.
On one side, parents and culture mesmerize Perceiver thought.
On the other side, common sense wakes up the Perceiver observer.
These two methods of 'knowing' cannot coexist peacefully.Returning to our discussion, each person, I suggest, naturally grows up
with his Perceiver room in a state of mental conflict, reminiscent of life in
the trenches during the First World War. This is because Perceiver strategy
in the child is being programmed simultaneously by two contradictory
modes of learning. On the one side are the emotional 'absolutes' of culture
learned from parents and other adults. Here Perceiver strategy sleeps
mesmerized. On the other side are the facts of common sense. In this
region, Perceiver thought is wide awake. In between these two entrenched
armies lies the no-man‟s land of the threshold of uncertainty—a lifeless,
lunar landscape of mental confusion. Periodically, the stalemate is
challenged by the crash of mental salvos as one side or the other initiates
an offensive across the lines in a desperate attempt at a breakthrough.
European history during the 18th and 19th century illustrates the
struggle between these two types of knowing. The 18th century is called
the Classical period. This time of history emphasized Perceiver confidence.
Mozart wrote his elegant music, palaces had geometrical gardens,
architecture copied the simplicity of the Greek temples, and Deists
believed in God as the ultimate Watchmaker in the sky. In all areas, people
tried to build a world of logic and order. The result of this growth in
Perceiver confidence was the emotional backlash of the 19th century
Romantic era. During this period, people searched for emotional
experiences which would help them to retain their 'knowledge' of all the
Mercy based 'facts' which the Perceiver logic of the previous classical age
had called into question. This was the time of Beethoven and his
thundering symphonies, palaces with their mysterious grottoes, and the