Knowing versus 'Knowing' 169teenagers get together to derive emotional comfort from sharing the mental
confusion of successful rebellion: “What are you doing?” “I dunno, I
thought we might go to the mall and hang out.” By being confused
together, these teenagers can use approval conscience to support their
behavior and give it an aura of legitimacy. They will cling to each other,
for they lack the mental stability to do anything individually. At the same
time they will blame „the oppressive establishment‟ for their troubles.
The Growing Teenager
Hmmm. Maybe there is a better way. Suppose that the teenager focuses
upon the positive goal of developing adult thinking instead of pursuing the
negative aim of suppressing his childish past. This means that instead of
the Perceiver observer pulling the curtain over Mercy feelings, Perceiver
thought learns rather to think amidst the glare. Let us examine the
implications of following this path.
First, I suggest that the positive teenager is able to enjoy himself. He is
not suppressing his childhood memories, therefore he does not have to
avoid mental contact with strong emotions. Instead of trying to remain
„cool,‟ he can have fun, laugh, giggle, act silly, and even hug his parents.
Second, I suggest that he can accept his parents and other authority
figures as real people. As the Perceiver observer awakes from its childish
slumber, it is increasingly able to separate facts from feelings. In particular,
this allows the teenager to make a distinction between Perceiver truth, and
the Mercy people who were the source of this truth. Therefore, he will see
that his parents are neither „gods‟—the fount of all 'truth,' nor „devils‟—the
source of all 'error.' Instead, he can accept that authority figures are people
with their own experiences and their own feelings. He can admit this
without feeling mentally threatened.
Third, he is able to learn from others. This is because interaction with
his parents has taught him how to do this. Initially, he was overwhelmed
emotionally by the status of his parents. But he responded to this
mesmerism by accepting the associated Mercy emotions, gaining
confidence in the Perceiver facts, and separating the facts from the feelings.
These same steps allow him now to go to other experts and to learn things
from them. Not only will he have the tools for learning from authority, he
will also have the desire: His struggles taught him that he needed to grow
up, and showed him that an immature mind has limited content and
stability.