184 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
hand fighting. Most video arcade games combine the two. And no one
feels guilty.A
I mentioned earlier that mental „life‟ comes from an internal structure
which includes Perceiver, Server, Teacher and Mercy participation. Two of
these mental strategies—Perceiver and Server—work with structure and
confidence, while the other two—Teacher and Mercy—operate with
feeling and substance. Without structure, life blows up; without feeling, it
dries up.
A split between objective structure and subjective feeling, however,
separates structure from feeling. The objective preserves structure by
suppressing feeling, whereas the subjective protects feeling by
mesmerizing structure. And, all of it is locked firmly in place by a strong
collective, societal desire to avoid guilt.
This means, among other things, that mental life, to maintain itself,
must violate and in fact destroy the division between objective and
subjective. Society in turn, to avoid guilt, must not only uphold but also
remain unconscious of the schism.
How do we handle these contradictory requirements? Through the use
of technology. The same implement can be analyzed objectively by one
individual and enjoyed subjectively by another—one man‟s tool is another
man‟s toy. This creates an external link between objective and subjective
thought. The factory builds an object with external structure, and the
consumer uses this object as a framework for subjective feelings. The
internal division between objective and subjective remains intact.
For example, science is rooted solidly in objective thought. However,
scientific principles lead to new technologies, which allow us to build
gadgets such as stereos, televisions, and computers. These pocket wonders,
which began life in the realm of the objective, are used now to entertain us
within the arena of the subjective. The average teenager, for instance, does
not view a computer as a tool of research. Instead, for him, it is a toy for
playing games.
A Eventually, feelings of guilt do get through, and I suggest that this is one
major cause of the low self-esteem which so many of us feel today.
Objective Subjective
Development Enjoyment