208 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
are that it will become at least partially mesmerized by the emotional glare
of this Mercy identification. The situation being viewed on stage, therefore,
becomes a source for 'belief'; the connections of the plot become a basis for
absolute 'truth.'
But, what type of 'facts' are being shown on the stage? What type of
'truth' is Perceiver strategy swallowing? On the one hand, no mental
„furniture‟ is being moved: The Greek gods are very human in their desires,
ambitions, foibles and shortcomings. They fight when provoked, betray
others when it is in their best interest, jump into bed when the opportunity
arises, and seem to stumble from one mistake to another. Unlike the
royalty of today, they are not placed upon any pedestal of virtue. Therefore,
the person watching the play will have personally encountered real life
experiences much like the ones which he is viewing on stage.
On the other hand, mental „furniture‟ is being cleaned. Specifically, any
Perceiver connection between cause and effect is being denied. The hero is
not responsible for his failures, rather he falls into tragedy. There is no
connection between the actions of the hero and his fate. Instead, his
downfall occurs suddenly and without warning. In other words, the
purpose of this exercise is to mesmerize Perceiver strategy into losing its
confidence that „bait‟ and „hook‟ are related. That way, Mercy strategy can
identify with the pleasantness of the „bait‟ without having this good feeling
marred by also being reminded of the agony of the „hook.‟
However, has the sofa really been fixed? Is the carpet truly clean? I
suggest that the problems with both the sofa and the carpet remain
unaltered. What has changed is the Mercy perception of the situation. The
Perceiver „mirror‟ has been warped and Mercy strategy now sees a
different image. Rather than feeling bad about the dirt and the tear, Mercy
thought now feels that the gods themselves approve of his mental mess.
The Mercy problem has not been solved. Instead, Mercy thought feels
good about the situation. Mercy identification has managed “to turn a
normally painful situation into [something] esthetically pleasurable.”
Of course, we know that we are much more sophisticated than the
ancient Greeks. We have science and technology. That way we can pipe
our soap operas directly into the homes of each individual and allow every
person to practice this emotional catharsis in the privacy of his own living
room, coddled in the cozy comfort of his reclining easy chair.A
However, I suggest that our methods of catharsis suffer from the same
fatal flaw as the tragedies of the Greeks—our feelings are changed, but the
problem remains. If we could compare conscience to a warning light on a
car, then catharsis is like responding to the brake warning light by reaching
A It appears that a great number of programs on television can be classified
as either escapism—using Mercy identification to make me feel good, or
catharsis—using Mercy identification to stop me from feeling bad.