A SUMMARY OF ASSOCIATIVE THOUGHT
Before we go on, let us review what we have learned thus far about
associative thinking. I will summarize the two ways of programming
Perceiver strategy and describe the effects which these different methods
have upon Mercy and Perceiver thought. We will start by looking at the
mental consequences of using Mercy emotion to mesmerize the Perceiver
observer into 'believing' 'facts' as 'true.'
If Mercy emotions are used to learn Perceiver 'facts,' then:
- Emotional absolutes become defining experiences. An emotional
absolute is the Mercy experience within a certain context which has the
strongest emotional label. Because of its large emotion, it has the biggest
effect on how Mercy thought feels about related experiences. But, with
emotional 'facts,' Mercy feelings also determine Perceiver programming.
Since an emotional absolute is the experience with the strongest emotion,
its arrangement will become the 'fact' that is programmed into Perceiver
thought. Therefore, the emotional absolute which guides Mercy emotion
also acts as the defining experience which establishes Perceiver 'truth.' - Self-image will be determined largely by defining experiences.
Whenever a good experience comes along, Mercy thought will identify
with this situation, connecting it with me. The strong emotion associated
with this good situation will then convince Perceiver thought to 'believe'
that this experience is a permanent part of me. The result is that defining
experiences will automatically attach themselves to me, and I will be
constantly pretending that I am someone else.A - Blame and denial will be used to protect me from feelings of guilt and
failure. These two mechanisms are slightly different. Denial is related to
inadequate Perceiver confidence: Suppose that a bad experience becomes
part of me. The strong negative emotion associated with this feeling of
guilt or failure will overwhelm Perceiver confidence in the facts of self-
image. This will stop Perceiver thought from believing that the Mercy bad
experience belongs to me.
A With individual facts, we used single quotes to distinguish Perceiver
based facts from 'facts' rooted in Mercy emotion. We cannot use this
convention with self-image because it is the collection of facts about me.
This information usually contains a mixture of facts and 'facts.' Therefore,
please keep this in mind when we use the term self-image.