A

The Two Me’s 235

suggest that Germany illustrates a society in which most individuals at
present have a substantial amount of Perceiver confidence.
I suggest that this Perceiver
confidence grew because the three
factors needed for successfully
raising children were present in
German history. First, German
culture emphasized Perceiver
thinking. This is because the
Protestant Reformation, which
centered in Germany, taught 'truth'
which could be analyzed rationally—
people were expected to read and
study their Bibles. Second, German
political and religious fragmentation
downplayed the importance of
emotional sources of 'truth.' For several hundred years, Germany was
splintered into hundreds of fiefdoms, each with its own variation of
government law and religious worship. Therefore, no single group or
individual could claim to be the sole source of ultimate 'truth.' Finally,
when the French under Napoleon invaded Germany, they overthrew the
existing leaders and thus unconsciously introduced German citizens to the
possibility of thinking for themselves. In the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, these three factors combined to produce the best universities and
the most advanced factories in the world.A
I should also mention that the same Perceiver confidence which
developed German education and industry also caused German thinkers to
question accepted religious and political 'truth,' as emotionally based 'facts'
were drawn into the threshold of confusion. Germany responded to this
subjective uncertainty by looking to strong men and powerful government
to restore a sense of subjective 'knowing.' This led ultimately to the horror
of Nazi Germany.B As I said at the beginning of the book, it is better not to
start with mental programming, then to start and stop halfway through. The
political process that led to fascism, though, is a topic for the next book.
Suffice it to say that the same factors which pushed Germany into Nazism
are also present today in most of the Western world.

A I suggest that other countries experienced similar benefits for similar

reasons. However, Germany excelled in the area of learning and industry.
B On the whole, Germans since the war have tried to learn from the

mistakes of their Nazi past. Their moral self-analysis has helped to re-
develop Perceiver confidence. Likewise, the struggle of postwar rebuilding
has also fostered Perceiver confidence.