270 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
Third, in a very real sense, there is a strong mental connection between
our Teacher understanding and our status as a „ruler‟ over the „domain‟ of
intellectual thought. It makes us feel inferior to be faced with Teacher
theories which we do not understand. This inadequacy puts us below those
who do comprehend—we become their „subjects‟ and they become our
„rulers.‟
The emotional reaction of the average reader to this book provides a
good example of Teacher processing. At first sight, the diagram of mental
symmetry probably produced only an unpleasant Mercy feeling as Mercy
thought was reminded of boring experiences with intellectual theories, and
a bad Teacher emotion prompted by the complexity of lines and words.
However, if the reader has persevered until now, Teacher mode probably
feels differently about the theory of cognitive styles. Enough specific facts
have been tied into a general understanding to produce the order within
complexity that is needed to create good Teacher emotion.
A Teacher Theory of Mercy Emotion
I have described Teacher emotion as being related to order within
complexity. I suggest that it is also possible to come up with a general
definition for Mercy emotion. While all of us are familiar with Mercy
feelings of pain and pleasure, we probably have never looked at these
various emotions and tried to come up with a common thread which ties
them together. In other words, we have never come up with a Teacher
theory for Mercy feelings.
I suggest that good Mercy emotion comes from beneficial interaction.
Whenever two or more experiences, events, situations, people, or any other
type of Mercy „bodies‟ interact with one another, then there is the
possibility for Mercy emotion. If this interaction results in the partial or
total destruction of one of these „bodies,‟ then that „body‟ will feel Mercy
pain. On the other hand, if the encounter leads in some way to greater
wholeness, then the result will be Mercy pleasure. In Mercy terms, I
suggest that what we are describing is love. In other words, love is the
good Mercy emotion that is associated with beneficial interaction.
The strength of the Mercy emotion depends upon the extent of the
interaction. If various „bodies‟ affect each other only slightly, then any
pain or pleasure which is felt will be fairly weak. In contrast, if one „body‟
is influenced strongly by another „body,‟ then the Mercy feelings which
result will be quite strong.
The intensity of Mercy feelings can be increased with emotional
vulnerability. It is when a person is open and vulnerable that either the
terms of our analogy, Teacher strategy, when assisted by other modes, can
build a single theory out of many different „trains‟ or even tie together cars,
trains, planes, and so on. We will look at this concept more later on.