A

More on Teacher Strategy 309

strategy, this means holding on to the old me while forming a new me. For
Teacher thought, it involves building connections between the old and new
general theories while continuing to concentrate upon the old one. Once
the new has been finished, then a transition is made from old to new—
Mercy thought jumps from the old me to the new me; Teacher thought
moves from the old theory to the new one. For Mercy strategy, this
transition leads to a new identity. For Teacher thought, it means a new way
of thinking, a novel worldview, a paradigm shift.

Two ways of changing a general Teacher theory:

1) The path of patience; a new theory expands upon the old.

2) The path of suffering; an old theory is destroyed, allowing the new.

These two ways corresponds to the two methods of transforming me.

Second, there is the path of suffering, which is driven by the infliction
of bad emotions, and begins by attacking the old with a seemingly
incurable hurt. For Mercy thought, a traumatic event strikes. Teacher
strategy, in contrast, encounters some devastating blow to its
understanding. The result, in both cases, is a search for answers. When a
solution is discovered, then fragments of emotional identification can be
reconstructed, hopefully upon a more solid foundation.
In this book we concentrate—thus far in a „nice‟ way—upon the path
followed by Mercy strategy. This is because, as humans, it is the first battle
which we face for mental maturity. There is no point in discussing the
second step involving Teacher strategy until we have gone through the first
step of transforming me. However, as we look at this subject, remember
that exactly the same general principles apply to Teacher thought, and that
complete mental integration involves reprogramming both Mercy and
Teacher identity.A

Teacher Personality and Automatic Thought

I have suggested that each of the four simple styles is equipped with a
„storage shed‟ which operates automatically. When we looked at the Mercy
and Perceiver persons, we saw that this „storage shed‟ was responsible for
creating certain character traits. I would now like to look at the effect
which automatic thought has upon the personality of the Teacher person.

A At this moment I do not know the second step as well as the first.

Therefore my understanding is probably incomplete, and my description
would be complicated and inadequate. Being a Perceiver person, I can see
what is happening within Mercy thought. For Teacher thinking, I must „fly
by instruments.‟ Therefore, this book will describe Teacher thought, but
emphasize how this thinking relates to the process of transforming the me
that is in the Mercy part. That is what we need to know right now.