316 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
doesn‟t he look silly.” I suggest that technology provides an illustration of
this process. Before this century, shysters and charlatans used to go around
promoting universal cures, packaged as healing elixirs in colorful bottles
with exotic labels. These pseudo-theories flourished until medicine, based
in real Teacher understanding, came up with genuine cures and medicines
rooted in scientific research. The poor quack didn‟t stand a chance, and he
was forced to duck out of town. The Mercy trappings, which had looked so
regal before, now appeared shallow and disconnected. Without his
„clothing,‟ the poor snake-oil salesman had nothing with which to hide his
intellectual nakedness.
Today, our world is full of pseudo-theories in areas of the subjective.
Who knows what technology will emerge to belittle these so-called
Emperors and send them running for cover, shielding their poor naked and
exposed „bodies‟ from view.A
Pseudo-Cultures
We have looked at the contradiction of a general Teacher theory which
denies the possibility of understanding. I suggest that it is also possible to
have a Mercy culture which denies culture. Remember that culture emerges
when a group of people share a common set of emotional memories within
their internal Mercy worlds.B However, if we look at the western United
States and western Canada, we find the curious situation of a culture which
denies emotional involvement.C On the one hand, our „culture‟ is exported
all over the world, in the form of music, film, advertising, and other forms
of entertainment. On the other hand, very few people in this area of the
A If this theory of the mind is correct, and if it truly explains the world of
human interaction, then personal life itself turns from raw experience into a
derived technology—the expression of a Teacher theory. It will be
interesting to see the result.
B If Mercy experiences define Perceiver 'facts' hypnotically, then a society
is based upon culture. If Perceiver belief gains independence from Mercy
emotional pressure, then a society expresses itself through culture. In one
case, culture is the „horse,‟ in the other, it is the „cart.‟
C I grew up in western Canada and have visited the western United States
quite often. However, I have also traveled and read sufficiently to realize
that the environment in which I live is rather unique. As far as I can tell, no
other place in the whole world has such a lack of culture—so little sense of
corporate history. I have had several conversations with Latin immigrants
to Western Canada who are bewildered by our lack of emotional
involvement. Eastern North America, in contrast, does have some history
and some culture.