54 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
has already had time to move beyond its initial base in Mercy thought and
to form its own network of connections. In contrast, a Mercy split which
happens early in childhood can be total, because the rest of the mind has
not developed to the point where it can fight the break.
Multiple personalities, it turns out, provides the most graphic example
of mental networks which „live.‟ The mind is literally split into different
personalities, each depending for its character, existence and growth upon
the network of memories and experiences which gives it shape.
One researcher writes: “When a personality assumes the body, any
experiences in the real world during this period become those of the
personality. The personality then has the memories and feelings generated
while he or she was in control. This explains why some personalities may
grow, mature, and change. A personality who never emerges into the real
world will remain in nascent form precisely as first conceived.
Personalities are incomplete, lacking the contrasts, contradictions, and
versatility of real people. Many seem to be automatons with an unswerving
dedication to a single mission. One thinks but does not feel, another cries
but cannot laugh, a third specializes in self-mutilation.” 1
“Most personalities, at least in patients, are produced by abuse and
mistreatment, usually in childhood. Evidence suggests that almost all of
these traumas have been actual events. Only in the last decade have articles
and books begun to appear verifying the frequency of child abuse and
sexual assaults upon children.” 1
I have described how strong emotional experiences force themselves
into the internal world of Mercy strategy. Imagine an innocent child
assaulted physically by an adult in the most intimate way. For a little child,
sexual assault would be a personal attack from an omnipotent, evil god.
Any sense of personal identity would be totally overwhelmed. Almost
instinctively, the victim would then block off the extreme emotions in
order to rescue the remaining fragments of self.
Suppressing memories leads to schizophrenia or multiple personalities.
In schizophrenia, mental segments remain partially connected.
In multiple personalities, thinking fissures into separate „persons.‟
The Mercy person is most susceptible to these two conditions.Each experience of abuse would shatter personality further. It would
become a defining experience, attract other related experiences, become
alive and start to operate. These living fragments are often associated with
friends or familiar toys, as the abused child assigns his hurtful memories to
defining experiences which already exist. Once a person has created one
mental fragment, then he may respond to more pain by creating two, three,
or even dozens of mental networks, each with a kind of independent life.
This would literally fragment his mind into separate life-forms.