86 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
in this direction the glass is a mirror; all that Mercy thought can see is its
own reflection. However, this mental one-way glass is very peculiar,
because as Perceiver strategy works with facts, the shape of the mirror
changes and the image which is seen by Mercy thought becomes altered
and warped, like one of those curved mirrors which you see at the circus,
that make you look „bent out of shape.‟ Therefore, whereas Perceiver
strategy can see Mercy memories, Mercy images are altered by Perceiver
thought.
Who does What
Now that we have a general idea about how Mercy and Perceiver
thought interact, let us look at the details. We will start with the path from
Mercy to Perceiver strategy—the ability of Perceiver thought to see Mercy
memories. Remember that I defined a Perceiver fact as a group of elements
which are connected together. I would now like to refine that definition. I
suggest that the elements which make up a fact are located in Mercy
strategy and that Perceiver mode works only with the connections. In terms
of our analogy, Perceiver thought looks through the one-way glass into the
room of Mercy strategy and searches for relations. When a connection is
discovered, then Perceiver thought remembers it as a fact. Perceiver
strategy is therefore somewhat like a psychologist observing a patient
through the glass: It does not get directly involved with the action and with
experiences. Rather it observes through the window and silently takes
notes.A
Let us see if we can clarify the distinction between Mercy items and
Perceiver connections with the help of our road map illustration.
Remember that a map contains two main parts. There are the dots
representing the towns and cities and there are the lines indicating roads
between the different places. Now erase all the dots and leave only the
lines. These form a set of connections with a specific shape. Suppose we
did this with the major roads and cities of Britain. We would end up with a
triangle connecting London, Bristol, and Birmingham and a straight line
going from Birmingham up to Manchester, just like a pyramid with a
flagpole at the top. It is this set of connections which is remembered by
Perceiver thought as a fact. When Perceiver strategy works with facts, it
A In terms of our analogy, Perceiver strategy has a big „picture window‟
view of Mercy thought. However, Perceiver thought cannot „see‟ into any
of the other modes of thought. The main „observer‟ of the mind is
Facilitator mode, equipped with a whole bank of „surveillance monitors‟
that allow it to see most of the mind—from the limited viewpoint of a
„television screen.‟