288 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
For instance, we learn facts in order to satisfy Perceiver strategy, but
we study them in an objective way which leaves Mercy thought feeling
cold. Then we turn and give warm, fuzzy experiences to Mercy mode, but
package them in such a way as to confuse Perceiver thought. Would it not
be much more satisfying to combine Perceiver facts with Mercy emotions
in such a way that both of them could get what they wanted
simultaneously? And, this example involves
only two of the seven mental rooms. The
compensation mechanisms which we build
up trying to protect room „x‟ from damage
while giving comfort to room „y‟ or
bandaging the wounds on room „z‟ are
incredible. Add to this the effort which we
expend keeping room „w‟ semi-comatose so
that it never wakes up sufficiently to disturb
room „x‟ or prevent room „y‟ from having
its fun. And I have not even mentioned the
demands put upon us by our physical bodies.
Many of us spend the majority of our time
bouncing from one mental crisis to another,
so busy surviving that we have no time to
live. Imagine how fulfilling life would be if we could ever manage to get
all of our mental arrows pointed in the same direction and live in a way
that allowed all of our mental rooms to operate at the same time. Since so
many of our physical ailments are exacerbated by mental conflict, our
bodies would probably experience quantum leaps in efficiency.
Oh, by the way, if we solved our problems of mental conflict, we might
also move beyond blowing up our neighbor and his house whenever he
offended us. Just think how mentally inefficient war is. We grow people,
educate soldiers, design and build effective weapons, and construct roads
and buildings, and what do we get out of this? At most, a few months of
blood, guts, destruction and mayhem. Just imagine. If we exploded a few
dozen atomic bombs, it might take thousands of years of comforting,
growing, bandaging and rebuilding before we could satisfy one or two of
our mental „rooms‟ with another earth-shattering kaboom. After all, what is
war but an external expression of our internal practice of making some
mental „rooms‟ feel good at the expense of other „rooms.‟
But why go to all of this effort? Why drag the mind into everything?
Because, we already are dragging our minds into everything that we do.
Therefore, I am not suggesting something new, but rather taking advantage
of what is already present. But, doesn‟t this mean that I have to draw up
some list of activities and do everything according to some timetable? No,
we are not talking about scheduling, but rather categorizing. Since some