298 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
existing thought structure, not in generating something out of absolutely
nothing. While only time will tell the impact of this theory, I have just
described how it has totally revolutionized my own way of thinking.A
The Teacher person may be capable of original thought, but I suggest
that he will only reach his mental potential if he goes to the trouble of
filling his mental storage shed with information that is useful and
meaningful.B
First, the Teacher storage shed will only be of assistance to the extent
that it is filled with raw material. This is not as simple as it sounds. Life is
constantly bombarding us with Mercy experiences. As a result, the Mercy
storage shed fills up easily and quickly. In contrast, Teacher order is
usually something which has to be mined from the soil of common
existence; seldom is it lying around on the
surface waiting to be picked up.
It is especially difficult for the Teacher
person, who lives in a mental „room‟ that
responds emotionally to order or chaos, to
learn new information. When one of his
theories crumbles, he really feels this as an
emotional attack. It hurts—just like a cruel
gesture to a Mercy person. As a result, when
the average Teacher person discovers some
crumb of intellectual order, he clings to it in
the same way that the Mercy child clutches
on to a security blanket. When the Teacher
person finally does manage to build for himself some mental structure, he
A It is also interesting that my brother has discovered only two Teacher
persons in history whose biographies have been written: Newton and
Einstein. While the Teacher person may be excellent at coming up
occasionally with new theories in the realms of science, it appears that his
abilities thus far have been rather limited outside of this narrow area of
expertise. However, if there really is a general Teacher theory which
explains human thought, then it may be possible for the Teacher person to
escape the intellectual ghetto of math and science and to discover that his
seemingly „limited‟ mental ability has expanded suddenly to cover all of
human existence.
B Remember that anyone can experience the benefits of a well-ordered
storage shed. Years of thinking together with my brother gave me the
ability to come up with my own original ideas, as my subconscious
Teacher mode began to operate. Thus, many of the secondary
developments in this book did originate with me. Everyone can acquire
some of the abilities that are possessed most strongly by the Teacher
person.