More on Teacher Strategy 323decide to focus on some theory or some experience. It is only as these
subconscious rooms begin to function properly that the Perceiver and
Server persons gain the ability to guide their own thoughts. The Teacher
and Mercy persons, in contrast, can use conscious control to direct
concentration, even when other mental rooms are only partially
developed.A Their thoughts gain in quality as they allow subconscious
mental rooms to be programmed.
The combination of emotional involvement, blindness to the rest of the
mind, and concentration makes it easy for the Teacher person to develop a
general theory, hold on to it, and then ignore the rest of the world. In the
extreme, this leads to the ivory castle mentality: The Teacher person builds
a piece of order, crawls into it and closes the door upon his environment.
This brings us to the end of our discussion of the Teacher person.
People sometimes view the Mercy individual as a bundle of tumbling
emotions and experiences and I suggest that this is the case when Perceiver
facts do not give stability to Mercy experiences. Similarly, I have probably
given you the impression that the Teacher person is a pile of half-baked
concepts and I suggest that this is also true—when Teacher strategy
operates alone, without assistance from the rest of the mind. However, in
the same way that Perceiver thought can turn the „liquid‟ of Mercy
experience into a connected „solid,‟ so we will see later that Server thought
is capable of stabilizing the „froth and air‟ of Teacher theories and ideas.
Teacher Strategy and the Brain
Locating Teacher strategy in the brain is both easy and difficult. Let us
begin with the easy part and look at words and speech—the basic building
blocks of Teacher thought.
As I mentioned earlier, brain researchers have known for over one
hundred years that there are two areas in the brain which are required for
speech. One of these regions is called Wernicke’s area, and is located in the
left temporal lobe, which I suggest contains automatic Teacher thought. If
this part of the brain is damaged, a person is unable to come up with
specific words. Overall sentence structure remains intact, but speech lacks
content. The other location necessary for speech is Broca’s area, in the left
inferior frontal cortex, which I suggest is used for the Teacher internal
A While both Teacher and Mercy persons can concentrate, mental focus in
one mode can be broken by a disturbance in the opposite strategy.
Therefore, if the Teacher person has real Mercy problems, then he will find
that subconscious Mercy concentration interferes with conscious Teacher
concentration. Similarly, if the understanding of the Mercy person falls
apart, subconscious Teacher concentration may prevent him from focusing
upon experiences. Lasting bad Teacher emotions can in fact pull the Mercy
person into a very deep and continuing depression.