Table Of ContentA
Programmer’s Guide
to the Mind
by Lorin Friesen
Volume 1: Head, HEART & Identity
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 by Lorin Friesen. All rights reserved worldwide. No part
of this publication may be reproduced or translated into another language
without express written permission. No part of this book may be
photocopied, under any circumstances.
First Edition, 1997.
First Printing, 1997.
PRINTED IN CANADA
Printed by
Lorin Friesen
Abbotsford, B. C., Canada
Introduction
This book is a Programmer‟s Guide to the Mind. In it, we will attempt
to do two things: We will try to explain how the mind works, and we will
also show how a person can make it operate more effectively. If we
compare the task of developing the mind to that of taking a journey, then
this volume could be described as a combination road map and tourist
guide.
While there are many similarities between a
brain and an electronic computer, there are also
several factors which make the human
„computer‟ unique: First of all, it is rather large.
The electronic chips which are contained in the
computers of the 1990s are constructed from flat
little squares of silicon, no bigger than postage
stamps. In contrast, the human thinking
apparatus is a three pound, three-dimensional,
solid chunk of neurons and interconnections.
The average human brain contains about one hundred billion neurons and
around one hundred trillion connections. Compare this to today‟s computer
chip with its total of about ten million transistors, and you can understand
why, at present, we have about sufficient technology to simulate the brain
of a slug.
Unlike computers which are made from
silicon, the human mind is not just a
conglomeration of mathematical
calculations and dry logic. Rather, it feels
as well as thinks, it has a personal interest
in its surroundings, it makes friends—and
enemies, and it has both a self and a self-
image. All of these factors will be included in our analysis of human
thought.
Those of you who work with computers have discovered that computer
manuals generally fall into one of three categories: User‟s guides,
Reference manuals, and Programmer‟s guides. A User‟s guide is for the
person who says, “I do not want to know how this gadget works, just tell
me how to use it.” I suggest that bookstores are full of User‟s guides for
the mind, each containing a few nuggets of wisdom aimed at helping us to
use our minds more effectively. This book is not a User’s guide.
What you will be reading is also not a Reference Manual. These are
deep, heavy tomes full of specialized words which plunge into the depths
of the machine, never to return to the surface of normal speech and
everyday life. They deal with theoretical questions such as interrupt levels,
capacitive loading and assembly language. These volumes seem to forget
4 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
that the computer is also a tool which is used by the average person in
daily life. I have done my share of reading the specialized literature of
neurology and engineering and sometimes it appears as if some of those
writers have gills for breathing apparatus, for they never „come up for air.‟
What I have put together is a Programmer’s Guide to the Mind. It is
designed for the individual willing to take the effort to understand and to
program his mind in order to develop it to its maximum potential. What I
will be presenting in this book is a new theory of mind and personality
based in years of original research. Most of the material which you will be
reading has not been published before. While theories cannot be learned
overnight, especially ones about the human mind, I have done my best to
make the information as readable as possible. You will not need a
knowledge of advanced mathematics or esoteric logic to grasp this material.
An ability to think rationally, combined with a good dose of common sense
should suffice. Personally, I have found that when I am studying the mind,
what I need more than anything else is the ability to combine head and
heart. This is because when we and our emotions become the topic of
research, then the tendency is either for the heart to win over the head—the
approach of the User’s Guide, or for the head to suppress the heart,
resulting in a Reference Manual.
As the title suggests, we will approach the mind from a logical
viewpoint. While we will try to stick to the straight and narrow path of
rational analysis, we will also make a point of enjoying the mental vista of
understanding through which we are passing. We will stop to smell some
of the flowers of feeling which grow beside the trail and we will also slog
through mudholes of emotional trauma which we encounter.A
If the brain is so complicated, how can anyone figure it out? Over the
years, I have come to the conclusion that within this mass of complexity
are hidden a few fundamental principles which determine how we act and
think. It appears that these basic laws of mental processing can be
represented by a single structure which I call the diagram of mental
symmetry. This diagram is both a summary of mental interaction and a
highly simplified map of brain circuits: Each of the names corresponds to
one major section of the human brain, and the arrows between the names
indicate paths along which information can flow. So far, I have found that
this simple model of the mind can be applied to fields as diverse as
neurology, economics, art, music, politics, artificial intelligence, history,
mathematics, psychology, religion and philosophy.
A I personally have both intellectual and artistic training: I have a Master‟s
degree in Engineering, and I play violin professionally.
Introduction 5
Our research on the mind originally
started with a concept which
psychologists refer to as cognitive styles.
This states that people can be divided
into different groups, depending upon
how they act and think. If you could
compare a group of people to a pie, then
cognitive styles uses a „knife‟ to cut this
pie into separate pieces. There are many
ways of dividing individuals into categories, just as there are many ways to
slice a pie. Some of these systems have been around for a long time. For
instance, the four divisions of sanguine, choleric, melancholic and
phlegmatic were initially proposed by Galen, a Greek physician from the
time of the Roman Empire.
The scheme that I will be using in this book arranges people into seven
thinking styles, called Mercy, Perceiver, Server, Teacher, Exhorter,
Contributor, and Facilitator. Each name describes a prominent positive
character trait of a certain type of individual. Each name also starts with a
different letter of the alphabet.
This system of categorization is not original with us. It is used by
others—although at a fairly rudimentary level. What attracted us to this
particular scheme was that it seemed to be the best way of slicing the pie of
human personality. Other methods ended up with leftover bits of „crust‟
and „filling,‟ whereas this method of seven thinking styles appeared to
divide people cleanly and accurately.
While others use the same scheme of cognitive styles, no one else who
follows this system has developed a comprehensive set of traits for each
type of person.A We also are the first to relate personality types with brain
regions. It is this correspondence between the „software‟ of human
personality and the „hardware‟ of human neurology which makes us think
that we are on the right track—that we have cut the pie in the best way.
Notice that I use the words „we‟ and „our.‟ This is because the initial
work on this theory was done by my brother Lane Friesen. He discovered
most of the personality traits and worked out the first sketches of the
theory. This basic understanding was then developed by the two of us. For
years we spent hours a day on the phone, discussing ideas. More recently,
my brother has chosen to focus on documenting these traits from history,
while I worked out the implications and details of understanding and of
programming thought. This volume summarizes my work.
A The information was first published in 1986.
6 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
As I have already mentioned, this
book contains original research.
While most new discoveries are
fairly minor and add only small
fragments to the body of knowledge,
my brother and I have had the
fortune of stumbling across the
motherlode. Talk about being
„cursed‟ with success. Each step we
took revealed another vein of rich
ore begging to be refined into the gold of integrated understanding. This
„mining‟ and „refining‟ was so exciting that we ignored the task of „selling‟
our nuggets to the world. We did occasionally try to publish our findings,
but the mine which we had discovered was so rich that the inevitable
frustration of getting new material accepted simply drove us away from the
town of established science back to the hills to dig for more gold.
Because so much of this book contains new material, you, the reader,
are going to have to put on your thinking cap. You have to test the theory
to see whether it is true gold, or only the „gold‟ of fools. This is a
Programmer’s Guide to the Mind. One of the first steps in mental
programming is to take information from others and to evaluate it for
yourself. Testing ideas in this book will give you practice.
To do this effectively, you will need some tools. Let me suggest the
techniques which I used. Whenever I came up with a new aspect of theory,
I had to decide whether to accept it or to throw it away. I have found that
certain guidelines are effective for separating ore from gold—fact from
fantasy:
First, observe. This book talks about the mind. You have one. Your
family, children, partner, neighbors, even the people in magazines and on
television, also have minds. Observe their behavior. See if this theory
describes how they think, act and react.
Second, use logic. If you discover a contradiction, then something is
wrong. Check this book for logical errors, and mistakes in facts. See if the
ideas make sense.
Third, look for patterns. Expect to find similar principles popping up in
different areas. When patterns emerge, then that is the sign of a good
theory.
Fourth, compare. Other people also study aspects of the mind. Since
the subject of research is similar, the ideas should also be comparable.
However, do not get side-tracked by opinions or preconceptions. Rather,
stick with the facts and see if they are consistent.
Finally, try it out. This book is a Programmer’s Guide to the Mind.
Apply principles and see if they work. However, be sure that you are
willing to pay the price in time and effort. There are no instant answers,
Introduction 7
and it is better not to start at all, than to quit halfway through the process. If
you turn off your computer when information is being written to the disk,
you may lose your data. Similarly, I suggest that it is dangerous to shut off
your mind in the midst of reprogramming your memories.
Before you go further, let me orient you. You will find the diagram of
mental symmetry at the end of the book. If it looks complicated, don‟t
worry. I don‟t expect you to understand it right away. However, take a look
at it; we will refer to it throughout the book.
To Life,
whose Form
gave me hope
when all else failed.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS 9
COGNITIVE STYLES 15
The Effects of Environment 22
The Diagram of Mental Symmetry 26
How to Make Friends with a Theory 36
A Word from your Tour Guide 38
MERCY STRATEGY 40
Mercy Thinking 40
Mercy Automatic Thought 43
The Mercy Internal World 46
Neural Networks and Mental Life 50
Schizophrenia 52
Multiple Personalities 53
Mercy Strategy and the Brain 56
PERCEIVER STRATEGY 64
Associative Thought 64
The Diagram of Mental Symmetry 67
Perceiver Confidence 69
10 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
Perceiver Automatic Thought 71
The Perceiver Internal World 75
Perceiver Assumptions and Axioms 77
‘Schizophrenia’ and ‘Multiple Personalities’ 81
MERCY PLUS PERCEIVER 85
Who does What 86
The Definition of a Fact 89
Good and Bad, Right and Wrong 94
Object Detection 95
Automatic Thought versus Internal World 97
The Role of Cognitive Style 99
Perceiver Strategy and the Brain 99
Objects in Space and Time 103
Art and Belief 105
CONSCIENCE, TIME, AND LIFE 108
Life and Generality 110
What is Life? 113
Some Conclusions 114
Conscience 115
The Mechanics of Conscience 117
The Uncertain Connection of Conscience 122
Assuming that We are Different 125
EPISTEMOLOGY 128
