Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Christine has written that she intends to engage in the A-Z something-something blog Challenge, this May (or maybe it’s April). The hook is that participants write a Post every day (with Sunday’s off…presumedly to prevent the non-blogger members of the family from moving to a different address, “someplace where the people are flesh and blood, you know?”) but, the subject/topic (is there a real difference in these two words, I mean, really? “the subject of my paper is…” or “my paper’s topic is” hey!! I guess they are the same!) Anyway… this week’s TToT Post will be A-Z Practice (sort of)
(Saturday am: went over to glance at C’s Post… ok, if spring is the dominant thought on the minds of TToT(eers)
S ( er Something! this different letter thing is not as easy and I thought. But let’s try again) Spontaneity. While not necessarily linked to spring in the minds of most, the notion of spontaneity is associated, (in my mind), as a natural by-product of the increased energy that seems to come with the warming weather. There is that sense, (during Spring), that it’s not as necessary to conserve energy and, in fact, there is a sense of activity for the sake of activity…. in a Spontaneous manner… I am grateful for spontaneity (my god! nine more of these?!!?)
P Patience. alright, this one did impinge on my day, this last week. I’m not saying that I’m grateful for being patient, but there were moments this week that I made the choice to simply wait and the outcome was clearly better for my non-action. While Patience tends to be a quality more associated with clarks than ‘the other two’, the ‘patience of a clark‘ is not necessarily a deliberate, conscious choice. clarks tend to appear patient, because the alternative has a higher level of exposure to criticism and subsequently, clarks will take a chance and wait. Patiently. now, scotts…. patient? yeah, absolutely!
R rogers (lol…. no, I haven’t given up on the A-Z letters of the season as the template of the 10…. ) rogers are all about the Springtime. no, seriously! The whole cycle of rebirth, the end of the enforced quietude of Winter, predictable and repeatable and reliable, those are qualities that hold the highest value for a roger. Whether a carpenter or a cook, homemaker or choreographer, rogers live in a reality where the world is quantifiable, understandable and reliable. the life of rogers is, (in part), a search for those qualities in their lives
I I was going to go for Inspiration or Insight (hey, did you know that one of the ‘test characteristics’ useful when trying to infer the worldview of a person, is to note the use of personal pronouns? Well it is! clarks tend to use the plural impersonal pronouns, we, they, them… scotts tend to not use so many personal pronouns ( other than ‘Hey!’) and rogers….( this is where it gets interesting), ‘I’ and ‘me‘ are huge with our Herd Member friends.)
N er? othing? no! wait!! Seagulls!! the photo of the non-flying, semi-aquatic cow(-of-the-week) above? that was in Narragansett!!! N cha ching!
G Garden! ok… this one is totally appropriate…. someone, (well, actually, a lot of people on the internet), was recently talking about gardens and gardening. I enjoy the idea of a garden, but it tends to take too long.. what the better word…. process, yeah, that’t it! the process is too long (and deferred). the best gardener among the three personality types: rogers!
T he dark place. (very much a quality/feature of the clarklike worldview. it need not be explained to clarks and cannot be described to non-clarks)
I Identification. This one I am totally grateful for, in concept, if not in practice. To identify with another, is to, on the basis of a common experience, know how a person feels or thinks, at least in certain situations. I’m not doing an overly good job of defining this form of reality-sharing, but it is one of the single most remarkable things to come out of the Wakefield Doctrine blog. Not identification, of course! that’s always been there, a potential among people. Rather, I’m talking about the benefits of identification among clarks…
Now scotts and rogers identify with people in various capacities and contexts, but they are also able to relate to people, in a manner that’s pretty darn direct. (for example: right now Dyanne is smiling and thinking about typing….. ‘you better believe it!’ and her elbow is moving, as if on it’s own in a phantom poke to my ribs for making such a statement) lol it’s just that for clarks, the ‘commerce’ of relating to people can be difficult (‘commerce’ is not to imply any negative, it’s simply the give and take of most interpersonal exchanges). for clarks, as Outsiders, it’s not always easy or comfortable to make the assumption of the right to engage in emotional commerce with another person.
M as in Man! are you serious with that last Letter Entry?!? yes, yes, I am! Something tells me that I might want to wait another year before taking on the A-Z Challenge!
E End? my god! if anyone needs me to document my gratitude at hitting this one, you clearly have been skimming this Post! lol
(apologies to the A-Z and other lets-impose-a-theme-and-see-what-people-write contingent hey, wait a minute!! that’s us too!) lol
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About clarkscottroger
I think this is probably the funniest thing I’ll read today. Kudos for rising to the challenge of A-Z! Previously I’ve thought I might be a Clark or a Scott, but after reading this I know I am clearly a Roger.
Jen!
you are in good company, our other rogerian friends include Kristi and Michelle and Phyllis (and a couple of others, but they need a little more time…as it should be with something as powerful as this here personality theory here).
Maybe your theme could actually be NO theme for a change? hmmmmmm…. and yes you did do a post last year for me…we exchanged places remember?
I knew that!!! (lol… “if a clark and a clark exchanges places, has there really been an exchange?”)
Does the pope sh** in the woods?
I am all about the Identification. It is what brings me back week after week!
Very
(for something as ‘subtle’, the power and benefits are simply remarkable), and in particular the special benefits among clarks…
Here’s a “cha-ching” for me: “for clarks, as Outsiders, it’s not always easy or comfortable to make the assumption of the right to engage in emotional commerce with another person.”
WTF.
Nice post overall.
Should I be worried that I know PRECISELY what you’re talking about, Denise?
Interesting what you say about gardening. In my house, I might be part of the planning and the enjoying of the garden, buy not in the working of the garden. I know all about the dark place.
ewww (which is an odd way to refer to a personal experience of such existential magnitude as ‘the dark place’… lol)
but, but! I will say that this is the one area where the benefits of identifying among clarks (and yes, people with sufficiently significant secondary clarklike aspects can engage in and be better for this process too)… are incredibly insubstantial, while still being very, very good for me.
While it may be a subject for a number of posts, lets me say, part of the un-assailable power of this part of a clark’s worldview lies in the singleness of voice (that is a part of the darkness)… the knowledge that another clark as been through and come out of that…. I won’t say ‘gives hope’ because at it’s worst, there is no light in that place, nothing….. but the voice is less perfect.
The garden thing? I totally get that. I like the idea of a garden…looking at it, reaping the benefit of any fruits of the earth, etc. But actually dig in the earth? NO thank you. Because bugs.
So here’s a thought. If a Clark and a second Clark are talking and the first Clark is sad and the second Clark makes them feel un-sad, but then the second Clark ends up in the Dark place, was it the fault of the first Clark? Or was the second Clark probably on the way to the Dark place in the first place and the un-darking of the first Clark was just a pit stop along the way?
Because if it’s the first Clark’s fault somehow that the second Clark landed in the Dark (and I realize this sounds ludicrous but I mean NO levity here – I’m totally serious), then the first Clark feels pretty shitty right about now. Of course, it’s an awfully large assumption for the first Clark to think the second Clark has even given the first Clark a thought at all relative to the second Clark’s personal Dark.
It came out seven kinds of snarky, I know, but I do mean my inquiry in the most serious of tone.
No.
We are pulled* into ‘the Dark’ we are not pushed.
* by our own nature
The first Reply was the simple triage answer.
Your question is quite good. (But to reinforce my first answer: if there is a concern that one’s actions may have precipitated, encouraged, facilitated or otherwise banana-peeled another clarks fall into the Dark, simply ask yourself how you would (have) felt as that other clark or… about the other clark… your answer will be the true answer.)
The seeming complexity of your question actually points us to the simplest, yet most subtle of questions: what is it we do when we (clarks) identify with each other? The simplest description is also the most fraught with contradiction… it is an association of Outsiders. (“Hey!! what the hell!! I’m an Outsider and there is, by definition, only one of me… anywhere…my union card clearly states that!!!” )
I trust you won’t mind if I use your question again at different points of the current and totally fascinating discussion of clarks and the Dark
That’s actually very helpful, Clark. Yes. So, we pull ourselves into that dark place and outside influences are essentially irrelevant. A bit frightening, because that’s powerful. Case in point: Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” which is most definitely an allegorical example of the mind luring itself deeper and deeper into the recesses of itself until such time as it becomes indistinguishable from tangible reality. Or is the reality what is experienced in the recesses of the individual’s mind. Tough call. Very subjective. But I think it’s an interesting study of what happens to the “outsider” when s/he isolates her/himself to the point where the only outside influence is internal. Make sense? Isolated from human contact, isolated from the “real” world, the mind distorts actual reality and creates an entirely new…well, distorted reality.
By all means use the question in discussion – I definitely think it’s fascinating.
Hold that thought….
(from the perspective of the Wakefield Doctrine), it is the reality of the Outsider to be the Outsider… (no! wait! this will make more sense, although I have to say at this point, the most outré element in our little personality theory is that we all live in what is, for lack of a better word, a personal reality. Actually we do have a better word: worldview. The difficult aspect of this concept for most of us, at least in the beginning of learning about the Doctrine, is reminding ourselves that we really mean it…. this is a real reality we’re talking about. Not a ‘hey, don’t be shy life can be fun’ or ‘maybe the plunging neckline might be appropriate at the non-funeral gatherings… you know’ or ‘sure, we have always done this that way, but how about you try it a different way.’
Like most of the Wakefield Doctrine we’re quite serious about the core concepts but it is still executed with a spirit of fun and experimenting in interesting ideas…. but clarks, scotts and rogers? they world that each wake up to is, in fact and reality, the world of (being) the Outsider, the life of the Predator (full of threats and excitements) and the reality of the Herd Member (where the world is quantifiable, dammit!)
lets try this: you know how most of the personality guys start out with questionnaires and surveys and such? very scientific and probing of everything that you care to say about your likes and dislikes…and afterwards they take the results and score them and see where you fit in the chart of personality types
the Doctrine is like that, except different. we all find ourselves, at a very early age living in one of three worldviews (personal, but quite real, realities) we do what is natural, we learn to deal with out surroundings all of the coping strategies and styles of interacting that we can learn and acquire we do in the context of the reality. Anyone dropped into the world of the Predator at age 3 and then observed at age 15 or 25 or 73 will exhibit the most successful traits for a person living as a predator (some metaphor here, of course) but that’s the world they grew up in, not their individual preferences and choices per se
this realness of the personal reality goes a long way to explaining why, when you have, say a clark of a young age, in front of you, and you try to explain that while accept that they enjoy dressing a certain way, that if they want to succeed at an endeavor out in the everyday world, they have to take into account the impression they make. fine, they agree and they still dress and act like …..Outsiders. that’s because that is their world.
running on a bit…. and I haven’t even talked about the nature of (a) clarks relationship to that Dark place
Well I’m stuck on Seagulls because I’ll be damned that the first time I wash my car in forever and one out of Canadian nowhere appears and craps on it.
Right. On. My. Washed. Car.
I think I’m a clark.
In the dark.
…well, if you are (a clark) (we are all at times) in the dark, you certainly have arrived at an exciting time here at the Wakefield Doctrine!
more people, more input of experiences in the world(s) of clarks, scotts and rogers = more better understanding of our-ownselfs and the people in our lives
and this ‘identification’ dynamic … not original or unique to our little personality theory, but definitely new to our understanding of clarks and how (we) can actually do something good for ourselves… very slow and roundabout, granted, but at least with other clarks, you don’t need to explain an awful lot of the things that happen that a lot of the real people in our lives have trouble understanding, ya know?
welcome
Have to agree with you about Rogers being direct. They seldom mince words, but I challenge the notion you have of us not being patient…I think it’s one of the qualities that allow us to associate well with a herd!
Michelle
I do not completely disagree (I’m clark! how likely is it for me to directly disagree!!?!) lol patience, in this case, is a good illustration of the insight we can gain when applying ‘the everything Rule’…. patience is manifested one way in the rogerian worldview that is distinguishable for that of the clarklike worldview… so yes rogers do exhibit a solid grasp of the (virtue) of patience, but it is as an abstract, as opposed to personal quality. (the best way to ‘try the patience’ of a roger is to find a roger, waiting patiently (for someone or something) and ask them what they’re doing and, since they are not doing anything at the moment, would they help you out with something….lol you know what will happen next, right?)
Your gardening comment intrigues me. I love having a garden, but I must be a big-secondary-clark sort of gardener. Automatic sprinklers save the day here in the desert, and most of my plants are perennials. Plant once and (mainly) forget. Some fertilizing, some pruning, some harvesting. Like exercise, though, I always feel better once I’ve spent time out in the garden.
Kristi
well, I would not contest the notion that you have a significant secondary clarklike aspect… your reasonableness-when-dealing-with-clarks indicates that
Can’t, can’t wait for spring. That is all.
that is all that is needed… not colder warmer
Awww, this was ADORABLE! In elementary school they used to make us write poems with this formula, for SPRING and EASTER and CHRISTMAS and WHATNOT. Brings back memories! Memories of wishing I had a thesaurus in my desk to find “E” words. You did a great job!
I feel like Scotts are not great gardeners. At least this one isn’t. It’s too frustrating trying to figure out how to get water INto the things, and keep all the critters OUT of the growing things, so bugs and animals don’t eat everything. Not to mention all the WEEDS! So many weeds.
I had to mention the warm weather in my post. These past 2 winters have been really hard on my sanity. And what used to be my waistline. Fun Fact: We had so much snow I actually look like a snowman now. True story.
(yeah… get me back to elementary school, I’d totally kick ass)… lol I agree that scotts tend not to be the best of gardeners… after all, scotts are predators who’s greatest joy is stalking and chasing down the wily prey…. (“Honey, not now!! that hydrangea is showing a sign of weakness and about to bolt!!”)
winter is the friend of no scott…. (there actually appears to be a worldview-specific susceptibility to Season Affective Disorder among the scottian peoples… even small amount of time in warmer climes shows dramatic results)
Gardening. Must comment on gardening…
Yes. The soul-crushing winter is approaching an end. The militarized rodent who lives under my garage is planning his spring campaign. I have seeds, and in spite of age and general feebleness, I will soon throw the seeds on the ground and shout my challenge to the skies. I will undoubtedly supplement the seeds with the anemic little plants that can be acquired at the local greenhouses. They will promptly be overcome by the organic strains that thrive in the compost.
And yet I will persist. As always.
I have to, dammit. I’m a roger.
“…we could farm this land.” famous historical roger, somewhere, sometime (in the past, of course)
Bravo, though, because you DID get to the end. Are you going to be cheerleading the A-Z again? There was talk of a TToT group doing it but I think the idea has fizzled out.
Who was the aquatic cow?
While you may not have a TToT scarf to bestow on me….say the word and I will not merely cheerlead (those engaged in the A-Z) I’ll step in as participant and Y-Chrome rep is all
OHHHHHH WELL NOW! :D And what capacity would you step in AS?
Why, Knight Errant, of course! (Order of the SGV) (Paladin of the SBoR/BoSR) (Curator Prime of the Wakefield Doctrine) ….shall I continue?
I was thinking of you recently, as I was once again communing with the Earth through my bare feet at the bus stop in the mornings. And I just fit a record number of prepositional phrases in that sentence.
Your comment, with it’s prepositional phrases, forces me to accept that, somehow, I’ve turned into a 6th grade girl, who really wants to get A’s.
(no! seriously, I just spent 15 minutes invisible-real-worldtime, reading about prepositional phrases, trying like crazy to learn enough to do a Reply that was (also) comprised of propositional phases…. damn! I need to go lift weights or something.)
Did you feel that elbow in your ribs? Did you?!
You write a post nearly every day anyway. Just go ahead and do the A to Z Challenge.
ow!
Yeah there is a certain momentum when writing frequently and, with other people who would be spending the month with a single theme, (can you guess what my theme would be?), it might be fun.
“What do you mean you can’t come up with more than 7 posts dealing with the same topic?!” lol