(Thank you Edwin, great question!)
[The following Post is another in the continuing effort to present the Wakefield Doctrine (aka the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers) in a manner that is accessible, enjoyable and will cause a First Time Reader to go into the Pages of this blog to get more information. The hope and the goal is to write ‘in 25 words or less’ a description of the use and the benefits (of the Doctrine.)]
Thinking, reflecting, considering, having an internal dialogue, call it what you will but the inside of our heads is an always interesting, often busy place. We are, to one degree or another, self-aware. It is this internal environment that we are concerned with today in this Post. To start, a question:
What is the good, the use, the benefit of what goes on inside our heads?
Most of everything that goes on inside our heads, is our efforts at trying to make sense of the world that we find ourselves in each day. We try, and in doing so, hopefully are able to live out the day as comfortably/profitably/virtuously as possible.
Set aside the ‘yeah, but you don’t understand how or why my life is the way it is’, for now.
You’re right, no one understands your life. (Damn! you exist as a pre-supposed Reader! Tell me about understanding another! To mis-quote Firesign Theatre, ‘how can I know what you feel, thats metaphysically absurd, man!’)
It is not necessary to understand the particulars of a person’s life in order to talk about how we live and act in life.
For the purposes of this Post, lt is agreed that no one can know what is going on in another person’s mind, at least in terms of the personal-reality-specific details. What we can agree on is that whatever the process, it is probably very similar among all people, young/old, female/male, this culture/that culture, (not counting some fundamentalists and most people who think that ‘America’s Got Talent’ is great entertainment). But most people share a similar interior/mental environment.
The thing is we all seem to feel a need for, be attracted to, or require ourselves to create a Doctrine. A doctrine or a religion or a belief system, the Golden Rule, logical empiricism, call it what you like, all self-aware humans seem to share this need. And what people seem to need is a map. A map to use to try and make sense of the world. Everyone, everywhere, has a map in their heads.
These maps are made up of assumptions and values that serve as a guide to ‘getting through the day’. Examples of assumptions that make up the map: ‘you can’t get something for nothing’, ‘nice guys finish last’, ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’, ‘damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’, etc, etc. You get the idea.
All people acquire and use a ‘map’ (doctrine) in order to make sense of what they experience in the course of living each day. Which is to say inter-acting with other people. And ‘interacting’ means behavior. Lets say that the common elements in how we choose to interact with other people is a product of following our individual maps. And over time, these common elements become routine and stylized. This will be referred to as behavior. But first a question that must be resolved before we can continue, the question of…why?
The ‘why’, does not matter in this Post. It does not matter ‘why’ we all have maps or doctrines or any other term. Further the ‘how’ of all this doesn’t matter much either.
We can spend the rest of the day or an entire lifetime describing how this doctrine thing manifests itself. Again, not mattering so much.
The ‘what’ is where it is at. The ‘what’ is the list of elements, landmarks, on your map.
This is topic of this here Post here. We are going to look at the Wakefield Doctrine in the context of it being a map, no different from religion or philosophy, morality or practicality. The question that we need to answer is, does it (the Doctrine) offer us something as a map, that the the other maps do not? How well does the Wakefield Doctrine serve this purpose and how easy is it to use?
The Wakefield Doctrine (aka the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers) is a simple, fun and useful way to look at the world. Just like any of the other ‘doctrines’ mentioned above, the Wakefield Doctrine serves as a guide/interpreter of the world we experience, but without out the excess baggage of mainstream doctrines such as religion, morality, good citizenship.
What advantage does the Doctrine offer?
Well, for starters it is fun. Now fun is pointless without value, (stop right there! which of the three thinks that)?
OK, lets set that aside for now. The Wakefield Doctrine will provide a map that allows you to see the world as other people sees it. Even a people you do not know.
The theory of clarks, scotts and rogers is predicated on the notion that we all have a predilection as to how we view the world at large and these predilections tend to gather themselves into three distinct groups: what we call the clarks, scotts and rogers.
The rest of this blog addresses the characteristics of each of these three ways of seeing the world. Three distinct maps.
Read. Learn. Comment. Buy a hat.
Pretty simple, isn’t it?
About clarkscottroger
What the hell happened to “25 words or less?”
Good Gawd, man… your posts are as long as mine! The only thing you’re gonna “cure” is insomnia! :)
And you said:
“Most of everything that goes on inside our heads, is our efforts at trying to make sense of the world that we find ourselves in each day.”
What head do you live inside? I mean, have you SEEN the inside of MY head? First, you’re gonna need a machete just to hack thru the cobwebs. Then, you’re gonna need blasting caps, to break thru all the plaque that has hardened around what you’re evidently mistaking for a conscience.
You go on to say that;
“We try, and in doing so, hopefully are able to live out the day as comfortably/profitably/virtuously as possible.”
Hell, I’m lucky to stay one step ahead of lawyers, process servers, and Law Enforcement Officials. Some alleged business involving widows and orphans…
I think that you’re making this thing far too difficult, probably just so you can start a cult, and enlist young attractive people to your throng, so you can all sit around singing Kumbaya, as you impatiently wait for the aliens to land…
This’d be a lot easier,if you’d just started marketing a Magic 8-Ball with a three sided Die inside.
That way, we could just shake it up, and figure out if we be Clark, Scott, or some Dufas named Roger… And, best of all, no matter what, we’d be right, about 33% of the time!
You wouldn’t have to call it a Magic 8-Ball (cuz’ we all know that you’d get banned, like Harry freakin Potter, for supporting “witchcraft…”), you could call it a Personality Investigation and Diagnostics Tool. Plus, that way you could get $295.00 for it…
(Of which I expect a healthy referral fee…) or else.
I have to go now… that nurse is coming.. with the needle…
Ronin
…cult…damn I like the sounds of that!
In all seriousness, your reply is appreciated…roger
The thing about the Doctrine, is that a lot of using/applying and otherwise getting a benefit (from the Doctrine) comprises a fairly subjective process.
The rogerian ‘worldview’ is that of a reality where quantifiable values are most desired and unquantifiable values are to simply be ignored. The ‘feel’ of the rogerian worldview is comfortable to most of us because at the root of it is the idea that there is a community, that others share a common value system, in other words, there is a herd.
To be a part of the herd is the basic motivation to rogers.
So when you people write, no matter the subject, you find the common denominators to use to express your point of view.
So, in appreciation of your giving your time (to write the Reply above) I will give you this: you are not the typical roger. (None of us here are ‘pure forms’) You have a perspective, i.e. that reality involves choice and there is no objective/independent world ‘out there’.
And this ability, (to see above the herd), is harder on rogers than it is on the rest of us (clarks, and scotts.)
(Don’t let the other rogers in your ‘local herd’ see you ‘looking up’. They don’t like it when a herd member looks up.)
Can “rogers” be anti-social?
I mean, I got the “dufas” part… Big time. (Just ask my wife…) But… I’m kinda worried, because, if they can’t be anti-social (“herds” are just “food” by the way)… I must be a mutant, according to your logic. I’m definitely a “build strong walls, get behind them, and then dump hot oil on the unruly” kinda guy.
Now, my therapist said I shouldn’t be too hard on myself, because after all, I’m “just a sociopath…” but seriously, I’ve actually lived in caves out in the middle of nowhere. Hardly part of the “Rogerian Revolution…”
I’m not liking where this is going… It’s just going to cause my already fragile psyche to form yet another personality that my kid will have to try and explain away to his friends… :)
Oy.. gotta go. I need to call my Rabbi… again.
It is possible to be (a)social(being) without being ‘sociable’.
The key to any of these three forms is, ‘what is the key underlying assumption, about the world, is this person making’?
You are right, those of us having this conversation, are by definition mutants (I kinda prefer the term ‘enlightened’). The quality that so few people (seem) to have is the willingness to imagine that their worldview is not the absolute final word.
Thanks for the feedback.
(That line about…’herds’ are just ‘food’… is actually very advanced (in terms of the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers). I am not playing ‘take away’, but that element in the nature of rogers (and scotts) is very scary to average enquirer.
“So grasshopper, you seek ‘enlightenment’…”
I KNEW IT! Yer a freakin’ cult leader wannabe! HA!
Boy, are YOU in for a big surprise! I ain’t YOUNG (turned 51 today, in fact), I ain’t attractive (I married a nearly blind gal for a reason…), my version of “Kumbaya” sounds like nails on a chalkboard, and I ain’t rollin in goods I can sign over to the tribe.
And if the average enquirer breaks out in a sweat, ain’t that a “good thing?”
After all, fear is a terrific motivator!
Gotta go now… I need to shave my legs, otherwise that toga “cult uniform” is gonna look really stupid… :)
But I draw the line at anything that even remotely resembles “heels…” Not gonna do it… Nuh-uh!