Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

(why, yes! you do see a clark and a scott and a roger)

Hey, I have one of those ‘related Posts’ widgets and though there are times when it suggests Posts on the basis of being in English*, today I spotted one that I had forgotten I had written!** So, naturally I went and read it… well, yes, I skimmed it, but only to decide if I really liked it and then I went back and read it word for word… ok, most of it.
Funny about synchronicity (or just hanging out with a small group of people with similar interests,  that’s kinda synchronistic, right?) (As old Carl Jung was reputed to say, “Synchronizität? wie ‘ Bout, die Aufmerksamkeit auf was herum vor sich geht, und genug mit der Metaphysik bereitsstarten!“***

(from July 31 2011)

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

Two topics today: clarks and scotts

clarks: outsiders, mis-fits, creative, intellectual, rational, aloof, tireless workers, clarks are capable of imagining and creating anything and bringing it to others to experience

scotts: action-oriented, vivacious, instinct-driven, impulsive, natural leaders, full of energy and life, scotts will cause others to believe that actions can speak words

Today’s Post: The tale of The Rabbit in the Newspaper Box ( a story of a scott stepping into the world of a clark).

One un-seasonably mild March day, DownSpring glenn and I were driving along RI Route 1 in search of a golf course. Most of the better golf courses in the area were not fooled by the warm-spell and remained Closed for the Winter ( “See You Next Spring!”…spelled out in movable black letters below the Welcome Sign).  We were determined to find an open course, so we drove from the middle of Rhode Island to it’s southern end, searching for an open golf course.  By late morning we had still not found what we were looking for, not even a driving range was open.
Finally, admitting defeat we headed home, which required us to head up Route 1 North. The highway in this part of Rhode Island runs along the coastline. Far enough away from the water  to be a ‘real highway’ (not one of those scenic roads that force you to stop at every intersection with a Antique Shoppe, Seafood Restaurant  and Seven Eleven), yet close enough so that you could see the ocean as you drove up the highway. Route 1 in this part of the state was a ‘divided highway’; two lanes North with a grassy median divider of about 20′ and two lanes South. The median had turn-arounds every half mile or so, allowing a person to change their mind and head in the opposite direction, without wasting a lot of time.

As we drove north, we passed one of those coin-operated newspaper boxes, chained to a telephone pole. The box was bright yellow, about 4′ by 3′ with a Plexiglas window making up the top half, in order to display the Current Edition (of the Providence Journal). This design is intended  to catch the Summer Tourists in a hurry to get to the Cape, “Honey! There’s a newspaper stand, pull over and I’ll buy us a copy“).
The weather (as I said) was un-seasonably mild, light fluffy clouds and it was about 11:30 on a Saturday morning. We were driving at 55mph as we passed the newspaper box. (As I drove), from the corner of my eye, I saw a black and white rabbit sitting inside the newspaper box (where the newspapers were supposed to be). I am a clark, so while interesting, I did not feel an urgent need to point out to glenn this odd sighting. However,  a mili-second after we passed, I got the feeling that there was something wrong with my passenger, glenn. ( The fun of hanging out with a scott, is that there is always a ‘give n take’ of conversation, ideas, observations…you can feel the energy radiating from these people, and (being a clark), I am always aware of their mental/emotional state of mind.)
As we passed I felt a quiet coming from the passenger side of the car. (Sort of a ‘mental gasp’). So I said, ‘hey glenn, did I see a rabbit in that newspaper box we just passed?’ “What the fuck!?” was glenn’s response.
There was a turn-around in the median about 200 yards up the road from us. I sped up and in about 2 minutes I had the car headed in the opposite direction. For some reason, neither of us looked over at the newspaper box as we drove back down the highway in order to get beyond where we saw the rabbit. Another median turn-around and we were driving north again and the newspaper box (with or without a rabbit) was about 100 yards ahead. There was quiet in the car.  I did not feel the need to drive any slower than I did the first time we drove past the box.
Again!  As we drove past the Providence Journal newspaper box, in a curious silence, we both looked to our right and once again, a black and white rabbit!  Sitting in the box where the newpapers were supposed to be!

I laughed and sped up. glenn shouted something. We reached the next median turn-around and went back the same route. The third time: rabbit was gone, newspapers were where they were supposed to be. ( Should note that the traffic was rather light, we did not drive out-of-sight of the location of the newspaper box in the course of doing our turn-arounds. There was no time for someone to stop, get the rabbit out of the box and drive off, before we got back from our turn).

It was an interesting drive home. To glenn’s credit, he did not do what most scotts (or rogers, for that matter) would have done, i.e. “nah, must of been a reflection” or “no, ain’t no rabbits in a newspaper box, thats crazy“. We both did what clarks instinctively know to do in a situation like this, be quiet and let the memory settle into the mind and …laugh.

The story above is true. The names are not changed to protect the innocent (hey, we’re talking about a scott and a clark, there ain’t no innocents there!)

The point of today’s little story, if there is to be one, is that we all share the capacity to experience the world as each other would.
To put it in terms that a roger and a scott can understand: no matter which of the three personality types we are, we never lose the capacity to see and experience the world as the remaining two types. All of us are merely predominately a clark or a scott or a roger.  That’s why, when you first read about the Wakefield Doctrine, most people say, “hey this is a great system!  But I must be a fluke, ’cause even though I know I must be a roger there are time when I am a scott!”  This is as it must be, you are also a clark or a scott.  But your world is one of a roger (in this example).
The reason it is important to understand this is, that while you may be able to identify the other two personality types within yourself, the world you are living in is that of (your) predominant type.

That is the point of the Tale of the Rabbit in the Newspaper Box.
The experience was for glenn. Even though glenn has a very high degree of flexible intelligence (the ability to imagine other realities), he is still a scott and in the world of a scott, rabbits do not sit in newspaper boxes. It shows that when you are at wit’s end, and you know that you have tried everything you can imagine,  all you have to do is stop trying.
glenn stopped trying to make sense of the situation (as a scott must) and simply enjoyed the very strange occurrence (as a clark does).

* which, given the early efforts to capture the attention of Readers, was not always a safe bet, here at the Wakefield Doctrine

** still not earthshaking, as I have a disturbing tendency to forget what I wrote last week… on the plus side, I get the fun of reading as ‘a Reader’  (the advantage is that I avoid the Ed Sullivan effect when I find a Post where ambition grossly exceeded ability, plus when I hit a ‘good one’… I sneak in a moment of feeling good about myself…(don’t tell anyone!)*****

*** “synchronicity? how ’bout you start paying attention to what’s going on around and enough with the metaphysics already!”  

**** my secret is safe here, no body reads footnotes!