Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Today we rejoin (or would that be trejoin) our old (as in the length of our relationship, not the age of the hostinae) friends (not that there’s anything wrong with being old), at the Finish the Sentence Friday bloghop (well, I’m not prepared to say that being old is as good as being young, it’s more the implications of the word ‘old’ that might give me pause), as they (being the pretty-amazing-even-for-an-imaginary-woman-in-a-virtual-world) Kristi and Roshni and Ivy Walker, (though, in the interest of Full Disclosure, I do know this Ivy person, except by a different name, zoe which, I suspect tells you everything there is to know about this rather prolific and clever writing ‘person’)… Roshni, I know from seeing her out in the internet and, every week she can be found at that other bloghop, the TToT, (pretty good blog, if I say so myself). This Week’s incomplete Sentence:
“I can’t believe it took me so long to realize that…”
…that everything written and posted and, otherwise found on the internet (in general) and in the blogosphere (in particular) is so autobiographical. Not that that’s a bad thing. But the realization, like so often happens when we have a chance moment of insight into the nature of reality (or, for those of us of more modest ambition) our selves, can cause us to totally run away. It’s not that people don’t want to learn about themselves, everyone does. And… and! it’s not even that people tend to not want to know about the parts of themselves that is not what they would want to see, we all have mirrors in our house and, despite our complexions or weight or hair style, we keep them there (yeah, the mirrors too). No, it’s neither of those insights that we recoil from. The self-knowledge, the insight into ourselfs that is most likely cause us to recoil in denial is ‘how we relate ourselves to the world around us’. Note that I did not say ‘how we relate to the world around us’, I said ‘how we relate ourselves to the world around us’ there’s a difference. And the really cool (or awful or horrifying or ‘this-is-the-worst-adolescent-fantophilosophysing’) thing is that the key to all lasting change, at least in the sense of self-improvement is to be found only in the appreciation, understanding, acceptance (and, possibly, the Will to change) this relationship. Hell, we’re all aware of our bad points or our good qualities or the things that we should stop doing or the bad habits that we know we’ll change someday. What is so central to what we are, and therefore at the heart of what must be dealt with is, ‘what we are in relation to the people, places and things that make up that world out there’.
the part about autobiographical everything? even what I write that is meant to disguise me is identifying me. And, even that’s not a bad thing. It’s who I am.
ya know.
*hey I really enjoyed this. It is such a ‘Bridge of Sighs’ looking day, that I’ll put the link (rather than post the link to the video that I used a few years ago).
About clarkscottroger
I like your refreshing twist on this. Am off to ponder … what we are in relation to the people, places and things that make up that world out there.” Insightful and thought provoking.
thank you… to paraphrase the saying, ‘reality is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s stranger than we can imagine’
gotta go look that up, cite the source
…hey! found it! Arthur Eddington
Hi long time no see. I don’t know who has been away longer but I recognize you from once upon a prompt. Like Kelly, I’m of to ponder, like in English class – what the author meant by…
Hey Kenya! I remember you! (no, lets agree to not determine the amount of time that has past, surely it will be more that we would believe!)
thank you for stopping by, (yes, I get that alot…part of the fun of word-prompt bloghops, no? “Rules and Logic!?!?! Sense and Rationale?!?! We doan need no steenkin Badges!”)
Hey ah hem you actually KNOW me too. Kinda. I mean, we proved we’re Real anyway! And this. I love this “even what I write that is meant to disguise me is identifying me.” So much. Thanks for playing again! Hoping to do a TToT this week. I still need to tell the world how thankful I was to meet up with everybody in OCNJ.
lol
actually I was victim of my own assumption that everyone out there already knows about me… and that you and I have had history (virtual!! virtual history, which can be as good, just not as traceable or admissible in court as real world history) you were (one of the four) hostinae when I ventured out of the Doctrine Fortress of Solitude (aka New Blog with 5 Readers 4 of them RL friends already) way back when… (for the record, I recognized you from the first post you wrote… it is the way of clarks, after all). I am totally glad that I took the chance on that Post (hey! a Grat Item for tomorrow! thanks!)
So for the record, I count you among my real imaginary friends here in Oz.
Hey, I really enjoyed reading this! I started off thinking about writing. Even those of us who write fiction tend to put in a little of ourselves into those writings, consciously or subconsciously! But, the part you talk about how we relate to the world around us was very thought-provoking! What we are in relation to all those we interact with and how we can change and improve and become more understanding! Thank you for writing this!
cool. I’ve only started to notice (this revealing thing) in my own efforts to write, mostly in the Six Sentence Story ‘hop that zoe puts on every Thursday. That being the opportunity to write fiction with ‘an audience’ to give me a sense of the effect (of the story).
Yeah, the Doctrine is all about the notion that personal reality is actually about how we relate ourselves to the world around us… a slippery concept, glad that you get the implication (of the perspective), not everyone does… its tricky because all too often we assume we know ourselves and so, tend not to pay attention to the effect of ‘what we are’ has on our interactions with the people and world we live out our days in… interesting stuff for sure.
Clark, I know I never realized how much I would be exposing myself by writing on the internet with blogging and such, but you described it perfectly as that is what I have indeed done. Still, I can’t say I am sorry or have regrets, as it just feels natural and right (if that makes sense)! ;)
very good insight, Janine! for me, I’ve started to notice that when I try fiction (usually Six Sentence Stories), the more ‘overlap’ between what happens in the story and my own life, the more readable/enjoyable the thing seems to be… and it need not be a one-on-one correspondence but there must be a resonance between the fiction and something in my history. glad to see you!