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

 

2 Items: Chapter 4 and the Wakefield Doctrine

(That was easy!)

Hey! Chapter 4 of ‘Almira’ is out and loosed upon the world. If you haven’t signed up for new Posts, then here is Chapter 4 (at jukepop.com) and, for those less technological-inclined and prefer the simple and familiar format, here is Chapter 4 (at wordpress). The same Chapter 4, of course, it’s just that, while wordpress is simple and familiar, jukepop is geared to serial stories and presents the chapters in sequence. So, if this your first encounter with the Story of Miss (actually, it’s Mrs.) Almira Gulch and Dorothy and Hunk and a few people who, for some reason, they forgot to include in previous tellings of the Oz stories, jukepop is probably your best bet.
(btw…. I sent out links to, well, to everyone I could think of, but then I was reminded (by Denise) that those of you who’ve signed up, automatically receive each new Chapter, as it’s published. Ain’t science amazing! Sorry about the dupelation.)

[Hey!  I’m working on final…final Edit of Blogdominion. Is there anyone out there who would enjoy being a Beta Reader? Let me know]

Item 2:

(courtesy of a Comment from Friend of the Doctrine, Christine)

‘Can’t wait to hear about your workshop. Channel that inner scott!’

As you would’ve guessed, my Reply was quite simple. ‘That’s exactly why we have a Wakefield Doctrine!’

the Wakefield Doctrine is a perspective on behavior and reality and, in a sense, proposes that there are three personality types among people (and, in a sense, everything else). The maintains that, all of us, are born with the potential to experience the world in one of three characteristic ways:

1. clarks (Outsiders)
2. scotts (Predators)
3. rogers (Herd Members

…at a very early age we all, ‘settle in to’ one of these three worldviews (the personal reality that everyone experiences world as/through…in) and then we proceed to grow up and mature and learn ways to deal with the world and it’s demands’, the people (and their demands) and our own potential (and that’s where Christine’s Comment comes in).  Where many personality type systems focus on self reporting and the near-endless variety of Quizzes and Tests, without which Facebook would go the way of MySpace…. ( “What’s your Favorite Color!!” / “Don’t you Hate it when your Boyfriend says.…!!!” / “So! You Think You Have What it Takes to Be a Wildlife Biologist?!?” / “Girls! What’s Up with the Crying and Hand-Holding!” / “What Your Favorite Color Socks Tell about You! Don’t Leave the House until you Complete (and Pass) This Test!!”)

The Wakefield Doctrine is quite simple. If you grew up in a reality that was, (in character, nature, just-the-way-things-are), the world of the Outsider, then your ‘personality traits’ would lean heavily to:

• ‘being inconspicuous’ (without being totally ignored),
• ‘being funny’ (without having to, like, stand up in front of people and hold their attention),
• ‘persuasive’ (in a quiet, ‘now that I think of it, that’s a good idea’ sort of way),
• ‘curious’ (maybe the answer to becoming a real person is hidden in Zoroastrianism). In short, you’ll develop the coping strategies and interpersonal style that is most likely to yield success (however you might define that!  lol)

This same view applies to the person who has grown experiencing the world as would a Predator:

• ‘quick responses’,
• very little, ignoring-the-world-while-imagining-what-might-be,
• if it moves, chase it,
• live today, ’cause it’s the only place that’s real.

or as a Herd Member:  the world is knowable! learn it and tell the others…..

So, what makes Christine’s Comment so appropriate, is that the Wakefield Doctrine’s approach to self-improvement is: you never lose the potential of ‘the other two’ world views. Find your inner (clark or scott or roger), practice it and you will become more than you were. This may seem a trivial distinction, that we have the potential, because the perceptive (but annoying) Reader might say (from the back of the classroom, meeting hall or audience),

“Hey! you just said that the personality traits that distinguish one type from the other is the result of growing up and learning to the cope with the reality you’re in… that took, well, years! What good does that do me, I got a presentation in a week and a half! Ain’t got time to grow up again! I want my money back!!”

True. The distinction we make is for those of us who (might) benefit by it. I like knowing that new skills, better ways of living, are not foreign or otherwise outside of my reality. I like knowing that it is inherent (if not practiced), because it’s easier (to me) to develop than it is to find, take, claim ownership and learn to operate something totally new.

Speaking of new and find, time to leave the virtual world and head out into the ‘real’ world. Any questions, write ’em in the Comment box, yo.