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

‘Finish the Sentence Friday‘ (FTSF) is the first bloghop we actively participated in and, as such, has always held a special status here at the Doctrine.

Kristi was one of the hosts when I first started to contribute ‘sentence completion posts’. I enjoyed a double benefit as a result of being invited to participate: the quality of writing was such that I had something to reach for and, the special brand of odd, that is often the hallmark of Doctrine posts, stood out in relief to the quality of writing otherwise in evidence.

Now, of course, its Kristi and Mardra and, more often than, Tamara.

This week’s FTSF is a photo-prompt. (At the top of the post). We are also invited to avail ourselves of the phrase, ‘Time Stands Still’. (in the interest of leavening whatever ideas are rising as we sit down at the keyboard.)

Man! Is there any concept more seductive and catnip-like to a clark* than the concept of time? And, always near at hand, time travel?

No. No, there is not.

I wrote a Six Sentence Story yesterday about how, at the death of a loved one, time stood still. It wasn’t ‘standing still’ as in, prolonging a moment as much as it was ‘standing still’ because time ceased having relevance. Had I looked at a clock at that moment (in my story), I would’ve seen the second hand move around the dial; always fleeing, forever being drawn back before getting completely away. It simply did not matter. At the time.

I suspect we’ve all experienced this kind of stillness of time.

As to the question: does Time past us or do we move through Time? I tend, of late, towards the former view. Time as a quality of reality.

(uh oh)

Readers of the Doctrine know how much we loves a good metaphor. So, seeing how it’s Saturday morning and there are no good cartoons on anymore, indulge me the following:

We are creations of (fill in your preferred belief, i.e. God, the Goddess, Vishnu, whatever) and Time is the creation of the devil, (fill in your preferred manifestation of the Opposition, i.e. Lucifer, Satan, Bayer AG**)

And while we manifest as, well, as ourselves, Time manifests as a wind. Sometimes its a summer breeze, making us feel comfortable and hoping for it to never change; other times a winter’s gale pressing us back, bringing tears to our eyes. Time is a form of the atmosphere in which we exist. How we experience depends on us and it. Even the quietest of days, maybe laying in bed late at night, we’re tempted to think, Time is not a wind. Its so peaceful and still. And then we feel a chill.

At least that’s what occurs to me as I try to Finish (this) Week’s Sentence.

…what? the part about Time being a creation of the devil?

Consider walking into a breeze (or a headwind), you feel what? Resistance, it becomes more difficult to get to where you’re going, right? And, sometimes, we feel the wind at our back and surely thats a good thing, correct?

(Remember, our little theory says that Time, a totally intrinsic quality of reality, is a creation of the devil.)

How often do we feel like time is slowing down. Or spending up? If we see, in our future (especially the immediate future), a event that we do not consider good, does time speed up or slow down? Christmas as a child, who out there doesn’t remember how the winds of time blew as Christmas approached?

Only the devil (or a blogger) would suggest that if time were a wind and blowing against us, our approach to an event (or a person or the completion of a task) would feel like its taking forever. And, with a dentist appointment at the end of the week (or a final exam or a breakup), who doesn’t believe that Lucifer would smile at the notion that, with the wind at our back it would feel like time was speeding up.

…

.

*For anyone unfamiliar with our little personality theory, the Wakefield Doctrine  a clark is one of three personality types (we call them predominant worldviews). I’m not going to reveal which of the three I am (lol) all you need to do is read the blog.

** sorry, an inside joke coming from a work-in-progress where the antagonist is Bayer AG (unlikely? I don’t think so, go read up on the dark castle in Leverkusen, Germany and then ask me why…lol)