Month: July 2020 | the Wakefield Doctrine

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine- “When time loses it’s invisible stays, and world serves only as stepping stones.”

July 5, 2020 By clarkscottroger

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

Before I move too far beyond last night’s Wakefield Doctrine call-in, let me try and, at least, preserve the structure, if not the insights, uncovered by Denise, Cynthia and YHN.*

To the topic: How best to acquire and develop a fluency in the language of ‘the other two’ worldviews.

New Readers: The Wakefield Doctrine holds that we, all of us, live in one of three personal realities:

the reality of the Outsider(clarks) Those who seek to understand life by flyers retrieved from trash bins in the parking lot of the local shopping mall, advertisements in magazines on the pages three further back than the last ‘(cont’d on Page 35)’ and the obvious, (to us, at any rate), subtexts of time-honored fairy tales, zen koans and religious parables. clarks are kinda all around you, but aren’t big on being noticeable.

the world of the Predator(scotts) If you want something done right away, (and quality of the finish is not paramount), get yourself a scott. Their motto, (not that they would spend too much time trying to create one, but, that being said, get it, (the motto, not the Scott), embroidered on a jacket and they will wear it down to the liner. Think: wolves, lions and the Tasmanian Devil (of Warner Brothers fame). If that hint makes you think of: police, exotic dancers, high wire performers, waitresses that are, without resorting to anything illegal, putting three kids through private school, surgeons and/or boy’s gym teacher… check in with us down in the comments. You have the kind of mind we’re always on the lookout for.

the life of the Herd Member(roger) Precise and meticulous, gossipy and vain. If the people who live the life of a Herd Member did not demonstrate these traits, I would not: get on an airplane, refuse to trust refrigerated chicken salad and have anything read that was enjoyable but pointless.

The thing about the three personal realities is that a) they are realities and 2) what other systems call personality types, we call: “Hey! Try growing up from infancy in the world of (Outsider/Predator/Herd Member and see what kinds of quirks, strengths and peccadilloes cover you like dandruff in a blacklight factory.” We’re all just trying to live life. However, it is the height of nativity** to think that the social strategies and tactics that result in success when living in the shadows, (as a clark) will do anything good while roaming the savannah, (as a Predator), looking for a place to get a drink of water. The critical thing to remember: each of the three personal realities of the Wakefield Doctrine, (aka predominant worldviews), are real to the person experiencing it. The goal and the benefit of the Doctrine lies in understanding and accepting the fact of these three personal realities. Appreciating how, (differently), the other person might be experiencing a shared situation is the secret to understanding them.

Note: we are born with the potential for any of the three. We all settle into one, (and only one), in our earliest lives. We never lose the capacity to experience the world as do ‘the other two’. (Try thinking of it this way: you just got born, you’re on a plane and it flies over three countries. You grow up and speak the language of the country the plane lands in.)

We, as students of the Wakefield Doctrine, are in a language class.

So, Cynthia, she be saying, “Language is easier to acquire when you’re young and not particularly concerned with the rules of grammar or how silly you sound when you pronounce ‘Parlez vous, francais’, as: “Parly vu huma huma’***

“Children,” she continued, “tend to listen and listen, imitate the sounds and then, at a certain point, put things together and speak the language. Not burdened by grammar or rules of rhetoric, they just do it.”

This so makes sense. Unfortunately, Cynthia went on to infer that the older a person gets, the more difficult it becomes to acquire a new language.

Luckily for us, Denise chimed in with, ‘Those rogers are so obvious with their anything-for-a-reaction’ responses to an ordinary social interaction. Plus, they always recognize their own and that serves to increase the pressure on our hypothetical language student. At least there’s no shortage of people speaking it around us.”

Hey! YHN here. This is too big a topic for one post. Lets continue it later. Comments will be appreciated. And, New Readers? Remember: ‘There are no stupid questions. Only your questions.’

* Your Humble Narrator … that kinda gets a certain post-Elizabethan vibe I’ve always been partial to, this sensibility a bit heighten by comments exchanged with a participant (The Vintage Toy Advertiser) over at the Six Sentence Story bloghop. I found cause to reference a character from a Michael Moorcock book from back in the the (The Dancers at the End of Time).

** minor rogerian expression… ha ha

*** old person warning: Cheech and Chong joke from the ’70s

music vid…cause I usually get a song in my head when writing and the best way to avoid ear worms is to play it (to replace the previous song)

anyway, here’s one of my favorite music vids for the view of a different time. If you’re old enough to have enjoyed the movie ‘Spinal Tap’ but not old enough to appreciate how different concerts were, back in the day vidi this

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: self-development, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine- ‘Scenes from a Third Millennium scottian Holiday’

July 3, 2020 By clarkscottroger

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

This is the TToT. Hosted by Kristi each and every weekend (even those with two Saturdays)

Yes, according to what I read, the subtitle this week is accurate. The ‘2000s’ are, in fact, the Third Millennium Anno Domini. Got to be making those last New Year’s Resolutions a bit more compelling, no?

To the business at hand. This is the Ten Things of Thankful (TToT) bloghop. The more…traditional exegesis is down there, at the bottom of this page, above the thumbnails of the TToT participants.

I will submit the items (with no claim to coherency) below as the people, places and things that cause and otherwise elicit a feeling of gratitude.

1) Una: Lying, comfortable in the bedroom, with the blinds drawn, the AC on ’11’ and my lower legs as an apostrophe, reminding her, (unnecessarily), that I have her back.

2) Phyllis: reading in bed next to Una. ’cause what better demonstration of the safety of the pack than that?

3) For a chrono-calenderistic eclipse today. Far more rare than the Tuesday-that-would-be-Monday that follows the majority of Chamber of Commerce endorsed three-day weekends, today is a Friday-that-would-be-Saturday. The procession effect, (weekday advancing into weekend), is surely more powerful than the more ordinary, weekday-disguised-as-another-weekday. It is an occurrence noted in the Wakefield Doctrine as ‘the day a clark might feel like a scott.‘ This, because Saturdays are most scottian of days-of-the-week. Fridays? Open to all, but the clarklike imprimatur is stamped large by the volume of hope that the Outsider people invest in the end of the workweek, against the promise of the weekend.

4) the Wakefield Doctrine. Why? Well, on this particular occasion, I am grateful because I know that we are in the highest holiday for the scottian people of the world. A day manifested (in fifty percent of the world’s hemispheres) by: weather suitable to minimal clothing and/or outdoor sports, food that involves open-flame cooking and, speaking of which, ….fireworks! Loud/surprising/larger-than-safe-smaller-than-some-military-grade-ordinance…. fireworks. If, for example, I were to say, ‘Christmas’, most of us will smile at the mental image of a kindly, older, charitable gentleman. When we say Fourth of July, you are within your rights to conjure a scene: water-skiing young men with cans of Kingsford charcoal lighter fluid passing close enough to shore to try and help start the charcoal fires; young women collecting admirers like a grain of steroid in an over-sized oyster asking, with all sincerity, ‘Is this bikini too big?’ July 4th remains the most scottian of holidays. No matter what your age, religious beliefs, cultural imperatives or desire to be left alone to enjoy your book in peace.

5) Dead-Cedar Tree Branch Trelli (or trelliseseses) for the rose bush at the corner of the deck.

6) Hey, as mistletoe is to Christmas and crayon-on-construction-paper turkeys are to Thanksgiving, surely a field of thistle might be considered the appropriate vegetation for the Fourth (“Want to bet I can run through them without getting stuck? You’re on…gimme some firecrackers.”)

7) Pat Brockett for the number of times she uses a word I need to look up. Not as simple as it sounds. This is not a case of projectile-scrabble playing; she finds a word, appropriate, (if not uncommon), perfect to the context and subject matter. Surely the highest form of fun for clarks and others.

8) Six Sentence Story bloghop. For stories that read like the box in the back of a childhood closet, full of model car parts, comic-books-missing-covers and American International movies at the Saturday matinee.

9) THIS SPACE AVAILABLE. (Send in your trail Grats. If’n ya got ’em.)

10) Secret Rule 1.3 From the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules) which infers the implication that ‘the process is the product.’

music vids

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: psychology of personality, the Wakefield Doctrine

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine-

July 1, 2020 By clarkscottroger

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

This is the weekly, Six Sentence Story bloghop.

Hosted by Denise, it offers the opportunity to undertake the writing of a story that involves the prompt word but is of six (and only six) sentences in length.

This week’s prompt word:

LINE

“Looks like you’ve run into a bit of a learning opportunity,” the voice moved past the ten-year-old’s right shoulder, bounced off the canvas shelter and took up residence somewhere in the dense undergrowth.

As if aware of the arching eyebrow and the beginnings of a curl to the boy’s lip, the crossbow of a snide remark arming itself, the voice added hastily, “Ok, how about a concerned neighbor witnessing a special moment in a boy’s life… no, now that I hear that out loud, lets go with ‘the voice of experience’.”

“I better not see a picture of this on Instagram or Twitter,” his age spoiling the admonition with a tinge of hope as he pulled on the handle of the wagon in a futile attempt to get it out of the ditch and on to the path; sadly, the load of wood had other plans.

“Er, of course not, I will offer some wisdom you’ve probably not yet encountered,” without waiting for approval, continued, ‘the path of a successful life follows a line that often skirts the possibility of failure; what do you think you should have done to avoid this….” his pause as self-assured as one taking the time to tamp the tobacco in a Meerschaum.

“Probably should’ve been running as I approached the ditch, that way…”

“That is one of three ways,” the old man’s voice faded in and out; at once sternly authoritative, followed by a slightly pompous tone and finally an introspective mumble, “you could have taken the time to mark the path, or, you could have looked at what was up ahead;” sensing a growing skepticism, the man concluded, “You’re right, the best path is to cultivate an awareness of your surroundings in the present, doing so you avoid the distractions of the future along with the consequences of haste, thereby allowing you to chart the most beneficial route through life.”

Bonus use of prompt word:

Now the boys all thought I’d lost my sense
And telephone poles looked like a picket fence
They said, “Slow down! I see spots!
The lines on the road just look like dots

(Charlie Ryan 1955)

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: Six Sentence Story, the Wakefield Doctrine