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

The Week Ahead!

Now there’s a common-enough phrase that should serve to facilitate a productive discussion of the three predominant worldviews, (aka ‘personality types’), of the Wakefield Doctrine while conincidently illustrating one of the most helpful, (and necessary), conditions to the aforementioned theory of clarks, scotts and rogers, i.e. the Everything Rule.

Hard part first.

We all exist in time. Time is often distinguished by its placement along the continuum of before, now, later. The past, present and future. Even if this were say, Tuesday morning or late on Thursday, the topic would be as unmanageable as a plastic garbage bag full of angry octopi. To simplify enough for a Monday morning, (Monday Morning motto: ‘The on-ramp to the workweek, ain’t no turning back now!‘), let’s say, the favortie tense for the three worldviews is:

1. clarks(the Outsider): the future. Hands down is the preferred time period. Not for the seemingly obvious delay of need to act, rather for the quality (of this state of time) of being the un-scratched lottery ticket. clarks don’t fear work, they don’t even fear failure. clarks fear the scrutiny that is all that remains when time stops.
2. scotts(the Predator): the present. Where else would they be? Seriously, there is no other time that guarantees they can act. (With a sufficient secondary clarklike aspect), a scott would know that memory is unreliable and the future is unpredictable, only in the here and now can a person actutally act.
3. rogers(the Herd Member): the past. Similar but different from a scott, the roger knows that the past is the pen and ink of their actions to center a Herd. Living in ‘the life emotional’, investing in the future is just like buying with a credit card, the cost increases over time and, besides, they’re way too busy discovering, (and sharing with everyone/anyone), the Right Way in the here and now to do anything more than to check it off on their itinerary.

The Everything Rule: Everyone does Everything at One Time or Another. The difference between the three worldviews informs how a thing manifests. How a thing manifests is a reflection of the overall nature/character of their relationship to the world around them.

The further implications of the Everything Rule is more than we have time for today. Hopefully we’ll be able to complete it on another day.

(lol)

from 2017

 

The coolest (and best) thing about the Wakefield Doctrine is not that we get to make statements such as “Everyone lives in a perfect world”, and it is not the fun of asserting, “Everyone works exactly as hard at life as everyone else does.” Nope making these statements isn’t what this Post, (and its tantalizing questionistical subtitle), is proposting.

What does makes the Doctrine so cool, is that if a person is able to apply the perspectives inherent in the Doctrine to their world, these (and many other, equally outrageous declarations), become totally self-evident and, true even.

You know whats the hardest part of this ‘applying of (a) Wakefield Doctrine perspective’ process? (And it’s not confined to the Wakefield Doctrine), its that any philosophy or belief system that offers an alternative path (in life and such) always demands payment in exchange for it’s benefits. And, just to make matters worse, the price is not, strictly speaking, a ‘quid pro quo’*. What is asked for/demanded, for the privilege of enjoying the benefits of an additional perspective, is that one relinquish the bedrock-certainty of knowing the nature and character of reality. Many Readers are muttering into coffee-shadowed cups, “Hey! I’m open-minded. I know lots of people who see the world different than me, and, well, I got no problem with that!”

(…almost. this close. Unfortunately, that is not the level of acceptance of the validity and reality of another’s worldview required in order to take full advantage of a perspective(s) as contained in the Wakefield Doctrine.)

But enough of the coyness. Here’s a fun** experiment. I was roaming the contemplative and hallowed halls of the Facebook the other day, and a person wrote about losing friends. He concluded that the cause was related to the current politico-cultural mashup thats currently sweeping the world, (like a seaweed and ice cream sandwich wrapper cluttered wave, moon-pushed up the beach farther than any of the previous 3,897 waves). Anyway, being a thoughtful person, he wrote that maybe it was something in him, maybe his own views (on the state of ‘the world’) were at the heart of the problem of otherwise seemingly compatible people running away.

I offered the following: find a person in your life that has seemed like a normal, regular person who, if they are not currently long-standing friends, have the resume to make a successful bid for the job… except of one part. They are totally fervent believers in (fill in the blank with politics/religion/scientific opinion…whatever). You are forced to scratch your head and think (or say), “I just don’t understand how a person like Joe/Jane can believe in that!! He/She is an intelligent, educated, accomplished person, but they believe in….” Now imagine that, from their perspective (i.e. the reality that they are experiencing) there is nothing incongruous in their beliefs.

When you can be comfortable with that, you’re ready to pay the price for the power of alternate perspectives on reality.

And, the irony is that for most of us, when we confront the notion of surrendering the exclusivity of an idea or belief, premise or tenet, our initial reaction is that we are being threatened with a loss. When, in fact, when we accept that our belief or tenet or premise or perspective is not exclusive, we open ourselfs to adding to what we have, what we are.

Ya know?***

*  Latin phrase inserted to culture-up this little post, and since there isn’t an ‘Illuminated Text’ font handy, this will have to suffice to provide, you know credentials.

** no, really, it is fun

*** well, sure I can explain what I mean by the cool thing about making inflammatory and outrageous statements and claims and such… have to be the next post… be sure to bring along your scottian aspect!

*