Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Wakefield Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Denise is the host.
For this week’s Six, we invite Readers to join us as we return to the London chapter of the Order of Lilith. Located in the city’s Whitechapel neighborhood, the headquarters was missionary outpost and a node in a network of those committed to keeping Mankind from straying too far from the path before wisdom might tame appetite, c. 1885. To re-establish that wonderful Victorian vibe, here’s a link to Chapter 24
The prompt word is:
SIN
LOVE / SACRIFICE / SIN
I pretended not to notice the dusting of yellow on the back of my hand standing in front of my first class as principle instructor of moral philosophy; first day nerves tricked me into mistaking the piece of chalk as the Adversary, as I wrote the three words with letters as bold and clumsy as a young man’s first night with a woman.
The backgrounds of the seventeen young men and six young women was as varied as always, acceptance as a novitiate in the Order being as non-specific as were the criteria for continuing beyond the first year; among them was a group of young men, heirs to a common advantage of name and social ranking and there were one or two students who hid their way through admissions and watched everyone else; I’d been such a student myself not that long ago.
“Who can tell the class how these three very human attributes are not merely related, but might actually be interdependent?”
“Clearly the prima facie evidence can be found in the New Testament, with God sacrificing his Son, condemning Jesus to die on the cross to atone for the sins of Mankind,” Nestor Beckwith, the son of a cousin of an earl with an estate on the outskirts of Cambridge, threw a smile around the classroom like a wreath of fig leaves and poison apples.
“Seth, you look to have another view,” I addressed a young man beginning to frown as soon as Nestor ceased holding forth; he was clearly focused on something not in the room and said,
“Could there be a love so pure to not only accept a person with their sins, but accept the sins themselves?”
A hungry laughter, fed by whispers in the air between the more self-assured students, like the tentacles of a Portuguese Man ‘O War, grew passively though quite deliberately; I raised my eyebrows in encouragement and, deciding to not leave experience the only teacher in the most personal of martial arts, restated,
“A love not merely strong enough to acknowledge the sins of another but to incorporate them, the pride and fear, the avarice and envy and, in doing so create a truly shared humanity.”
*
About clarkscottroger
I agree, Clarkie boy, joining in other people’s sins is the way to go.
yeah, what Denise said!
ty, man
Wasn’t it from your culture the myth/tale/whatever of the (concept of) ‘the Sin Eater?’
I seem to associate it with scottish (or irish) folklore
I like Nestor Beckwith’s smile over the classroom “like a wreath of fig leaves and poison apples”.
yeah, a bit mixed on the metaphor, no? lol
This six does feed the soul, much like a good sermon which ties our frail humanity to the Divine.
Thank you
Have missed the Whitechapel serial. Enjoyed this little interlude.
thankee
Acceptance the ultimate form of love? 🤔
imo it is (the tricky part, also imo, is to accept without having to condone… which, from the Wakefield Doctrine perspective, involves the incredible relationship of identifying (with another person)… which is to find the place within it that allows us to know how the other person feels)
or something
A Whitechapel Interlude A+
I was right there while reading, at the back of the class taking notes and wondering who among my fellow students I would be most comfortable with breaking bread at lunchtime. Loved the dynamic that the teacher was only up until recently a student himself.
thanks Senor Mage,
(Funny thing (about most of my Sixes, I suspect) but I was so focused on the plot that I forgot to establish the protagonist, at least a bit better. It was, of course, Brother Anselm, but it’s been a while since we’ve been back, I just established the 1st person POV and forgot that not every Reader has been along for the tale. Especially since it’s been, like, a few months since we’ve encountered them at the London chapter of the Order.)