predicting human behavior | the Wakefield Doctrine - Part 19 predicting human behavior | the Wakefield Doctrine - Part 19

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

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

A dog ('Una') sitting on the ground, bracketed by newly sprouted corn stalks, She is mostly black, with sable paw and eyebrows. She is smiling at the camera

The first day of Summer!

We were going to get all rogerian* and cite exact numbers for the length of daylight (down to as many decimal places as possible) but decided not to.

The day tomorrow will be longer than the day today. And each successive day after that, longer still.

To those who shouted, ‘Hey! Yesterday was the first day of winter… didn’t you notice the piles of snow?!?’ we say, ‘Warm air is Summer set free, it is born, however slowly, of light.’

Whoah! Who let the poets out?!

ok… I know the song, but let’s wrap up this two hundred word post.

The ultimate use of the Wakefield Doctrine is two-fold: a) To better appreciate, (then accept, and finally to improve), how we relate ourselves to the world around us and 2) to increase our capacity to see the world as the other person is experiencing it.

Pretty simple, isn’t it?

Maestro?

 

 

* of the three predominant worldviews, the Herd Member(rogers) are those who developed the style of interacting with the world (and the people who make it up**) living in a life that is, at its heart, quantifiable.

** why yes, this is one of my favorite cleverly humorous ways to talking about reality. …well, if you must know, the joke is obliquely referencing Carlos Castaneda. Or, more properly, his protagonist don Juan Matus ,who, in endeavors to describe the world (of the sorcerer) to his student, Carlos, as being something we learn from those around us.

Share

Wednesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

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

The one thing to know that makes all other things (regarding the Wakefield Doctrine and it’s practical value) fall into place?

All reality is, on a small but significant level, personal.

Nothing earth-shaking in that, right?

(errr…. hold that thought)

The Wakefield Doctrine proposes that there are three (and only three) ‘personality types’:

  1. clarks: growing up as an Outsider, they search for information and knowledge (not necessarily redundantly) everywhere in their world. Possessed of an insatiable curiosity, they move among the social shadows, stepping out into plain view only under duress or Fate’s occasional trickery (‘Hey, here, you go first, I’m right behind you.’). Exhibiting an aggressive indeterminacy, clarks prefer camouflage to the broadened mane or odious scents of the other two personality types.
  2. scotts: living life on the run, the Predator acquires (or dies trying) skill in assessing threat while working on their ability to sprint. For this personalty type, surprise is ketchup, tension is jalapeño sauce and life is what you make it (not how you interpret it or how well you get along with others)
  3. rogers: the Herd Member. Of the three personality types, rogers are the least likely to appreciate the power inherent in this post’s original thesis, i.e. the nature of reality. Of the three personality types, rogers are the most powerful by virtue of this lack of discrimination… the true power of a tsunami is not the wall of water, it is the ocean that shepherds the power (of the earthquake), allowing it to affect the widest scope available

Well! This post certainly gets me in a frame of mind to go out there and function effectively in the ‘real’ world.

 

lol

 

 

 

Share

Wednesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

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

The vast majority of posts written and published in what is sometimes referred to as ‘the blogosphere’ are the result of considerable thought and reflection, research and fact-checking; not to mention the final hours of edit and polish. Often overlooked is the very first step in the writing of a blogpost, if for no other reason than creativity, the true gift of the gods, is a fickle lover. (Like that classmate in your sophomore year you obsessed over, who your contemporaries knew was out of your league and your friends withheld judgement, (either because they could not stand to see the look on your face confronting a certain socio-bio-evolutionary fact or, like the person who decides not to get into the jam-packed car to ‘see-how-fast-we-can-get-back-to-the-dorm, just didn’t want to be on the inevitable witness list), creativity is always thought worth any price until it has granted your wish.)

Then there are the everyday posts. They rise, like a Charles Schultz myth-in-waiting, staking their attractiveness, (to Readers), on the everydayness of the subject matter. Who doesn’t want to hear a theory explained, illustrated or otherwise ‘played-in-a-different-key’?

(A most excellent, and way-archaic expression appropriate at this point is ‘stem-winding’.1)

… where was I?

Big day today. Live rehearsal of work project. A ‘proof of concept’ if you will, of the efficacy of the Wakefield Doctrine as a tool for self-improving oneself.

Abbreviated version: I’m a clark with a strong secondary scottian aspect. In my predominant worldview, (that of ‘the Outsider’), scrutiny is the greatest threat, the thing to avoid. You surely have clarks in your life, (if you’re not one your-ownself); they’re the ones who run whenever a tape recorder, still camera or, worst of all, a video camera appears.

Here’s the tricky distinction; (New Readers? Not to worry, this will make sense eventually, don’t hesitate to ask questions in the form of a comment.) My personal reality makes being recorded, (audio, still, whatever), something to be avoided. It’s reasonable, too! If you didn’t know how to swim, how enjoyable do you think it would be to accept your scottian friend’s invitation to join him/her in a canoe for a paddle around Bottomless Lake?

Damn straight! No sense at all.

However, if your secondary aspect is scottian, then the threat to your life, (from the boating), sometimes goes lower-case. Not so much, ‘No big deal’, but, more, ‘Ya know, that might be interesting.’ And, depending on the-width-of-the-gap-between-buildings or the speed-required-to-beat-the-train-to-the-crossing, if you trust the implied competency of this small voice (your secondary aspect), you just might make it.

Today is kinda like that.

(And this post, for those who remember the early days of this blog, represents an attempt to get my ‘voice’ back to the less maturely-thought-through approach to relating myself to the world around me and more into the speeding car of the smart-aleck scottian influence.)

Ha! Made ya read this far.

Music? a course.

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/-9fIbhyACU8

1) hokey-smoke! here I was, totally confident in my understanding of the origin of the ‘stem-winder’ expression and, as good judgement and one-too-many entrances with fly down, teaches us, I went to our friends at the Wikipedia. The correct answer is yes, but!

here: stem winder

Share

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

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

Surely there is an advanced and sophisticated perspective on the coming holiday season that would provide a platform of today’s discussion of the benefits of applying the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine to our everyday lives, no?

sure, of course there is! All that is required is that you trust yourself on knowing:

  • the Wakefield Doctrine is all about a person’s relationship to the world around them
  • there are three relationships (so, real easy to learn)
  • Outsider(clark), Predator(scott) and Herd Member(roger) which are, as you guess: the people who feel apart from the basic assumptions of life in (a given) society; those who know that there is no life without risk and self-doubt is tantamount to defeat and finally, the majority who believe the universe is both quantifiable and governed by Rules
  • to figure out who is which in your daily reality, throw out the ‘no fricken way’ predominant worldview and alternate between the remaining two, which is clearer?
  • the Power to the Doctrine is that, by assuming the worldview of the other person, (no matter how superficially), we are in a position to appreciate the world as they are experiencing it
  • …and if we do that last skillfully enough, we will know them better than they know themselves

So, get out there and try it! The beauty part is that even though you are ‘involving’ other people, no one has to know you’re just learning. There is no wrong way. The correct will identify itself because the people (in your world) will demonstrate their predominant worldview… even through they don’t know the Doctrine from donuts.

 

from the first Year

Full Disclosure: the post has been edited for ease of reading (I originally had all the ‘things people say’ in italics and bold.’ lost the bold. and threw in some commas and such… surely I am most advanced compared that eleven years younger clark.*

November 30 2009

(“…jeez he was being such a roger“)

(“we’re not being too scottian, are we?”)

(“…it really is a simple decision, how clarklike are you going to be about this?”)

You might be thinking out loud, or mis-overhearing a passing conversation, but it is hard to deny that the world we find ourselves in today, (and then again, maybe tomorrow), is so very easy to alter.  And when I say alter, I don’t mean it in the, ‘to try and make other people do things differently’ way, and I am not suggesting that we would instruct the people we work with and play with to behave in an unfamiliar manner and I most assuredly do not mean that we should take our friends aside and tell them that there are certain things we want them to do differently from now on…

(Secret-Sharing time now), everyone is trying to change the world. All the time and everywhere. People are inviting us to join them in decorating, (and re-decorating), the world according to their tastes. What is funny is that even though a statement like the one just made, if manifested in a different circumstance, say, for instance,  a shopper waiting in a checkout line, grabs the microphone and  announces to everyone in the local supermarket, that the world was changing, and they were the agency, now that that would be strange.  What really should be considered odd is how you can read this Post and be thinking. ‘OK, interesting idea, I wonder where they are going with this alter the world thing.’

(“the herd is restless, the gossip is rampant, how rogerian can an office break room be?”)

We are born and (most of us) raised by others, others who help us through the world until we are able to survive alone. No one would reject the notion that, as we are taught to live and act in the world, we are also taught what the world is like.  (Nothing  aluminum foil hat-wearing  crazy),  just:  “listen to your mother… when I was your age, I had to go without all the things you take for granted”; “no hold my hand when we cross the street, look both ways…if anyone stops the car and offers you a ride…”;          “if you are too sick to go to school, you are too sick to go out and play in the afternoon…study because to get into college you will need good grades…how can you expect to get a good job if you don’t have good education”

And it is not just telling us what the world is like, no, they are telling us what people are like: “never talk to strangers… the early immigrants worked really hard to establish themselves… what kind of accent is that?” “a nice girl simply does not act like that… first impressions are the most important thing…respect your elders…honor you father” “do unto others as you would have them do unto you…early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise…when a man loves a woman…”

Most importantly, those who teach us about the world tell us about ourselvesdon’t put that in your mouth, you don’t know where it has been…you are so much like your father…don’t feel bad when people say you look like me”; “you will never amount to anything…how can you do that, after all we have done for you…if you don’t respect yourself  how do you expect others to respect you…a good wife’s first duty is to the family” “don’t be afraid…god loves you…you can’t believe everything you see and hear”

And so we practise living in the world and the more we practice, the more our beliefs are reinforced and the more ‘unchangeable’ everything becomes.

Here at the Wakefield Doctrine we say: “hey you know how rogerian the spirit of organised religion is?… be careful young lady, you know howscottscan be, he is after only one thing…hey, if you have insomnia, you can always hang out with thatclarklikefriend of yours…thatroger is such a girl”

Altering the world is not really such a radical concept. Simply a matter of adding to your description of the world. A language, a way of seeing what is already there in a new and better way… that is what the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers really is, a view of the world that we can benefit from. (Sure thing,    clark).

* Who said that?!!  Was that you, Denise…. Cynthia, ValeriePatLisa? (its always the quiet ones when we’re focused outside the immediate concern), Paul at least we know you’ll tolerate this increasingly strained classroom metaphor….wait a minute! Where’s Dyanne!? Dollars to donuts, Mimi has convinced our young transfer pupil to sneak out of class, she is such a caution**!

** olden days expression

 

#theWakefieldDoctrine

Share

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

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

So now that our Readers (both New and ‘since time forgot’) have had the origin tale refreshed, what are we to take away from this little, thirty-minutes-or-less interaction?

The question: which is more significant? My emotional response to the implications of what I observed or the elevation of the concept of ‘personal reality’ in my own worldview?

Well, that should wake a body right up on a November morning!

No, not really.

I take that back. Just looked up the definition of ‘epiphany’. Here, courtesy of dictionary.com:

“…a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience”

That works.

Enough of the clarklike view of the world. What about you folks with a significant secondary clarklike aspect?

scotts? You’ve got one clarklike friend (though you know of other scotts at work or school or otherwise in your daily world, but, well, you know, the savannah is only so large.)

rogers? Everyone you see is a Member of your Herd, mostly other rogers, with a smattering of scotts (who, from some wisdom inherited from the pre-language era), you don’t need to chase or otherwise invite to come closer.

lol

If you are a fan, follower or Friend of the Doctrine but your predominant worldview is scottian or rogerian, there is still plenty in these pages that will be an asset to you as you go about your day today.

For our scottian friends: to employ the tools available here, you have one more edge on the competition in the never-ending eat-or-be-eaten contest that is the here and now for you folks. Think of the Doctrine as an enhancement of your already impressively sensitive nose for the emotional tenor of the Herd or, if you’re in the mood for something different, your vision will be further enhanced to spot the clarks, hiding in what remains of social underbrush after the Herd has wandered through. Nothin but net!

rogers will see the additional perspective afforded by understanding the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine as the most fundamental of benefits: enhancement of the Herd. Although the Herd can be unlimited, the opportunity to see members that might be moving inwards towards the centre (that you are currently holding), the better to test and celebrate the loyalty of people who are otherwise half-invisible.

Trust this will add a little something-something to your Monday.

Lets listen to some Mississippi John Hurt to get us out the house.

 

Share