predicting human behavior | the Wakefield Doctrine - Part 26 predicting human behavior | the Wakefield Doctrine - Part 26

Re-Print Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

August 14, 2017 By

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

 Why a Re-Print post?
Are you sure you want to know?
…really?
Fine.
You ever hear the expression, “As it was in the beginning so shall it be in the end.”? Fine sentiment. Impeccable provenance. A lead pipe cinch for ‘most likely to end up spelled out in colorful thread in a needlepoint’ or ‘ironically overlayed on a poster-sized photo of a mushroom cloud and/or a very cute kitten.’
The thing of it is, what does this saying imply about the time between ‘the beginning’ and ‘the end’.
Same as it ever was? (T. Heads).
The Doctrine reminds us that while it’s easy to believe that ‘nothing remains the same’, that is more intended for our surroundings than ourselves. And…and! since the key to the value of the Wakefield Doctrine lies in our coming to understand ‘how we relate ourselves to the world around us’, we ignore the difference (or lack thereof) in how we related ourselves to the world in the past at our extreme peril.
That being said, below is a three year old Post.
October 20, 2014

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

the part of the boat where the name 'Roann' is? that's the fo'c's'le (sleep and eat there…work everywhere else)

the part of the boat where the name ‘Roann’ is? that’s the fo’c’s’le (sleep and eat there…work everywhere else)

So here’s the thing, I need to write a Post before I get pulled into my work-world. (I’m also trying to learn to become a better writer… so let me think out loud here, ok?) You, the Reader, have a couple of Questions at this point:

  1. Why does he need to write a Post
  2. What does he mean by ‘(being)pulled into his ‘world-world’
  3. What does he mean by ‘work-world’ and
  4. I don’t think with parentheses… what they hell is going on here?

Fine. Here are the Answers:

1) I need to write a Post for two reasons: a) I’m trying to write ‘the Wakefield Doctrine book’ and, for reasons beyond the scope of this Post, I need to practice my ‘voice’ in writing (has something to do with how I’m trying to come across to the Reader of the book, more conversational than informational… interesting instead of pedantic. Not that I’m ever in danger of being pedantic. 2) I find that I only have a certain ‘amount of words’ to write in a given day and c) I’m always afraid that if I don’t write frequently enough, I’ll forget how to

2) I mean that there is a schedule to create, tasks and appointments that are part of my workday and, for me, I need to ‘get into character’, (Jules Winnfield in that wonderful movie, ‘Pulp Fiction’), in order to have any hope whatsoever of being effective today. The moment I start to plan my day, I’m halfway into that world

3) I believe I just told you.

4) So, I need to get something down ‘on paper’ in order to satisfy my need to do whatever-the-hell-it-is-that-I-think-I’m-doing-by-writing-this-blog, today. Not as cool as waking up carnal or waking up and running 5 miles or waking up and meditating on a bamboo mat or waking up in the fo’c’s’le of an old Eastern rig (you actually wake up because it become quieter…. the engines are slowed down because you’ve arrived at the spot where you will ‘set in’ , i.e.putting the net out, which involves physical work in one of the most … bracing of environments. It’s not just that you’re waking up outdoors! Hell, cowboys and campers do that! It’s not even that you’re in a hostile situation….soldiers and hookers experience that… it’s that the place you are, the ‘middle of the ocean’* is a place that you have no, natural business being. You are, through your technology, floating in an alien world, a ghost/demon in the quiet dark world of the fishes that swim below. Totally at the mercy of the elements, (wind and temperature, sky and water). Waking up and going up on deck ( the fo’c’s’le of an Eastern rig is in the bow, the foremost part of the boat and is below decks, so you need to climb a ladder to get outdoors). Working on deck means ignoring where you are and never for a moment forgetting where you are, very ….special way to wake up to a workweek.

Today’s Post title? Sometimes, all it takes is a wonderful song lyric to jumpstart a Post, ya know?

 

* for the most part, at least in the context of the Atlantic Ocean fisheries, you’re not really in the ‘middle of the ocean’… you’re on the left edge, the Continental shelf, to be somewhat technical…. the depth that you fish in is relatively shallow, maybe, 600 feet versus 6,000 (the shelf drops off very sharply…well, yeah just like a shelf…google it)

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ἡμέρα Ἄρεως -the Wakefield Doctrine- (‘the day of the week most favored by clarks’)

August 1, 2017 By

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

So why is it that, of the three personality types, clarks look upon Tuesday as, perhaps, the best of all days of the week? Simple. The weekend-workweek transition day (Monday) has been survived, the focus on achieved (or not) progress day (Wednesday) has not yet occurred and the deceptively desirable end-of-workweek day (Friday) is still a distant dream.

Tuesday is all about optimism and promise. And clarks, well, clarks are nothing if not the embodiment of promise.* No, in our brief discussion this morning, ‘promise’ is decidedly a noun. And the context is social context-free! It is not about breaking a promise, making a promise, promising to better. It (the promise of a clark) is the potential… for (totally fill in the blank).

If anything, the promise inherent in the worldview of a clark is the event horizon of their existence. whoah! (whoah, indeed!) Damn, as often happens, I’ve stumbled into a topic that, like a quiet talk and a cup of coffee at the kitchen counter, the coming day still held back by the castellation in bleached oak of the cabinets bracketing the sink, the outside wall falls into the yard and the world yaws open, ever hungry for human time.

lol

Cliff Notes version of my tantalizing allusion: “…the promise inherent in the worldview of a clark is the event horizon of their existence.” clarks are always searching for something. Being of a rational bent (clarks think, scotts act and rogers feel), the sought-after thing manifests as knowledge/information. clarks are the insatiably curious of the three. The ‘something’ clarks seek is the thing that everyone around them appear to know already and, by tragic miscalculation, clarks assume is the knowledge that makes them, (scotts and rogers) real people. They must have been absent that day, when growing up and being taught about life, ya know. In any event, that is the singularity, the conviction that if they acquire more information, they might discover the secret and become a part of.** Like the nearly-all powerful black hole, we cannot see it directly and so are left with the edge of endless appetite, like golem with a question mark impressed upon our foreheads.

 

 

*  the natural tendency here is to interpret the word ‘promise’ as a verb, which totally changes the spin. That kind of promise is strictly of the domain of the real people, the scotts and the rogers. (“Hey, a promise is a promise, so get some clothes on an we’ll catch some breakfast”  “Yeah, but you promised. I heard you promise. Everyone heard you promise. How can you do such a thing?“)

 

** super-brief Doctrine for New Readers: unlike most of the other personality theories and schema, the Doctrine does not rely on quizzes and surveys, questions about favorite colours or food, likes and dislikes, in order to establish which category a person falls into. This is because, from our viewpoint, our personality ‘types’ are simply the characteristically distinct style of dealing with life, given the world we are experiencing. Ex: I grew up in the reality of the ‘the Outsider’ and I learned and developed the style of interacting that would best advantage me in that context. My tendency to mumble, have poor posture, make creatively eccentric fashion choices, be funny (provided you’re close enough to hear me) and exhibit a sporadic yet wildly original creativity is because that is what is successful when contending with the world as I experience it. For scotts and for rogers, the same applies. Start out as a little baby one in the world of the Predator and I betcha you develop a predilection for quick reflexes, act-before-being-acted-up real fast. It’s about what strategies are appropriate to the character of the world you grow up in, you know, what kind of likes and dislikes, favorite colours or food that increase the odds that you survive and thrive today.

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Wednexday -the Wakefield Doctrine- (‘…of old sayings and songs from the mid-seventies’)

July 19, 2017 By

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

factorsbehin

Funny, but I’ll still get to feeling like writing a post whenever a favorite song happens to coincide with my accomplishing something and, I’m relaxing with that odd, though undeniably right, feeling that I don’t have to run and/or hide. (see bottom of Post)

It’s been said that ‘Anyone who deliberately reads the Wakefield Doctrine blog more than three times, (or twice, provided the second time is by themselves) is a clark. Or they’re a roger or a scott with a significant secondary clarklike aspect’.

Why is that true? Because scotts and rogers as not in search of an alternative. There’s another old saying, ’round this Doctrine, goes, “If you have a large group of people in, like an auditorium or something, and need to identify the clarks real quick, just get on the intercom and say, “Anyone who would like to be someone else, please raise your hand.”  Those readers who just smiled: clarks. Those readers who smile and wonder, ‘Why on earth does he think that?’ scotts and rogers.

The reason? clarks are those people who grew up (and developed social skills, coping mechanism and life strategies to contend with) (in) a world in which they are Outsiders. As a result, they are driven to learn what they think they missed growing up, all while trying to avoid being identified as Outsiders. Not an easy task. Like fricken prehistoric lemurs, we stay low, keep to the underbrush and avoid the T Rex and Sabre Tooth tigers, all while trying to survive on a diet deemed insufficient for the surrounding massively qualified-to-thrive population. We dash out to the watering holes when the predators are sleeping off a big kill and return to our hiding to dream about a day when we don’t have to look over our slightly rounded shoulders. And yet, despite being the totally least-qualified among the quick killer predators or the over-sized grazers of vegetation, we persist. At times it’s almost as if we believe we’re at least as qualified to live as our cold-blooded reptilian ‘friends’. And …and! we display a tenacity and persistence that has no correlates or supporting evidence whatsoever, at least to any casual observer. But we survive. By blending in…sorta.

The ‘sorta’ refers to the most jarring of contradictions that identifies clarks, best expressed in the saying, ‘clarks abhor being the center of attention, but will not tolerate being ignored’. (yeah, I know! what’s an Outsider to do?)

While clarks are driven to learn what everyone else, (in the surrounding world of ‘real’ people), apparently has known all along, we also have a deep abiding need to create. This, of course, is constantly negating our efforts to don protective coloration. Sure, we can be quiet and not talk a lot, but then we insist on dyeing something blue. We can find a spot in the crowd, (at work, at the PTA meeting or the classroom) that’s not in front, nor totally in back, only to be unable to resist the fun quip/aside or smart-ass observation which invariably causes heads to turn.

Time this morning is running out, here at Doctrine Central. Before I cue up the music, let me say this: when you’re out there today, in the world? Look around and try to see the clarks. Wait until you’re in the company of a number of people, otherwise they’re going to spot you looking and will be in the underbrush before you can say, “Hey wait! I won’t do anything mean, the Wakefield Doctrine said I had to find you and try to get you to not hide.”  Won’t work, but you’ll stop and say, ‘holy smoke! they are there!’

One last old saying: ‘The Wakefield Doctrine is for you, not them.” All of the effects and benefits, insights and self-improvements you experience from the use of the alternative perspective that this personality theory avails us of, is nothing that can change or alter or modify the other person. It will enhance your relationships, but it will not change anyone other than you.

music (warning! very hum-able song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWnBD6n9j74

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Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

July 11, 2017 By

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

CSR copy

The choice* I was confronting this morning was: a) work on ‘Home and Heart’ 2) write a ‘Doctrine post’ or c) play solitaire**

The choice was difficult. I apparently did make a choice or you are a figment of my imagination, reading a post that exists (however briefly) only in my mind. Lets assume this makes it out to the internet.

The topic of this Tuesday post? The Wakefield Doctrine, what it is and how to discover your predominant worldview.

The Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers) is a perspective on personality, people, the world and life. Not necessarily in that order. The Wakefield Doctrine (‘the Doctrine’) proposes that all of us are born with a potential to experience life in one of three characteristically-distinct realities. The Doctrine maintains that reality is, to a certain extent, personal. Nothing weird or outlandish, like flying or walking through walls or enjoying ‘reality shows’ on TV, simply that the world within a zone that extends from inside our dreams to just before a stranger might notice, is of our own devise. Thats all. (Hold that thought, it will be important to the rest of this). At a very early age and for reasons not yet understood, we settle into one (and only one) of these three worldviews (‘personal realities’). We grow up and develop (physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually) in the context of:

  • the world of the Outsider (clarks)
  • the world of the Predator (scotts)
  • the world of the Herd Member (rogers)

The Doctrine defines personality types as: the best we can do, given the world we find ourselves in. Where most other personality type theories talk about inclination, likes, dislikes, favorite colors, aptitude for, types and axises, the Doctrine says, your ‘personality’ is (your own) best effort to develop strategies and ways of coping with life in the reality of the Outsider, the life of the Predator or the world of the Herd Member. I’m a clark (my predominant worldview, the personal reality that I grew up in was that of Outsider) and so I am inclined to mumble and avoid eye contact, I enjoy a wildly active subjective life, am creative and self-destructively shy. If you are a scott then, provided you’ve managed to stay in front of these words this long, recognize yourself as aggressively confident, mercurial in temperament, impulsive to a fault and a natural leader. The rogers out there, sensing a connection to be made between themselves and the world around them, either already know most of this (without the labels) or have left the room.

We grow up and learn to interact with the world (and the people) who surround us.

That is the second key aspect of the Wakefield Doctrine. The Doctrine does not spend time with surveys and lists, tests and assessments as a way to help others identify their ‘personality type’. We put it all in one statement/question: ‘How do you relate yourself to the world around you? As (would) an Outsider, a Predator or a Herd Member?’ All ya gots to do is learn the characteristics of these three worldviews, which is totally fun. Look at your world through the perspective of each and the one that is ‘clearest’ is your predominant worldview.

Note: the wording here is critical. I did not say, ‘How do you relate to the world around you?’ I said, “How do your relate yourself to the world around you?’ That one word makes a world of difference.

Note: You know how I said, “…are born with a potential to experience life in one of three characteristically-distinct realities“? Yeah, well while we all settle on, (and learn to deal with), one (and only one of these three), we never lose the capacity to experience the world as do ‘the other two’. This accounts for the fact that there are times when we would appear to be one of the other personality types. We express these (secondary and tertiary aspects) from time to time, usually at times of duress. Not to worry. Perfectly normal. Beyond the scope of this Post. If you really need to know, ask in a comment.

For now, learn the characteristics of the three. Look at yourself, (and your life), then throw out the one that’s just plain ‘no way’. That leaves you with two worldviews (most likely scott/roger or clark/scott). Hold the perspective, i.e. look at the world through one and then the other. Clear? Clearer? Clearest? That’s your predominant worldview.

Gotta run. Ask questions.

*Students of the Doctrine smile at this word. It is a smile of sad disdain because we recognize that the illusion of choice is manufactured according to the standards of reality consistent with our predominant worldview. I will leave the implications of the use of the word ‘manufactured’ to another post or as starter fluid to anyone’s desire to write a comment.

** Don’t laugh! Solitaire is one of the greatest under-appreciated insights into the variability of personal reality. Serially! Just ask

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Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine-

July 6, 2017 By

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

0723111950

My Favorite Skip photo (courtesy of Skip’s very fortunate human)

Here it is, Wednesday evening and I’m frantically searching for the Six idea I had this morning; and it’s nowhere to be found.

Funny thing, I started my warm-up post around 8:30 this morning, which, granted was a bit on the early side, but I had the seed of an idea for this week’s Six Sentence Story. The prompt word is ‘SKIP’, I had an opening line and it would be about/related to time travel.

But then, for reasons unknown, I ended up publishing a post about the recent July 4th holiday. Good thought, but no, I looked there first.

Oh, well, skip it.

 

 

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