relationships | the Wakefield Doctrine

‘Seis historias de oraciones’ -the Wakefield Doctrine-

July 16, 2015 By clarkscottroger

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

The Wakefield Doctrine isn’t all work and study and learning and such. It is not! It can be fun. If you enjoy ‘people watching’… well, let me just say, the Wakefield Doctrine is ‘the Sibley Guide to Birds, the Michelin Guide, Roget’s Thesaurus* and ‘The Joke and It’s Relationship to the Unconscious’ rolled into one big, all purpose magazine-kind-of-thing. Seriously! With the perspective of the Wakefield Doctrine, you need never find yourself bored, as you sit in the airport terminal, or in the back of the class or at the cafeteria at work or… or waiting for the cashier to pay attention to the 16 items that you’ve placed on the moving belt, with the bar codes all pointing upwards.

Besides this kind of fun, because we have a blog for the Doctrine, we also have talented friends. And these friends do not only enjoy being creative, they have the writing skills to successfully pull-off things like writing challenges and prompts and such. zoe is one such friend. she has this thing, ‘Six Sentence Stories’. It’s a great idea and the people who participate each week, come up with the coolest little story-ettes.** In any event, I persist in my belief that if I associate with people who have the skills that I covet, I’ll be more likely to develop my own. And so, today, one more attempt at a ‘Six Sentence Story’.

They sat in the car, the engine running, the lights off. At 1:35 am in October, the world was quiet, as if intending to leave the couple alone with the time, to take the next step. The glow from the car’s radio, cast everything with a slightly blue tint, making the interior of his car seem like a display in a well-intended, but clearly under-funded museum.

“You know this is the right thing to do, don’t you?” the question in her voice, meant to soften the decision, only increased the pain.

“Sure, of course I do,” his words coming to rest on the dashboard, like a badly re-folded roadmap.

To himself, a last attempt to accept what must be, “I suppose I have to let her.“

* Steven Wright joke: “What’s another word for thesaurus?”

** not a real word

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, predicting human behavior, psychology of personality, relationships, the Wakefield Doctrine

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine- “start with Item 1…”

July 11, 2015 By clarkscottroger

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

“Dances with Balloons”

The brainchild of Lizzi Rogers, the TToT is a celebration* of the benefits of the effort to become aware of, and share Ten Things of Thankful. (That there are (usually) things (and people, places, processes and stuff) in life for and about which we can feel grateful, and share them with this here group here. For my part, I will List the following:

1) this bloghop

2) the ‘Hurry up and Weight’ Gravity Challenge and those who are participating ( Kristi and Val and Lisa and Christine and Alex and Joy)

3) the calendar (for the decency of having July follow June)

4) technology as manifested in cell phone cameras and, of course, these electrical computers

5) the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules) because, when you get right down to it, isn’t life about our individual best efforts to find, learn and apply Rules to help make the best of the decisions that we encounter each and everyday? And maybe, due to personal choice and/or upbringing, the set of Rules that we have available are kinda staid and one size-fits-all, so when there is an opportunity to find (and learn and apply) a Book of Rules that no one has quite pre-written, well, that kinda cool, non?

6) Una and Phyllis

7) the simple, easy to take for granted, fact that I am able to work and move about the planet, both in response to er…. responsibilities and for fun and recreation

8) something something

9) (see?!?! that! right there…. Number 8! I will take the position that while there seems to be incredibly liberal ‘rules of participation’ to this here ‘hop, the underlying attitude of participants is the basis of allowing it to be as opened ended as it is.) English translation: we are all free to submit Posts of any sort to the TToT and sometimes Posts are not exactly 10 Items, despite the very name of the bloghop. However, almost without exception, when a person does participate, they demonstrate the spirit of this exercise. I would go further and suggest that, when there is a Post in which the writer throws up their hands in frustration or, simply states that their week did not abound in gratitudinous events, that is what this bloghop is all about.

10) 1.3 (likely the first Secret Rule discovered early in the TToT), SR 1.3 is probably the better definition of what I was after in Item 9. Sometimes, (often for some of us), putting together a List of 10 Items can be…. difficult, and not necessarily because good things were in short supply, but because, sometimes (our) ability to perceive the good things is compromised and sometimes, some of us, struggle. SR 1.3 states (in part): “the completion of a List of Ten Things of Thankful, can, ipso facto, be used as an Item on (that selfsame) List….baby”

Your hosts

A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies, The Meaning of Me, Thankful Me, Uncharted, The Wakefield Doctrine

Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group

An InLinkz Link-up

* 2 of the 4 definitions in wiktionary:

The act, process of showing appreciation, gratitude and/or remembrance, notably as a social event.
A social gathering for entertainment and fun; a party.

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: Personal, personality types, predicting human behavior, relationships, self-development, the Wakefield Doctrine

Another. Attempt. At. Six. Sentence. Stories. -the Wakefield Doctrine-

July 9, 2015 By clarkscottroger

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

Taking a cue, (and exhibiting the remarkable secret-ego of the clarklike personality type), from Lizzi, (who writes with a skill and youthful abandon that I can imagine, yet know that I have too many years of practice being careful to even think about attempting), I will again charge zoe’s bloghop with quixotic relish.

“…I’m sorry, but six pounds.”

“Yes! the test was done 3 times and …and! the answer remains the same: six pounds.”

“No, at this point, there is no reason to check a 4th time. Ontologically, there is no basis or grounds for hope of a different outcome.”

“No, there is nothing that can be done. The standard of deviation in matters of this…. nature, is no more than .7 pounds, and even that is when one is in a state of rest that statistically, most of us can only dream of attaining.”

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: Personal, personality types, relationships, the Wakefield Doctrine

Lots to do today! -the Wakefield Doctrine- (“no! yeah, of course I’m serious… the Wakefield Doctrine has much to offer”)

July 8, 2015 By clarkscottroger

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

Short, quick Post for today, we’re concerned with the following:

the ‘the Wakefield Doctrine looks at fictional characters’ is beginning to gain some momentum. Yesterday we suggested that, as is clearly evident with movies and motion pictures, we can understand fictional characters from the perspective of the Wakefield Doctrine, specifically, their predominant worldview(s). zoe has us covered with ‘the classics’, in her suggestion of the characters in ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck. Denise has pointed at the works of Robert Parker, specifically, the Spenser series of detective novels, and, rather conveniently, Friend of the Doctrine, Dyanne weighed in with Sue Grafton and her Kinsey Milhone series. Suggestion Window closes at 4:44 pm today, so if you have a favorite fictional character, send ’em in!
you remember our jogging challenge of last month? We created a blog specifically to share the ‘thrill of victory and the agony of de feet’ as alex and kristi and val and christine under took to run 2 miles a day for a month. It was a splendid time! Well, we’re back! go over to 2 Mile Run ‘Hurry up and Weight’ and see what July has to offer.
(I am such a clark!) Here we have a new group effort over at 2 Mile Run and I was going to pass it off with a simple, ‘go there and find out for yourself’ jeez my rogerian aspect is so terribly puny! So the deal with ‘Hurry up and Weight’ is that everyday in July, (except for Sundays), participants weigh themselves and send in a photo of their weight for that morning (always before 8:00 am local time). The cool thing is, this is about self-competition and identifying with the (other) participants. Not a competition between people, more a competition among people. The best thing is how Kristi came up with the extra little spin to the procedure, (and god knows, rogers have a natural genius for procedure!), that’s made all the difference… we call it Kristi’s Rule. The requirement is that a photo of your weight for the day must be submitted, but …but! since we’re only concerned with the change (in our respective weights) each day, Kristi’s Rule says, ‘you only need to send a photo of 1 number to the left and 1 number to the right of the decimal point. We’re requiring single digit weights only. (Truth is, she put it terms that were way more direct and to the point, but, like I said, I’m such a clark)

OK! that’s it for today. Send in fictional characters. Go to ‘2 Mile Run’ and join us on the ‘Hurry up and Weight’ Challenge.

(I’m been stuck with a song in my head for the last 2 days, however, I find that when I post the vid, the tune tends to fade… infecting other Readers, I suspect. This video is vintage 80s and the lyrics are way stranger than I thought, but the tune is damn catchy)

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

send us your favorite fictional characters! -the Wakefield Doctrine- (“…Shakespeare and Pesci and Spader, oh my!”)

July 7, 2015 By clarkscottroger

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

I have of late—but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises, and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air—look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me. No, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so. (Hamlet)

ok… we got that out of our system. No, not depressed or anything, and you can stop smiling. The thing of it is, Friend of the Doctrine zoe suggested we look at famous and enduring fictional characters through the lens of the Wakefield Doctrine. Here, lets let her comment set the stage:

hey re literature and the doctrine and ideas… how about doing in lit what you tend to do in movies…. i.d. famous literary characters based on their reactions in the books…

you bring up an interesting point… the authors prediliction vs the characterizations within… maybe you should ask people their favorite authors and books and see if you know any of those? I can come up with a ton of book titles and authors but Im not a lot younger than you are… if age is the factor!

You got a favorite author who’s created characters that you really enjoy? tell us! This can be any fictional character, protagonist, antagonist, major or minor character. The purpose of this exercise is to read (the work) and see how they relate themselves to the world around them. I’m willing to bet that it’ll be clearly identifiable as one of three characteristic ways as an Outsider (clark), a Predator (scott) or a Herd Member (roger). Now, you may be thinking, ‘yeah, sure, of course they will, so what?’ Two reasons:

it’s fun and it’s good practice (around the Doctrine we use the term ‘fluency’ in the context of how quickly and effectively one can apply the perspective (of) the Wakefield Doctrine to better understand the behavior of the people in our lives. As with learning any new language, the more you practice, the better you become and, if you become fluent enough, you become capable of thinking in that language), and we’re all good at learning new/weird things, or we wouldn’t be here
I have a theory, (yeah! no, not just the obvious joke), that the more talented/skilled the author, the more true the representations of the worldviews
I enjoy hearing the case made for any of the worldviews, especially when I disagree. It’s not just figuring out that, say, Melville’s Ahab’s a roger …or a clark… or a scott, it’s the evidence that you can cite. You know, when we talk to each other about people and their probable worldviews, sometimes we get hesitant to take a position. But, like any other discussion among friends that is not concerning: surgical options, moral indecision, changing lifestyles, deciding to end a relationship or coming to grips with addiction, the disagreement and ‘the give and take’ of proving your point should be fun! Speaking for myself, I get a kick out of when someone disagrees (about worldviews), I’m all like, “No! Way!! tell what you see that says she is a clark….he is a roger….!!!” I learn more about the Doctrine, when another person points to something that I just didn’t notice and I’m, ‘my god! you’re right!! he owns more than one style of hat… of course he’s a roger!”

The more I think about this, the better I like it! So send in your suggestions for books and/or specific characters in literature.

Just to get us in the mindset. Actors portray characters from the perspective of their, (the actor’s, not the character’s), predominate worldview. Following are 3 video clips from the movies: ‘Wolf’, ‘Mad Dog and Glory’ and, ‘Casino’. (This last one is kinda NSF….well, it is illustrating the scottian worldview, so if you’re not certain what that means, ask us ….before you gather the boss and your co-workers ’round your computer or the parish priest and the choir director or the children under 19)

Wolf (I know I don’t need to tell you Jack is the scott, but my god! James Spader is surely the poster boy for the rogerian worldview)

Mad Dog and Glory (David Caruso is the scott and, as we all know, Robert DeNiro is so a clark)

Casino (this the first clip I came across, years ago and, when I heard the voice-over narration at the end of the scene, I was all, ‘when did Pileggi and Scorsese read the Doctrine!!’)