"I put them together in my head and draw a conclusion, which is probably based on my own expressed fears. Given that this conclusion will shape my reactions going forward, better to bring them out into the open so they can be discussed. Isn't that a healthy part of the process we are creating?"
Not necessarily.
First: no action is completely healthy (I would use beneficial here; our health isn't at issue I hope!).
No action is completely beneficial, because adjectives are black/white abstractions, and it's a mistake to presume that they're not.
So what we do is more or less beneficial.
And how would we agree on a measure for that? We might see it in different ways; there's no absolute truth to the matter, so how could we agree? Is there any point to discussing how beneficial (or moral) an action actually is without some agreed-upon measures?
Here's my take on this: If one is often extremely suspicious then that's probably too suspicious and one should work on being less so.
I think that you've always been very suspicious of me, questioning me about my intentions and my actions, and making our conversations about me instead of about thinking and learning. That is very much too suspicious in my view. Your considerations about our conversation have dominated our conversation. This is a conversation that I don't want to be having, but my commitment to you drives me to keep doing it.
Please consider this very carefully, Tigrilla. IMO this is far less beneficial than our dialogue might become if you'll move on to a different topic.
Do you understand this yet? Do you really think that this is the best that you/we could do??
"we are passing near where we once were only higher."
Well, if that's the case for you, that's good and I'm glad. However, that's your trip. I'm not on your plane (pun intended!); I keep circling back to meet you.
"Do you see our roles as purely teacher-student, peer-based, or some fluctuating combination of the two? This would probably be important to establish, because if each of us sees it differently, then we will probably interpret completely differently."
Tigrilla, we've already done this! Seriously!
If we're talking plant consciousness, you're the expert and I'm the student. My expertise is human being. What's the question here?
"Which specific competence do you think I doubt?"
I don't know and I don't care! That's not the point. It doesn't matter. It's the doubt that has brought the conversation to this point and prevented us from moving farther.
Do you intend to stay stuck? That's what matters here. This conversation is all about our intentions and whether our actions fulfill our purposes.
What's your main purpose in talking with me? Which actions will fulfill that purpose, and which ones will prevent that purpose from being fulfilled?
Please consider that.
"You asked me follow a process that involves complete transparency, or did I misunderstand? If that is the case, wouldn't my expressions be an example of trust?"
Yes.
I'm continuing to trust that you'll eventually move past your historical boundaries. I'm in no hurry.
"I might need to put a pin on where we are today and start with fresh eyes!"
Yes, please do.
"What do you think about using a more scientific approach."
This isn't science.
"In order to answer, can you tell me what "brief description" was mysterious to you?"
You talked about your interaction with someone, but there were hardly any details.
Here's what I believe is important to our future dialogue - please tell me the following:
What important and useful insight(s) (if any) have you gained from discussing my experience?
How did your insight change your perspectives?
How were your actions affected?
If anything like that happened, then we could move on from there - that would be forward-going and it could be very progressive.
If nothing like that happened, then why are we still talking?
[wondering]
This last post makes me realize that we are traveling on two different trains.
My first post on this topic defined the experiment as, how we can learn from each other when strangers choose to have a completely open conversation about thoughts and fears.
From my side, I did learn important and useful insights into not jumping to conclusions, how to better read intention through text, when to ask questions of the other vs when to look at my own personal filters, the nature of filters, etc.
I have been taking quite a bit of time to read, re-read, and respond with care. With each message, I try to separate out the concepts in order to follow them better. But from your side, I feel like you are writing on the fly, typing out whatever is coming into your head at that moment. You may not be doing it like that, but from the way it is written--both stylistically and graphically--I interpret it that way.
In that same first post I further explained the experiment as:
Hence my question on the teacher-student relationship. In the beginning, there was shifting relationship based on the topics, but lately I feel your words as an angry professor that his student does not get what he sees as so obvious.
When I express my needs, I feel a resistance from you. Maybe this happens because our goals and methodologies are out of sync. For a while now I have not been able to follow your line of thinking, and when I express my doubts, I do not get answers that help me. Honestly, I don't know what we are doing any more, and my questions just bring back more questions from you.
I was not able to overcome all of my initial fears expressed at the beginning of our discussions. While I feel like we created a strong base upon which we could ask questions freely, I don't always feel comfortable answering the questions you pose in response to my questions. This is because I feel an underlying tone in your return questions that screams (in my head), how can you not get it?! The Socratic Method can be effective, but not using this medium for me.
I still feel like there is more to learn, but not without a clear, mutually agreed-upon hypothesis and some clarity around method, something which from your last message it feels like you would not like to do. After a month of experimentation, It would probably be best to close here.
Thanks for all the lessons learned and the chance to try something different! Keep me up to date on what happens with your book. I am super curious!!