Greetings Steemit, and most importantly for this post, greetings @rortian!

Leaving the Past Behind

I consciously chose not to include references to any of our past posts in this message, since I feel like we are heading into a new territory. [note: If you are a new reader to this seires (Welcome!) and are interested in how we got here, you can find it all on our feeds: @yvesoler and @rortian. Feel free to jump in where you like!

Mike, it may feel like circles, but I believe we are traveling a different shape. Look closer... we are passing near where we once were only higher. Another turn of the spiral on our path toward the center of understanding.

Dispelling Rumors

Quoting from this post:

Tigrilla, I feel that your questioning is an attempt to make me wrong. Playing gotcha or defending myself against your suspicions may be a very important process from your perspective, but I wish that we'd do something else.

Far from it. My questions came from genuine curiosity and confusion. Please don't dismiss my feelings just because you don't understand them. You asked me to be completely honest, and so I am. If a thought passes through my head and cannot be easily dismissed, I prefer to lay it on the table. If I feel like your comments contradict themselves, rather than taking each comment on its own, 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?

Who is the Grasshopper? Is there even a Grasshopper?

Quoting from this post:

I understand from what you've written here that we can't move on until you'll create trust in my competence; that is, if you'll do that.

I have read this statement several times, and each time my reaction is different. Trust in my competence implies a series of things that I am not sure we see the same way.

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.
Which specific compentence do you think I doubt?
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?

Doubt-Analysis-Revision

Quoting from this post

You seem to have implied that you benefitted from our conversation, but I have no idea what you learned, how it affected you, or what difference it made. (Your brief description was mysterious to me.) I'd like to know that stuff in detail, if it actually made a difference. Here's why: If it did help you in some way(s), then we could follow up on that, because that's what's important to you. At the moment, I don't know how you've reacted (other than questioning my consistency), or what you might want to learn (if anything!)!

It feels to me like I am hitting the limitations of using a system like Steemit, with its rigid post-reply format, to carry out a conversation that spans across multiple topics. I get so caught up in the details of one thread, that I can't find my way back up the ladder to find the original topic.

In order to answer, can you tell me what "brief description" was mysterious to you? My apologies, but I am not exactly sure what you are referring to.

Creating a Methodology

I am starting to wonder if we have opened up too many branches again. I might need to put a pin on where we are today and start with fresh eyes! What do you think about using a more scientific approach.

If we take where we are and the knowledge we bring to the table, what would be our working hypothesis for the path that we are about to explore? Personally, having a clear hypothesis and building a testing procedure would help me better follow the threads, understand our progress, and decide on what we have yet to conquor.

Could this be a model that works for you?

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