Mike -
I blush at having such things said in public; but, since that's done, I
must beg everybody's indulgence to respond.
Like you, Mike, I feel that something important has been accomplished; it
needed both of us; it required that we disagree (that we stumble,
bemusedly, into an area of our particular universes where our language
differed so radically we couldn't even be sure we were talking about the
same things); and it required that we pursue a way _through_, to
something beyond the stumbling disagreement.
Your name for this is 'dialogue'. That also is my name for it. It is
the most deeply satisfying activity in my life, and there is more of it
taking place in this group than anywhere else I know of. It is a rare
activity; so rare that its occurrence can sometimes take us by surprise.
It's always a risk to go for dialog; too often, one gets only debate, and
points, and winner-take-all mentality from the audience, or the board of
directors, or whatever. We (myself especially) all have our ways of
preparing ourselves psychologically for the possibility that we might be
required to debate someone; and those very preparations, often, make
debate inevitable and dialog impossible.
I'm deeply grateful for your risk-taking.
--
Regards
Jim Michmerhuizen jamzen@world.std.com
web residence at http://world.std.com/~jamzen/
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. . . . There are far *fewer* things in heaven and earth, Horatio, . . . .
. . . . . than are dreamt of in your philosophy... . . | _ .