Or for brevity I might have formed the question in my mind this way:

Can I be sure that what I as the listener am about to say will be of more value than what you are about to think?

Things work in context, not in the spotlight.

Tell me what you really think. Tell me what is really happening. Tell me what you have actually found. And I’ll tell you. We Wont interrupt. We will learn and change and build together.

Information is that much a friend, that much a wand.

I mention this because one’s chosen philosophy of human nature is vital. It determines where we focus. And our focus determines where we go.

We do need to accept that the power of persuasion at its worst lies in its design to interrupt. It is supposed to interrupt us, our independent, cogent, thinking selves. And it does.