I should say that I am not a philosopher. I was a school nurse for thirty-one years, and I agreed to write this up only because nobody else in the Chapter would. Most of us were taught that knowledge moves in one direction, from the person at the front of the room to the people in the chairs. We sat, we copied, and we were examined on what we had copied. It is an efficient arrangement. It is not the only one.
Last spring the Rochester Chapter met for twelve weeks with no discussion leader and no assigned text. Each member brought one question they could not answer. Questions were exchanged at random, and each of us took responsibility for another person's question for the remainder of the term. We were not to research it. We were to keep it.
Meetings followed the older form described in the early volumes of this Bulletin. Partners sat facing one another for twenty minutes in silence, then each spoke for five minutes about the question they had been keeping. The other did not respond. We found this difficult at first, I will be honest, and two members withdrew in the third week. I telephoned them both and I do not think I did any good.
Those who remained noticed a change around the seventh meeting. People began to answer more slowly. Several reported thinking about their partner's question at odd hours, and with a clarity they did not have about their own. By the ninth week, most of us could anticipate what a partner was going to say before it was said. Professor James observed the same thing among the first chapters in the 1970s, and considered it an ordinary effect of sustained attention. I am sure that he was right.
We do not claim to have answered anything. We offer the format to any chapter that would like to try it. Written notes are available from the Secretary. Please allow six weeks.
To the Master Chapter in Emerson: We respectfully submit this report for your consideration. This is our third request for the complete Forms of Meeting, of which our Chapter holds only the first four. We understand that the remaining Forms are released at the sole discretion of the Master Chapter, and that we have not yet been found ready to receive them. We have tried very hard. We ask only to be told what readiness would consist of, and if we have done something wrong we would like to know what it was. Our dues are current, our attendance is recorded, and we have followed every instruction communicated to us. We would be honored to receive a visitor from Emerson at any time, and we await your reply.