@HarpinBobbyMcB - great post my friend! So cool how things change along our journey!
I like that you don’t like looking at the metronome. I recommend not looking at it honestly. I don’t like looking at it either. We play music with our EARS. Eyes are really irrelevant imo (except for connecting with the audience!)
I have mixed feelings about “always be counting” taken literally, but figuratively I’m 
! Meaning, always know where you are in the form, in the bar, in the beat, and feel beat 1 like it’s 10 tons of dynamite going off in your chest every time it rolls around.
Have you read The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten? I suspect you might love it.
Final thought: the Jedi level with the metronome is setting it so you only hear it on beats 2 & 4.
This is where “jamming” with the metronome really feels like JAMMING. Like, “whoah that metronome is playing right in the POCKET man!” It’s a lot of fun. I describe it at the end of this post:
Keep up the good work BobbyB! 