Part-way through reading this, I came to a pretty unflattering realization about myself. For a variety of complex and interrelated reasons, I tend to draw back and hide myself when I sense that a situation might not be emotionally safe for me. I realized that, while it is true that I have good reasons to not be vulnerable, it is also true that that self-imposed distance has negatively impacted my relationship with my wife and has been hard for her to live with. Doubly so now that most of the circumstances that gave me those reasons are long gone. I feel a mix of guilt for taking so long to see this and grief over what could have been.

On a different note, I find my parents constantly conflate these two truths to the point where talking to them about anything where we have significantly different ways of thinking or feeling is effectively impossible. Their particular religion benefits a lot from having one kind of Truth that is always right; uncertainty or conflicting truths don't exist; scientists and other religions are equally suspect and illegible to them. I sent this to my college-aged sister; maybe we'll have an interesting conversation as a result.