> You secretly guess that the group is sustained by a minority of true believers who make up critical mass for a larger group of people you, but you never talk about this and neither does anyone else. When you have kids, you feel weird about explaining your thoughts about all this to them, but you don’t parrot back what the religion says when you’re talking about the meaning of life either.

Bahaha. Maybe author doesn't know that these people (like them) make up the outer candy coating to many a cult. They aren't super committed, but they can't really rule out the core truth possibilities. So they stick around, and their don't-push, don't-pull style kind of encourages others to stay in a loose orbit like themselves. (To outsiders they are definitely cultists; to core insiders they are seen as weak; I've been in cult leadership)

To me, here's a, maybe _the_ big issue with people in this profile: They believe in being open-minded and actively avoid being closed minded. So they end up with this kind of question of vacillation on their hands. But IMO their problem is not best framed as avoidance of closed mindedness, it's better framed as a problem in developing and testing new, fresh alternatives. So they end up stuck in a troubling, secret dichotomy like that. Stay OR go...A OR B. There is no C, no D, and no, they don't really think about, or plan for that issue often enough. So many times the best options are found down in C-Z territory.

Just my experience. Thoughtful post, I enjoyed it.