So as with our last conference, I thought it would be helpful to begin with an image, to begin with an example taken from literature.

So you may perhaps have read a book called A Severe Mercy. It's written by one Sheldon Van Aachen.

Sheldon Van Aachen himself was a military brat and then went through military academies himself.

He went to Yale for his undergraduate and Oxford for his graduate degrees.

He himself was a very talented writer, a college professor in his own right.

But by his own admission and description, he said

that he really only had one story to tell. And that was the story of his love.

Sheldon Van Aachen was married to a woman named Gene Davis, whom he called Davy. She called him

Van. He called her Davy.

Initially, their parents opposed their relationship. So quite naturally they did what all sensible

folks do. They eloped. Right? And from that point, they set about constructing what they were to call

the shining barrier.

The shining barrier.

They didn't want there to be any alien incursions into their love.

They wanted their love to be a kind of citadel or bulwark, a place where they could be at peace, at home, at repose.

The way they went about doing this was to share everything in life.

They wanted to share all of their interests, all of their friends, all of their work.

There's a kind of humorous example at the beginning where Van knows how to fly.

He knows how to fly a plane.

Davy is terrified at this prospect, but not only does she fly with him, she also learns how to fly. He knows how to fly a plane. Davy is terrified at this prospect, but not only does

she fly with him, she also learns how to fly, because that's what sharing demands. That's what

the shining barrier entails. He writes this of their love, and our trust in each other will not

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