"It means all of this and more, Peter," added Helen in a softer tone. "It means, in the universal sense, that we must be embracing infinity. Therefore, if you are concerned about marriage isolation and try to defend it, your concerns are invalid because you are talking about something that is not supported by the principle of civilization. The ancient notions about marriage are invalid. They aren't based on anything real. They are certainly not based on what is required for the development of civilization. Jesus understood this already more than two thousand years ago."

      What could I say to that? She was right. Even her comment about the coming new Ice Age seemed right. "The professor had warned about the coming Ice Age, too," I said.

      "I hear the coming Ice Age is a big item for discussion in the university," said Helen. "The professor is playing a role in that discussion. Except no one talks about it in the context of the Principle of Universal Love as Schiller did. Did you know that it was really Schiller who defeated Napoleon in Russia? Schiller had already been assassinated by then. His friend who had fled to Russia into exile had convinced the Russian's not to fight Napoleon, not to even hinder him, but to draw him deep into the country and then hit the supply line. He even convinced the Russian to evacuate Moscow and let Napoleon have it, but to empty the city first and let it go unopposed, then once Napoleon was settled in it, to sneak in and burn the place down. That's what they did, which forced Napoleon's retreat at the onset of winter. Sure, there were a few battles fought along the way, but they decided nothing. The denial of logistics won the war for Russia. Napoleon brought over 6000,000 men into Russia and 150,000 horses. When he arrived in Moscow there were only 100,000 men left, and of those just a few thousand made it back. No person can live without logistics, especially in the winter. My question is, will we enter the coming Ice Age better prepared than Napoleon entering Russia? And that's a question of love, Peter. As human beings we have vast creative and productive qualities that no other species has in common with us, and with these qualities comes a corresponding mission, which is to protect our future. And that mission my friend is a question of our love. Will our love reach far enough into the future to activate the present?"

      "So where is the barrier?" I interjected.

      Helen began to smile. "Answer me this, Peter," Helen said after a few moments of silence. "When I invited you to join me in bed, you didn't hesitate once you broke the barriers you had previously set up in your mind, but in the back of your mind you probably still had serious concerns, didn't you?"

      I nodded reluctantly. "Of course I had."

      "Those concerns were invalid, Peter, because they didn't have anything to do with anything real," she replied. "It's the same with the Ice Age barrier. Now in order to make you feel freer about being in bed with me, let's consider ourselves as being married to one-another as we truly are and always have been as human beings. After all, we have reached the stage at which we realize that the very idea of isolation between two people is invalid. So, what's valid about this or any other barrier? Nothing really."

      "But I am already married, Helen. I can't change that," I almost protested.

      "Indeed you are. And I have to say it again: What has this artificial aspect got to do with anything? Does it change the real principle that is involved? Why shouldn't a person be able to overcome his or her isolation into a world that exists of no more than just a single other person? Why would you isolate your wife? Can't one regard oneself to be married to more than one person, even to the whole of humanity, without drifting into the quagmire of polygamy? Are we not all human beings of the same humanity? That is not a paradox, Peter. What you face here is a valid question, because there is an answer possible for it that is rooted in what is real, and the answer is: Yes!"

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Stories about  Love from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche