"The new name was Israel," I interjected. "Then Israel means Love reflected in love."

      Helen nodded. "The new name was necessary. His Jacobin days had ended. It doesn't take much for such a transition to unfold, because the essence of our humanity can never be truly lost. It only takes a bit of scientific honesty to get it activated."

      "Maybe it takes a giant bit," I added.

      "Don't you think that's invalid measurement?" said Helen. "Truth can't be defined that way. Truth is absolute."

      "Are you saying that the moment that one steps into the light, one stands in the light?" I said to her.

      "This has rarely been tried, Peter. But this one case sets the tone. It sets a new stage. No one has given love a chance to do its work. No one has even talked about love as a universal principle before in recent history, much less promoted it on a universal basis, but the principle remains valid."

      Helen explained that love has been kept bottled up for song that empire had a free run of the world. This means we have to break the bottle begin with what we have alive and let it expand, even if it is just a spark. That is why you and I are here. We have to start with what we've got. Believe me, there are so few of us fighting for a wider sense of love that it is scary to contemplate. There is so little love left anywhere that our world is already collapsing. Certainly, there isn't any love in government, business, finance, or politics anymore. The general welfare principle is laughed at today. So, we have to go with what we've got -- each other and love. Since love still exists at the level of our private living, though it might be just a spark we need to begin and build ourselves up to catch it. Our goal must be to establish the universality of love. We need to do this in the hope that the unfolding universality of love will spill over into the global, national, and business arenas where looting, war, and genocide presently rule the day.

      She added, "Hopefully this breakthrough will be made before society succeeds in destroying itself completely."

      "Are we not a bit too far advanced already, towards hell, for such a breakthrough to save us?" I asked.

      "If you say that, then you say we have no hope. I say, for as long as we live and are able to love, even to some degree, there is hope. That is why we must fight, and dare stand against all odds, to love, and love on as wide a basis as possible."

      "There were times when they killed people for as little as stepping across the marriage boundaries, not to mention promoting intimate, universal love," I reminded her.

      "There was also a time when they killed people in the early 1600s if they insisted that love must be universal and must govern the affairs of the state and the relationships between nations. It's all the same," said Helen. "There was also a time when the battle to save the nations was won, as in 1648," Helen added. "This means that there will be a time again when the battle for the universality of love will be won again. There is even a possibility on the horizon that the victory might be more complete this time around."

      "This final victory won't be easily achieved," I assured her.

     "Sure, the problems that we face along the way are horrendous, but they can all be explored and be resolved with honest efforts, and the pain that these problems bring can be endured like Prometheus had willingly endured eternal agonies for his love of humanity. In this struggle he won an everlasting victory on the site of love. Do you know the story of Prometheus?" Helen asked.

      "Is that the story that Beethoven has set to music?" I had to concede that my education was lacking. I didn't know the story at all.

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