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"Aren't you dreaming just a little?" I asked cautiously.
"No, I am not dreaming. Something like that happened once a long time ago. It had changed the world for a period. It had altered the way in which entire nations regarded each other. I am not making this up, Peter. This is history. I am merely saying that we can build on this trend and expand it universally. But it must begin at the grassroots level, even at the most intimate level where an ever-growing desire for it already exists. All we need to do, is open the door."
She paused. "Does that make sense?" she asked. She pointed out that researchers tell us that half of humanity is already having affairs outside of its marriages, and the other half is dreaming about it, and poets write poems about the struggle and the glory of it. "So you see, the longing for universal love already exists," she added. "As I said, all that we have to do is open the door."
"Unfortunately, it won't be easy for people to step through this open door," I suggested. "Too many mythologies block the way. They shape people's reactions against the truth that you see.
"And the mythologies will continue to have that effect until they are eradicated. But what has this got to do with anything, Peter? We can't let go of the greater, because of the lesser. Prometheus based his entire existence on this, and this knowledge defeated the most vicious of the adversarial gods."
"I acknowledge that Prometheus was saved by his awareness of the truth," I said to Helen, "but, surely that wasn't what stopped the war in 1648," I added. "Did one of the empires win out over the other as this is always the case? Or was Europe so thoroughly destroyed that there wasn't anything left worth fighting over as in the case of the fall of Rome? Still, you seem to suggest that something else happened."
"Come, let's go to bed again," said Helen without answering. By then the Port in our glass was gone, the olives had been consumed, and the snacks had been eaten.
I agreed and helped her clear away the dishes.
"I'll tell you about the Peace Treaty that ended those eighty years of war," said Helen, filling her tiny kitchen sink with hot water. "I must warn you though," she added, "because you may not believe what happened. No empire won that war. The very nature of empire was overturned. It was recognized that all nations are sovereign and must be regarded as equal, because Truth is singular, Love is singular, everything of the Sublime is singular, God is singular. The whole idea of might equals right was thrown out of the window. The vertical model was set aside for a lateral model. This was the only peace treaty in history where all stood side by side, where the past was left behind and was forgiven, where no retribution was on the agenda, and no reparation payments were imposed, where all those wretched things were sacrificed as the price for peace."
Once we were back in bed, she told me that the development towards peace began to unfold already half way through the eighty years of war. While lying beside each other, facing one-another, Helen told me about a biblical story from the Old Testament, the story of a woman named Susanna. She told me that the story of Susanna was fundamental to the peace treaty. She described the story.
The story begins with Susanna taking a bath in her garden. She is alone. Suddenly, in a vulnerable state, probably as she undresses herself, she discovers two intruders, two Elders of her community. They come towards her and demand that she consent to have sex with them. They even threaten her that they would accuse her of adultery if she were to refuse their demand. Nevertheless, Susanna turns them away. As the story goes, the Elders carry out their threat and accuse Susanna of adultery, which was a capital offense then. During her trial before the entire village, the Elders were believed and the woman was sentenced to die. Except, in the last moments as it were, Daniel saved Susanna by his wisdom, exposing the lies of the Elders.
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