Steve paused again. "I am counting on what seems like a miracle," he continued. "I am counting on that humanity will prove to be too intelligent to be suicidal. I think we are coming close to the end of the age of tragedy in which the Renaissance Spirit of humanity is constantly being beaten back into the ground."

      "Are you saying that ultimately there will be an end to this evil?" I asked.

      "That's not an open question, Peter. That's inevitable. All of these things will happen by the impetus of their own principles. No one can forever prevent this from happening unless the whole of humanity is shut down. But don't forget that whatever will happen eventually can also be brought forward into our time by choice. The advance can be enacted on the basis of the scientific method of discovering the truth about our humanity. The truth has not been so deeply buried yet that it cannot be rediscovered."

      "Except who demands this choice today when society is so deeply corrupted by its games, its entertainment, its fear and its greed, and has become spiritually dead?" I interjected. "Who will carry the responsibility to create a real economy, Steve? Who will ask the right question? Who even recognizes the Principle of Universal Love as the foundation for any functioning economy? And beyond that, who will dare to stand up for the Principle of Universal Love and move with it on all fronts, so that we will have an economy again instead of a sewer in which only the rich can live?"

      "Who will indeed, Peter?" said Steve and paused once more, momentarily, as if he was searching for more words. "Maybe we have to face the challenge first to implement the Principle of Universal Love in the social domain. Nobody can build a house without a foundation.



      "You must understand one thing about economics," Steve continued after a long silence. "Actually, I believe you do understand this very well. Economics is essentially a spiritual process. Everything that we are hoping for proceeds from this basic fact. The human being is a spiritual being, Pete. Sentience, intelligence, honor, love, are all spiritual qualities. You can't touch them, weigh them, and measure them, but when you withdraw them civilization disintegrates. History has also shown that if we express these qualities fully, they enrich our lives, and if we don't, fascism reigns. The manifestation of that expression is reflected in economics. The state of our economy, if you can still call it that, is our report card as a society. A failing grade means no survival. A few times in the past we came very close to failing. A few times we came also close to scoring the high mark."

      Steve explained that every one of our spiritual qualities is an essential element in the economic process. If one element is missing, the entire process becomes dysfunctional.

      I agreed. But I also pointed out that a lot of people dispute this, especially the idea that love is an essential part of it. "They insist, as Hobbes did in the 'service' of the Venetian oligarchy, that love must be kept out of the domain of business and economic policies in favor of greed and of unrestrained might to rule the world. Hobbes calls greed and might the chief motivators. There are a lot of prominent economic theories built on that. It started in the Hobbesian era. Hobbes practically outlawed love. Then came Adam Smith. He didn't just spit on love. He did something worse. He legitimized it in the context of greed as a love for gold, for your gold. Instead of loving one-another, Adam Smith said, steal from one-another and love that gold! Adam Smith said personal vice, such as greed, makes a civilization rich! Love that gold! That's the train we are on. That's the direction in which society is moving, headlong."

       "What a lie they live, Peter!" said Steve. "You are right, those are the prominent economic theories, and many people are riding this train. And the prominence of the lies they live is killing the world's economies."

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