Anton shook her head. "Capitalism isn't dead?"

      "Sure it is, but you got to know what its to see the reality of it," I countered her. "The West in fact is bankrupt, because it isn't a capitalist society anymore. A capitalist society can never be bankrupt. A capitalist society extends itself purposely directed financial credits for its self-development. That's not happening anymore. The West has become an oligarchic, feudal, monetarist society, dominated by financier interests and centered on private wealth, private power, and vast money estates that are set up as battering rams for the looting of society. The death of capitalism in America and the world is one of the greatest tragedies of our time that people simply refuse to see. And so, people can't see what the world really looks like, or should look like. If they would open their eyes they would see a world in which Russia and America are among the most technologically advanced nations on earth, each with a similar history behind them and similar aspirations, and a similar cultural understanding. Such a perception, based on recognizing the truth, would be uplifting to both nations. They would unite in facing their common enemy, the enemy of the globalization of imperial fascist greed. That is why the perception of truth is not allowed there, such as it is not allowed in many other areas of life. That is why society is kept small, dumb, and forced to live with a narrow vision.  It is a great tragedy, Anton, that nobody wants to even look at the real issues," I said quietly. "People want to see their treasured illusions confirmed, and acknowledged with lies if need be. They want their cherished artificial facade brought into the limelight that gives them wonderful illusions, like the illusions held by the passengers of the Titanic who dreamed of sailing in an unsinkable ship. People don't want to see the reality before their face, even married people. They don't want to see that we are all human beings together, whoever we are, sharing a common universal humanity and reflecting a common, universal, human soul. People want to see a divided humanity, because that's the illusion that society has been taught to see."

      Anton's former smile returned when I said this.



      Since Anton didn't argue those points I felt that she understood to some degree what I was trying to say. She even suggested much later that evening that I should present some of my findings at the conference.

      "No, Anton, I don't think so," I countered her immediately when she made the proposal. "This stuff goes too deep to be addressed in a half-hour speech. If I were to address something like this without creating an underlying understanding of the principles involved, I might do more harm than good and prevent the real development that we are both looking for."

      "No Peter, I think our people would understand," Anton replied smiling. "You should do it. Russia has a lot of intelligent and open-minded people. I count myself as one of them."

      I nodded and smiled. "Are the rest of your people really like you, Anton?" I asked. "Would they understand the enormous emotional trials that are involved when a married man, like myself, dares to step beyond the narrow focus that conventions impose, and acknowledges the vast profusion of flowers that exist in the garden of life in which he lives? That's the equivalent of what I would be asking on the political scene."

      I suggested to her that it is not a simple thing to look at the world with a wider vision, to be enriched by the beauty that surrounds us all, the beauty of human beings, the beauty of one's own humanity, and thereby the beauty of being in love with oneself as a first step of being in love with another human being. It is not a trivial thing to look at the world with that love, whether the people are Russian, or Chinese, or American, or male, or female, or artists, or scientists, or laborers, or mothers, or married, or unmarried. There are countless forms of isolation to be overcome, even without considering the political isolation that has infested our minds. I think the overturning has to begin deep, and afterwards be reflected in politics. How deep would your average person at the conference be able to dig and confront the deeply rooted isolation? No one can deal with these complex issues in a hurried fashion in the space of a half-hour speech from the podium. A budding genius such as yourself who has learned to touch on complex issues and is not afraid of them, which I've come to appreciate, might understand what is involved behind what we see in politics. But the general society isn't there yet by a long way. It has its head still stuck in the sand."

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