"It's because of sex, Peter, that society's self-confinement is necessary in the social world. The most horrendous crimes are committed in the pursuit of sex. It begins with stealing a kiss and ends with total domination, resulting in tragedies, rape, even murder."

      "Is the self-isolation necessary, Anton, or is it merely deemed to be necessary? Isn't this self-isolation approach synonymous with attempting to cure a disease by increasing what has caused it? And what about honor, joy, sublimity that we loose when we limit love? And why should we limit love for such shallow reason?"

      "To prevent rape, that's why," Anton replied in a frustrated tone of voice.

      "But has this really worked, Anton? We've become so deeply isolated that there shouldn't be any rape at all, but there is more of it. In fact rape has been expanded into a huge business. It's become a part of the international sex-slave trade where young girls are kidnapped, exported, and rented out as victims to be raped at will for whatever fees the 'businesses' can extract from a society that breeds rapists by its self-isolation that throttles love and keeps its sphere small. The whore of Babylon rejoices in the modern world that gives her richer business opportunities as the self-isolation of society becomes tighter and tighter."

      "So what's the answer, Peter? Surrender?"

      "The answer is for society to get its life back, a life undivorced from love."

      "Maybe sex won't as big a thing then as it today," Anton conceded.

      "Pray that this doesn't happen," I said with smile that I quickly suppressed. "Sex unfolds with a passion that drives a lot of things," I added cautiously. "It determines how we feel, how we dress, and how we relate to one another. Sex inspires a passion that keeps us alive, other than just breathing. It is a fire that keeps the human scene burning with vitality. We wouldn't exist without it in more ways than one, and I hope that this fire never dies in the cold waters of scientific rationality. I would even say that the fire needs to be protected. Everybody wants to be touched by it, from the king to the popper, men and women alike, as are drawn to sex. It is a facet of our humanity that is rather dynamic. Why should we deny that we are men and women? Why should we not acknowledge our rich individuality and what comes with it, including the sexual needs and the joys that unfold from meeting the needs? Isn't it joy for you to be excitingly dressed in a kind of female fashion that makes the diamond behind it sparkle?"

      Anton blushed and grinned, and raised her finger again to stop me.

      "Isn't it true?" I said. "Can you imagine how dull and lifeless the world would be without that fire?"

      "The challenge is to keep the fire that you are referring to from burning the world down," said Anton and began to laugh now.

      I began to laugh with her. "Sure, Anton, that's a great challenge. But neither can we afford to let the fire go out. There is no safety in a dead and dark world. I think you know that. I think the greater danger in today's world is that we let the fire of our passion go out. This means we need to be daring and take some risks and face challenge head on to keep the fire burning.  I think we need both, the cool scientific rationality and the passion that goes beyond it. We need both, the water and the fire. We need to protect both, as both have a place already in our heart and are a part of us. We need to build a firewall between them so that they don't wipe each other out. I think this firewall is love. It protects both. It protects our cold and rational science that we need, because scientific reasoning is a part of our humanity. And it protects our passion that keeps the humanist dynamism powered in high gear that we need for uplifting civilization, which is our passion. Uplifting one another in every respect possible should be our passion too. That is a powerful factor. This factor was faintly discovered in 1648, but this faint discovery of it was nevertheless so powerful that it changed the world and created a new platform for civilization that has not been superceded to the present day. We lost many elements of it, but it has not been superceded. The task to do this now falls on us now. For this the firewall of love is needed to protect both the fire and the water. I think the Treaty of Westphalia has both elements in it that we need, the fire and the water, and its model is distinctly lateral. This suggests to me that the fire and the water are lateral elements. So, we need that firewall. And you are right, Anton, if we don't have that firewall, the self-isolation of society is the only logical response that society has left. Unfortunately that leads to tragedy by which society dies."

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