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"This means that we can love one another intimately, and there won't be any rape," said Anton quietly and cautiously.
"This love sets up grace as the protector of the fire of passion so that the fire is able to enrich our world, giving warmth and joy to it, without harming it," I answered in the same quiet tone. I was astounded, though, by her statement. I tried not to let it show, but couldn't suppress a smile.
"I saw that!" she said. "I saw you smiling. But be careful. Don't read too much into what I said."
"But would you ban the technology of physical fire, because it also gives us the potential to physically burn our world down? Don't belittle the fire. Without fire we would have no economy and no civilization. So the trick is to develop the love that protect the fire with grace. Likewise, would you ban the science of nuclear power, simply because we can also make nuclear bombs? We would deny us an energy-rich future. The trick is to develop nuclear power with grace and have the passion to do this for the benefit of future generations, because without nuclear power mankind has no future. And that, Anton, is not a paradox. It was known already to the ancient Greek. In the famous tragedy in early Greek literature, Prometheus Bound, the god Prometheus gave mankind fire, because without it mankind would have no civilization. This fire should now be nuclear, because all the other resources are getting thin and are already stretched to the braking point. All of mankind's electricity should already be supplied from nuclear sources. Coal is to valuable a resource to be burned. We are burning it still, because we lack the passion to protect the future of humanity. The fire is gone out."
Anton nodded. "It always comes down to grace, doesn't it?" she said quietly.
"Yes, the way I see it, grace is the essential thing in all aspects," I said. "It opens all the doors that need to be open to power our civilization. Unfortunately we have too little experience in developing grace, and even less experience in lifting up to become love. And so we have no passion for our humanity. Our world has become lifeless, dead, fascist in nature. Everything is cold, dark, and brutal. And this is what we protect. We find too little room for grace, much less for love, even though they are the guarantor for civilization. We are more inclined to trust in the fascism of force and conspiracy of lies."
"I have valued grace for all of my life," said Anton quietly, "but I always got stepped on when I opened the door to it. Grace may be just a fairy tale after all. On the other hand we wouldn't have a human world without it as you have pointed out, much less a world with a rich future powered by love. I fear that grace is something that we've left behind too. It doesn't seem to be on the agenda anymore. It definitely isn't when it comes to sex."
"If you feel that way, consider Prometheus," I said to Anton. "He offended the gods of Olympus, the master of the vertical world, by giving mankind fire, and he was punished for it. However, as a god he couldn't be killed. So the vertical gods bound him to rock and assigned a bird of prey to peck his liver out, inflicting endless torture. The vertical gods routinely resort to torture. However, even in his pain he laughed at them and told them that he could foresee their demise. So they tried to entice him that he would reveal his secret in order that they might save themselves. They promised to end their torturing in exchange. Here the audience is enticed to urge him on to surrender, to stop the pain. But the audience must also realize that if Prometheus surrenders, the vertical god won and mankind would loose its god of love, and with it its civilization and possibly its existence. So, how would you choose, Anton?"
"That's an unfair question, Peter."
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