Sylvia told us that their standpoints of perception had been worlds apart. The evangelist's view had been primitive and dogmatic, while the lady's attitude had been free, buoyant, questioning everything, yielding wherever he couldn't yield, always searching for a platform for agreement. When there seemed no hope, the lady would shift the conversation back to the baby. She was always gentle, always careful not to rip anything away from his beliefs or to question his integrity. She was fighting his war for him, hoping against hope that she might enrich his horizon. Sylvia said that it was beautiful to be able to witness such a process taking place, and exciting to watch how far each one would go to accommodate the other's perception. Sylvia told us that when the plane reached its destination, though they hadn't come upon a single point were their views had actually met, they parted as two people who had come very close to one-another. She added that this gentle process had appeared like a miracle to her for many years, until Ross had explained the science of what she had observed.

      Before Sylvia and Ross stepped down from the podium, a man of the assembly stood up and said that he doubted that Ross' escape from the battle had ended the war within the church. He also doubted that stepping away from a problem could ever lead to peace.

      Ross agreed that his stepping away from the war didn't end the war within the church. "It only ended the war for me," he replied. "I pulled out of the war. There was no imperative for me to respond to their war. The war may still be ongoing, but it didn't affect me anymore. I changed my thinking. I was able to step away from the battle without making demands for them to change. I could give them the space they needed to grow up. I even helped them to grow up. I now aim to enrich the world and present to humanity a basis on which it can survive. Indeed, the church might still be at war to some degree with itself, but do I have the right to command the church to comply with processes that are greater than what its directors can understand? I cannot do this, because the consequences are insignificant and don't effect me. I am not my brother's keeper. I am my brother's brother. I may aim to lead by example, but I can never force anyone to follow. I can only hope that my example is rich enough that it will inspire the world. That's all we can do to secure the survival of civilization. But when it comes to consequences that threaten my very existence, then I must make strong demands and fight vigorously. I don't have the luxury then, to wait until the perpetrators grow up. I have to fight for a new Renaissance with all I am able to give, to change the world."

      After the man sat down again. Ross explained that the black hole mentality brings no profit for anyone, that no external circumstance is able to provide what does not unfold from within, "that's why rape never satisfies. My responsibility is that I develop from within. I am a land of four rivers, so to speak." He switched on the video board again, dimmed the lights. He drew four circles, one in each of the four corners of a square. Then he drew a line from each circle towards the center, without any of them touching.

      "The four lines are the four rivers," he explained.

      I said to Anton that those were the rivers of my dream. They reflect Ross' work. I told her that Ross had lived with these rivers, slept with them, made charts and flow diagrams of them, they were his favorite topic. He also got everyone involved to some degree.

      "The four circles," Ross continued, "are the four distinct spheres of my existence. The first one is my sanctuary, where I find my honesty with myself, my autonomy, my integrity, my love of the good and beautiful, my sensitivity to life, to its demands, its strengths, its riches.

      "The second sphere is my foundation in reality. It pertains to my perception of reality; my relationship to it; my sensitivity to its imperatives; my development of it physically, morally, civilly. Here I find the wisdom to withdraw from another's war. I can do this, even though I cannot withdraw myself from the demands of reality. The sphere of humanity pertains to human rights; the fundamental rights of humanity as complete spiritual beings acknowledged, socially, civilly, and morally. It encompasses every human being, and the sovereignty of all the nations.

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