"But Mary's work is the most advanced and the most daring in this regard," I commented on Sylvia's remarks. "Mary has put her references to sex into the moral domain, contrary to all the theological precepts of her time, and also of our time, which have classified sex as depravity. Mary evidently wanted to bring that subject to the gates of science. She didn't say it is scum, dirty, shameful, something that makes people to feel guilty about. Instead, it is as if she is saying that sex is something human that needs to be elevated to a higher level than sensual fulfillment, to where it can be seen as a valuable aspect of our humanity that is worthwhile to be cherished, and to be developed in a process of a general scientific and spiritual development. Sensual fulfillment should be superseded by the joy that unfolds from the spiritual elation that we find in respecting and cherishing one another's sexuality rather than exploiting it. No theologian has ever said this before, but Mary has, and she has put this task onto the table in the moral domain. And that's a never ending task. Because if one doesn't do that, one lets the issue slide into depravity. Theology wants to do this by force, by declaring sex to be an abomination, an abomination of creation, and they literally put the blame on God. That approach hardly elevates the concept into the realm of the divinity of man. The other approach of theology is to simply accept is, because it is hard to deal with otherwise. Still, the result is the same. Mary alone has put sex into a development stream that opens the gate towards the divinity of man. That's something we need to consider."

      "I have seen this so many times in India," said Indira. "How many noble priest who preach purity to the public, who wrap up the woman in society behind countless veils of all sorts, secretly become engaged in raping women when they get the chance to do so, through the channels of prostitution or through the Thevars, or through their own channels. This hypocrisy happens everywhere. Hypocrisy is really a paradox. Paradoxes exist because of failures in perception, axiomatic failures. Mary's path is really the only hope that the Dalit woman have. Axiomatic failures demand society to engage in scientific and spiritual development. I love the idea of elevating the image of sex into something profound as an aspect of the divinity of mankind. My experience has been, that in the same proportion to which the physical aspect of sex is set aside for the mental, the sexual dimension becomes more beautiful and actually joyful."

      "I think the method that Mary suggests towards that," I replied, "involves nothing much more than an honest application of the Platonic and Socratic method of engaging in scientific dialogs. It has something to do with an honesty towards the reality of our being as a species of life without boundaries and limits. This has to be the centerpiece of our scientific dialogs that we carry on with ourselves, but also with one another as we are doing right now. Mary calls this science, divine Science, or the science of the divinity of man. The truth that we seek lies in that realm, but even there, it really isn't that deeply hidden that it cannot be found. If we give ourselves half a chance, I think the real dimension of our humanity will assert itself, and that dimension is honorable, rich, and beautiful. I think we have all found this out already to some degree, haven't we?"

      "That dialog is a bit like peeling an onion," Tatsuhiko remarked and began to laugh. "You peel away one layer, one paradox, and there is another one beneath it, but the onion gets better, that you've got left. That's how we get to the truth, isn't it? We don't throw the onion away. We peel away the outer layers that hide the good stuff. If we do that with sex, I am sure we will find a lot of beautiful aspects imbedded in that part of our humanity which Helen has rightfully defined as an element of our joy."

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