The Higher Synthesis
On August 16, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. made a s peech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta and declared this famous quote: “Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both." What is this higher synthesis of which he is speaking? Synthesis is defined as the "dialectic combination of thesis and antithesis into a higher stage of truth." (Merriam Webster) I have pondered this for many years and have been trying to distill my thoughts down to a coherent understanding of his statement. We live in a deeply polarized, tribal, ideological cesspool of confusion and chaos in the United States of America and are unable to rise above our differences and accept the antithetical opinions or beliefs of our neighbors. Has