“Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Alice in Wonderland

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. F. Scott Fitzgerald

We think of skepticism as both the questioning of our ability to know anything philosophically, but also, just plain looking at the variety of philosophies and saying, ‘They’re all so brilliant. They all convince me when I hold that book in my hand. How can I then think that any one of them holds real truth?’ And so at first, skepticism was a denial of any ability to know anything. Later, it develops brilliantly into a study of probabilities. Jennifer Michael Hecht

“So, what’s it going to be Deion? Football or baseball? Jerry Jones.  “Both, boss. Both.” Deion Sanders

The talking heads want us to think we are faced with innumerable inescapable binary choices. Which is best: Capitalism or Socialism? Materialism or Asceticism?” Narcissism or Altruism? Freedom or Authoritarianism? Diversity or Conformity?

It’s a lie. Don’t fall for it. The world is complicated. The answers about how best to navigate that world are complicated. There is no one size fits all solution.

Capitalism works. It’s an efficient system, maybe the most efficient system to foster innovation, technological progress, great wealth and material success. Capitalism can also generate great inequality, environmental destruction, and turn everything into a commodity. Socialism can reduce disparities and refocus society on a world where human relationships are governed by compassion and justice not money, power or hierarchy. Socialism struggles with inefficiency and bureaucratic stagnation. Economic systems, like people, are Janus-like. There is no perfect economic system. As Walt Kelly’s Pogo so aptly put it: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

The false dichotomy between materialism and asceticism is played out brilliantly through the irony evidenced in Madonna’s Material Girl (see below). The desire to be rich combined with the shame of great wealth in the midst of great poverty offers a similar kind of guilt as sexual desire in the face of innocence. Enough said.

Narcissism and altruism, all for one OR one for all. Alexandre Dumas coined the phrase “one for all AND all for one.” Lincoln picked up on a similar phrase from Aesop’s fables: “united we stand, divided we fall” or as Lincoln put it: “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” We all have narcissistic impulses and in the era of social media these are amplified. Some narcissism is necessary for self preservation but without the compassion and willingness to help others society cannot survive. The philosopher Walter Kaufmann coined the term “humbition” as a blend between humility and ambition: the ability to aspire greatly without becoming arrogant.

At their best both capitalism and socialism offer a form of freedom. With capitalism it is the freedom to enjoy the benefits of building a better mouse trap. With socialism it is the freedom to not always be caught in the trap. Both capitalism and socialism can devolve into authoritarianism. Initially authoritarianism brings order and control but it soon devolves into oppression, surveillance, and the death of dissent.

Diversity brings resilience, creativity and justice through representation. It can also challenge norms, demand tolerance and provoke discomfort. Conformity fosters unity, shared identity and social cohesion but can become oppressive, thwart progress by eliminating differences and silence dissent.

What is needed is not a binary choice between one or the other system, ethic, or style but a proper balance. As my favorite genius, William Blake, put it: “without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.” Progress and growth, both individually and societally, depend on the existence and interaction of opposing forces. Successful societies embrace pluralism allowing many cultures, views and values to coexist within a shared civic framework. The aim isn’t forced uniformity or unchecked relativism, but a constructive tension that allows dialogue, evolution and mutual respect.

Are we headed to Armageddon or stagnation? It depends.

“Well Doctor (Benjamin Franklin),” asked Elizabeth Willing Powel, “what have we got a republic or a monarchy?”

“A republic,” replied Franklin, “if you can keep it.”

Don’t give in to the trap of forced binary choices. Here is a little advice from a novel I wrote (Behind the Locked Door)

“Look at you, Jack. I thought you was an attorney, fixed up other people’s lives. Now you jumpin’ up and down and cryin’, ‘ gonna die! I gonna die!’ For Chrissake, remember who you are, man. Don’t matter when you go, we all go sooner or later. What you needs is to make your life whole. If death take you, then you ready.”