Martin Luther King Jr.'s Faith In The Power Of Love

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Martin Luther King Jr.’s faith in the power of love was shaken due to the teachings of the philosopher Nietzsche. In his teaching he thought the moralities of the Hebraic-Christian faith were a glorification of weakness, as making virtues out of necessity and impotence. It was during that period in time where Dr. King jr. was introduced to Mahatma Gandhi in a sermon by Dr. Mordecai Johnson, then president of Howard University. Dr. King Jr. studied the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi and was fascinated by his teachings of nonviolence resistance and the concept of Satyagraha- truth/love force. Gandhi’s emphasis on love and nonviolence helped Dr. King Jr. regain the faith in the power of love and led him to discover the method he will use for social reform. If …show more content…

The superego is when the oppressed don’t do nothing about their situation. When they submit to injustice laws because that is what they saw their parents do and that is what is expected of them. Nonviolence resistance is the ego in the reading which tries to negotiate with the id in order to get what it wants (freedom) and also with the superego so it won’t go against what they have been thought. We see this situation described in Dr. Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail. Dr. King Jr. stated that he (his idea of nonviolent resistance - ego) stood in the middle of two opposing forces in the black community. One is the result of long years of oppression and few middle class blacks’ degree of academic and economic security has led them to adjust to segregation (superego). He calls it do ‘nothingisms’. The other force is those who advocate violence because of hate and bitterness satisfying their struggle to freedom in violence means. Nonviolent resistance seeks to reconcile those two forces while avoiding the extremes and immoralities of