The Old One

The Old One is Albert Einstein's name for the Fabric of Consciousness. He used this term in a letter he wrote to Max Born where he said: "Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the "old one." I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice."

Einstein's Terms

Cosmic Man, Cosmic Religion, Cosmic Religious Feeling, Einstein Letter to Eric Gutkind, Einstein letter to Phyllis, The Old One

Syncretic Terms

Fabric of Consciousness > Absolute Mind, Adhi Buddha, Ain Soph Aur, Al-Haqq, Allah, Ancient One, Anima Mundi, Blazing Star, Brahman, Brahmic Splendor, Central Order, Crown, Divine Fire, Field of the Universe, First Mover, Formless, God, GodHead, Govinda, Great Artist, Great Being, Great Breath, Great Gardener, Great Light, Great Self, Guardian Angel, Immortal Spirit, Ineffable Light, Kether, Mind at Large, Nam Shé, Nirguna Brahman, Nondual God, Nonlocal Mind, Oversoul, Primal Self, Primum Mobile, Purusha, Realms of Consciousness, Simurg, Spirit, Subliminal Seed Regime, Supreme, Supreme Spirit, The Dreaming, The Lord, The Old One, The One, The Power and the Glory, Transpersonal Realm... further results

Notes

Full text of Einstein's letters to Born

Einstein did not believe in an anthropomorphic God, and was quite dismissive of what he thought of as the naive and puerile spirituality of those with faith in a personal patriarch.

"The harmony of natural law…reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.”

"Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.”"

"Reading Kant, I began to suspect everything I was taught. I no longer believed in the known God of the Bible, but rather in the mysterious God expressed in nature" (Einstein in Hermanns, 1983:np)

"To me, God is a mystery, but a comprehensible mystery. I have nothing but awe when I observe the laws of nature. There are not laws without a lawgiver, but how does this lawgiver look? Certainly not like a man magnified." (Einstein in Hermanns, 1983: np).

"I believe that I have cosmic religious feelings. I never could grasp how one could satisfy these feelings by praying to limited objects. The tree outside is life, a statue is dead. The whole of nature is life, and life, as I observe it, rejects a God resembling man. I like to experience the universe as one harmonious whole. every cell has life" (Einstein in Hermanns, 1983: np)

"It is sheer nonsense to deny natural laws. They reveal such intelligence, that any human logic falters in comparison" (Einstein in Hermanns, 1983: np).

Footnotes

References