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."

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.” Albert Einstein, The World As I See It"

"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.”"