Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein is the 20th century's most famous physicist. He had a few things to say about religion.
Terms
Cosmic Man, Cosmic Religion, Cosmic Religious Feeling, Einstein Letter to Eric Gutkind, Einstein letter to Phyllis, The Old One
Notes
Some things herr doctor said.
"Cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest incitement to scientific research" and "the most important function of art and science [is] to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are capable of it." [1]
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of [primitive and childish legends]. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change this for me. Einstein, letter to Gutkind, 1954[2]
His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. Einstein, The World as I See It
If one purges the Judaism of the Prophets and Christianity as Jesus Christ taught it of all subsequent additions, especially those of the priests, one is left with a teaching which is capable of curing all the social ills of humanity. Einstein, The World as I see it
Of course, no one wants to listen to me, yet as sure as I'm sitting here we will be destroyed unless we create a cosmic conscience. And we have to begin to do that on an individual level, with the youth that are the politicians of tomorrow. Hermanns, Einstein and the Poet
"To me," said Einstein, "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.
Hermanns, Einstein and the Poet
"Of course, no one wants to listen to me, yet as sure as I'm sitting here we will be destroyed unless we create a cosmic conscience. And we have to begin to do that on an individual level, with the youth that are the politicians of tomorrow. Hermanns, Einstein and the Poet
His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. Einstein, The World as I See It
"It is sheer nonsense to deny natural laws. They reveal such intelligence, that any human logic falters in comparison." Hermanns, Einstein and the Poetanity.
He said that the “profounder sort of scientific minds” all had a peculiar religious feeling of their won.
You will hardly find one among the profounder sort of scientific minds without a peculiar religious feeling of his own. Einstein The World as I see it.
Footnotes
- ↑ Einstein, Albert. The World as I See It. Kindle. Samaira Book Publishers, 2018. https://amzn.to/2NR8B6z.
- ↑ https://www.uptunotes.com/einsteins-letter-of-god-gets-2-million-dollars-in-an-auction/ Copy at http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/10/word-god-is-product-of-human-weakness.html
