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Albert Einstein said: "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."
Einstein celebrated his Jewish cultural roots, but also said, "For me the Jewish religion, like all others, is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions."
https://www.latimes.com/news/local/l...,1170402.story
Edward
Einstein was a spiritually inclined agnostic. Here's a few more Einstein quotes;
Every one 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.
The scientists' 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.
I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.
Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.
The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books---a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods.
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man. To know that what is impenetrable for us really exists and manifests itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, whose gross forms alone are intelligible to our poor faculties - this knowledge, this feeling ... that is the core of the true religious sentiment.
True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.
Do you know where he wrote these things? There seems to be a folklore building up around Einstein where people could just attribute quotable phrases to him that just sound Onestonish.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Clancy:
https://s3.amazonaws.com:/artbreak/w...tone_inset.jpg
looks like most of the quotes with sources can be found here
https://www.some-guy.com/quotes/einstein.html
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Posted in reply to the post by Zeno Swijtink:
Are you a vegetarian Ed?
Or do you only quote people when it is convenient?
”Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."
--Albert Einstein
(Translation of letter to Hermann Huth), December 27, 1930Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Valley Oak:
"I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world..".Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by MsTerry:
Of course Einstein lends himself to all kinds of views on a single subject!
As for your above quote, wasn't he living in Germany at the time? And wasn't Adolph the darling of Germany? And a vegetarian? Shudder.
Oh Lenny, are you trying to kick up a stink or are you trying to tell me that you will not drive a VW because it was Adolph's idea?Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Lenny:
Just wondering what the darling of physics was writing about vegetarianism, in context to time and place. Or what his friend was initiating in the same milieu. No biggie. Oh, and no, I won't drive or own The Loser's Car. I am sure the Turks build fine automobiles, but I'd prefer American.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by MsTerry:
I'm not clear why you are calling Hitler Einstein's friend (this is so preposterous that it is very unlike you), but the story of Hitler and meat is different: Hitler reduced his meat consumption solely because of digestive problems, and he was no friend of vegetarianism:Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Lenny:
https://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/swijt...her/hitler.jpg
Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust, by Charles Patterson, p. 127
Nice sentiments here, but how does this square with the fact that Adolph Hitler was a vegetarian ?
Hardly seems like old Adolph was of 'the human temperament....most benificial to mankind'.
Russ
”Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."
--Albert Einstein
(Translation of letter to Hermann Huth), December 27, 1930
It's great having this information available. My whole life I heard that Hitler was a vegetarian and I even propagated this misinformation as fact myself (believing it to be true). I should have checked some sources to verify it.
I heard this misinformation as though vegetarianism was tainted because the evil, genocidal tyrant had been one. Even if Hitler had been a vegetarian it still would not be a legitimate criticism of being vegan, etc.
By the way, I'm not a vegetarian. I don't want any new misinformation being started on my account.
Edward
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Zeno Swijtink:
[quote=...My whole life I heard that Hitler was a vegetarian=]
I stand corrected.
I too, have read in articles (years ago) stating that Adolph Hitler was a strict vegetarian.
My point (based on that bit of misinformation) was simply this; being a vegetarian, in and of itself, means little, or nothing in the greater scheme of things.
A carpenter, (who some 2,000 years ago paid dearly for his ideas) said something to the effect that 'what goes into the body does not defile it, so much as that which comes from the body'.
Implication being that what food we consume is not at issue, but that which comes out of us... what we say, think, and do, is what can best define the kind of person we are.
In no way am I disparaging vegetarianism...veganism etc. ....nor as I trying to put Einstein and Hitler in the same trick bag.
I was just feeling uncomfortable with what appeared to be a vary broad generalization.... albeit coming out of the mouth of a great man.
Russ
[quote=...My whole life I heard that Hitler was a vegetarian=]
I stand corrected.
I too, have read in articles (years ago) stating that Adolph Hitler was a strict vegetarian.
My point (based on that bit of misinformation) was simply this; being a vegetarian, in and of itself, means little, or nothing in the greater scheme of things.
A carpenter, (who some 2,000 years ago paid dearly for his ideas) said something to the effect that 'what goes into the body does not defile it, so much as that which comes from the body'.
Implication being that what food we consume is not at issue, but that which comes out of us... what we say, think, and do, is what can best define the kind of person we are.
In no way am I disparaging vegetarianism...veganism etc. ....nor as I trying to put Einstein and Hitler in the same trick bag.
I was just feeling uncomfortable with what appeared to be a very broad generalization.... albeit coming out of the mouth of a great man.
Russ
Yes, "thus [Jesus] declared all foods clean" Mark 7:19.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by babaruss:
But gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, and we have become overindulgent meat eaters, with negative environmental effects:
Meat takes much more water to produce compared with a nutritionally equivalent quantity of grains and vegetables; and lifestock is responsible for half of the anthropomorphic methane emissions. Methane is a greenhouse gas with a heat-trapping capacity of over 20 times that of CO2.
There are good environmental reasons to shift one's diet away from meat and towards grains, greens, and nuts.
The Bible is silent about protecting the environment. None of the Ten Commandments refers to Nature. But even in ancient times the environment was ransacked.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...banonzeder.jpg
The forests of Cedars of Lebanon were cut back for various purposes, among which the building of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem and David's and Solomon's Palaces. What we now think of of a "Mediterranean" landscape with its scrubs is very unlike the landscape around the Mediterranean Sea in Biblical times. Because of the loss of the forest most of the top soil is lost, water cannot be retained, the land subsides and is compacted, diminishing the size of the aquifers in a irreversible process. The loss of the forest also leads to less rain, less recirculation of water by the transpiration of the trees.
Our landscape is also called "Mediterranean." And ironically it is going through a similar irreversible process of destruction and loss of biodiversity, loss of resiliency:
Trees were clear-cut and are still clear-cut to make room for agriculture and housing. Above that, modern use of energy has made deeper well drilling and pumping possible, and now aquifers are pumped dry, causing subsiding of the land, such as has been shown in the southern Santa Rosa Plain. A sponge is turned into a rock.
I am sorry for my poor writing skills. Professor Einstein was writing to a friend, Heir Huth, not Adolph. I was simply musing about Germany at the time the letter was written. Adolph was the "darling" man at the time and I was simply wondering if THAT was the spark to cause Heir Huth to write to Albert regarding vegetarianism. My bad.
And thanks for corrected information. I too thought Adolph was a vegan.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Zeno Swijtink:
And neither was Einstein, until a couple of years before his death. A more complete quote is:Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Lenny:
"Although I have been prevented by outward circumstances from observing a strictly vegetarian diet, I have long been an adherent to the cause in principle. Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind." Translation of letter to Hermann Huth, December 27, 1930. Einstein Archive 46-756
See the discussion at https://www.ivu.org/history/northam20a/einstein.html
I am missing your joke about misspelling Hermann Huth as "Heir Huth."
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Valley Oak:
Here are some quotes from Albert Einstein with proper attributions.
They come from https://www.einsteinandreligion.com/godcomments.html
Short Comments on God
For more of Einstein's comments on God, see the Spinoza page on this site.
Knowing God's Thoughts
I want to know how God created this world. I'm not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.
— From E. Salaman, "A Talk With Einstein," The Listener 54 (1955), pp. 370-371, quoted in Jammer, p. 123.Could God Have Done It Differently?
What I am really interested in, is knowing whether God could have created the world in a different way; in other words, whether the requirement of logical simplicity admits a margin of freedom.
— C. Seelig, Helle Zeit—Dunkle Zeit (Europa Verlag, Zuürich, 1956), p.72, quoted in Jammer, p. 124.
The following comments are excerpted from Calaprice. See pp. 145 - 161.
God's Punishment
Why do you write to me “God should punish the English”? I have no close connection to either one or the other. I see only with deep regret that God punishes so many of His children for their numerous stupidities, for which only He Himself can be held responsible; in my opinion, only His nonexistence could excuse Him.
— Letter to Edgar Meyer colleague January 2, 1915 Contributed by Robert Schulmann; also see CPAE Vol. 8 (forthcoming).God and Goodness
Whatever there is of God and goodness in the universe, it must work itself out and express itself through us. We cannot stand aside and let God do it.
— From conversation recorded by Algernon Black, Fall 1940; Einstein Archive 54-834God's worry
If God has created the world, his primary worry was certainly not to make its understanding easy for us.
— Letter to David Bohm, February 10, 1954; Einstein Archive 8-041An Unperceivable Being
To assume the existence of an unperceivable being ... does not facilitate understanding the orderliness we find in the perceivable world.
— Letter to an Iowa student who asked, What is God? July, 1953; Einstein Archive 59-085Awe of the Structure of the World
I don't try to imagine a God; it suffices to stand in awe of the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.
— Letter to S. Flesch, April 16, 1954; Einstein Archive 30-1154
Here is an article that I found very helpful in clarifying Einstein's (non-)religious views. Note: Figures 1 thru 3, referred to in the text, were not included in this copy. That detracts hardly at all from the clarity of the article.
From Skeptic vol. 5, no. 2, 1997, pp. 62ff.
The following article is copyright ©1997 by the Skeptics Society, P.O. Box 338, Altadena, CA 91001, (626) 794-3119. Permission has been granted for noncommercial electronic circulation of this article in its entirety, including this notice.
Einstein's God
Just What Did Einstein Believe About God?
By Michael R. Gilmore
Just over a century ago, near the beginning of his intellectual life, the young Albert Einstein became a skeptic. He states so on the first page of his Autobiographical Notes (1949, pp. 3-5): "Thus I came--despite the fact I was the son of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents--to a deep religiosity, which, however, found an abrupt ending at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived...Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude...which has never left me..."
We all know Albert Einstein as the most famous scientist of the 20th century, and many know him as a great humanist. Some have also viewed him as religious. Indeed, in Einstein's writings there is well-known reference to God and discussion of religion (1949, 1954). Although Einstein stated he was religious and that he believed in God, it was in his own specialized sense that he used these terms. Many are aware that Einstein was not religious in the conventional sense, but it will come as a surprise to some to learn that Einstein clearly identified himself as an atheist and as an agnostic. If one understands how Einstein used the terms religion, God, atheism, and agnosticism, it is clear that he was consistent in his beliefs.
Part of the popular picture of Einstein's God and religion comes from his well-known statements, such as: "God is cunning but He is not malicious."(Also: "God is subtle but he is not bloody-minded." Or: "God is slick, but he ain't mean." (1946)
"God does not play dice."(On many occasions.)
"I want to know how God created the world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details."(Unknown date.)
It is easy to see how some got the idea that Einstein was expressing a close relationship with a personal god, but it is more accurate to say he was simply expressing his ideas and beliefs about the universe.
Einstein's "belief" in Spinoza's God is one of his most widely quoted statements. But quoted out of context, like so many of these statements, it is misleading at best. It all started when Boston's Cardinal O'Connel attacked Einstein and the General Theory of Relativity and warned the youth that the theory "cloaked the ghastly apparition of atheism" and "befogged speculation, producing universal doubt about God and His creation"(Clark, 1971, 413-414). Einstein had already experienced heavier duty attacks against his theory in the form of anti-Semitic mass meetings in Germany, and he initially ignored the Cardinal's attack. Shortly thereafter though, on April 24, 1929, Rabbi Herbert Goldstein of New York cabled Einstein to ask: "Do you believe in God?"(Sommerfeld, 1949, 103). Einstein's return message is the famous statement: "I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings"(103). The Rabbi, who was intent on defending Einstein against the Cardinal, interpreted Einstein's statement in his own way when writing: "Spinoza, who is called the God-intoxicated man, and who saw God manifest in all nature, certainly could not be called an atheist. Furthermore, Einstein points to a unity. Einstein's theory if carried out to its logical conclusion would bring to mankind a scientific formula for monotheism. He does away with all thought of dualism or pluralism. There can be no room for any aspect of polytheism. This latter thought may have caused the Cardinal to speak out. Let us call a spade a spade"(Clark, 1971, 414). Both the Rabbi and the Cardinal would have done well to note Einstein's remark, of 1921, to Archbishop Davidson in a similar context about science: "It makes no difference. It is purely abstract science"(413).
The American physicist Steven Weinberg (1992), in critiquing Einstein's "Spinoza's God" statement, noted: "But what possible difference does it make to anyone if we use the word 'God' in place of 'order' or 'harmony,' except perhaps to avoid the accusation of having no God?" Weinberg certainly has a valid point, but we should also forgive Einstein for being a product of his times, for his poetic sense, and for his cosmic religious view regarding such things as the order and harmony of the universe.
But what, at bottom, was Einstein's belief? The long answer exists in Einstein's essays on religion and science as given in his Ideas and Opinions (1954), his Autobiographical Notes (1949), and other works. What about a short answer?
In the Summer of 1945, just before the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Einstein wrote a short letter stating his position as an atheist (Figure 1). Ensign Guy H. Raner had written Einstein from mid-Pacific requesting a clarification on the beliefs of the world famous scientist (Figure 2). Four years later Raner again wrote Einstein for further clarification and asked "Some people might interpret (your letter) to mean that to a Jesuit priest, anyone not a Roman Catholic is an atheist, and that you are in fact an orthodox Jew, or a Deist, or something else. Did you mean to leave room for such an interpretation, or are you from the viewpoint of the dictionary an atheist; i.e., 'one who disbelieves in the existence of a God, or a Supreme Being'?" Einstein's response is shown in Figure 3.
Combining key elements from the first and second response from Einstein there is little doubt as to his position: "From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.... I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our being."
I was fortunate to meet Guy Raner, by chance, at a humanist dinner in late 1994, at which time he told me of the Einstein letters. Raner lives in Chatsworth, California and has retired after a long teaching career. The Einstein letters, a treasured possession for most of his life, were sold in December, 1994, to a firm that deals in historical documents (Profiles in History, Beverly Hills, CA). Five years ago a very brief letter (Raner & Lerner, 1992) describing the correspondence was published in Nature. But the two Einstein letters have remained largely unknown.
Curiously enough, the wonderful and well-known biography Albert Einstein, Creator and Rebel, by Banesh Hoffmann (1972) does quote from Einstein's 1945 letter to Raner. But maddeningly, although Hoffmann quotes most of the letter (194-195), he leaves out Einstein's statement: "From the viewpoint of a Jesuit Priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist." Hoffmann's biography was written with the collaboration of Einstein's secretary, Helen Dukas. Could she have played a part in eliminating this important sentence, or was it Hoffmann's wish? I do not know. However, Freeman Dyson (1996) notes "that Helen wanted the world to see the Einstein of legend, the friend of school children and impoverished students, the gently ironic philosopher, the Einstein without violent feelings and tragic mistakes." Dyson also notes that he thought Dukas "profoundly wrong in trying to hide the true Einstein from the world." Perhaps her well-intentioned protectionism included the elimination of Einstein as atheist.
Although not a favorite of physicists, Einstein, The Life and Times, by the professional biographer Ronald W. Clark (1971), contains one of the best summaries on Einstein's God: "However, Einstein's God was not the God of most men. When he wrote of religion, as he often did in middle and later life, he tended to...clothe with different names what to many ordinary mortals--and to most Jews--looked like a variant of simple agnosticism...This was belief enough. It grew early and rooted deep. Only later was it dignified by the title of cosmic religion, a phrase which gave plausible respectability to the views of a man who did not believe in a life after death and who felt that if virtue paid off in the earthly one, then this was the result of cause and effect rather than celestial reward. Einstein's God thus stood for an orderly system obeying rules which could be discovered by those who had the courage, the imagination, and the persistence to go on searching for them"(19).
Einstein continued to search, even to the last days of his 76 years, but his search was not for the God of Abraham or Moses. His search was for the order and harmony of the world.
Bibliography
Dyson, F. 1996. Forward In The Quotable Einstein (Calaprice, Alice, Ed. ) Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1996. (Note: The section "On Religion, God, and Philosophy" is perhaps the best brief source to present the range and depth of Einstein's views.)
Einstein, A. 1929. quoted in Sommerfeld (see below). 1949. Also as Telegram to a Jewish Newspaper, 1929; Einstein Archive Number 33-272.
___. 1946 and of unknown date. In Einstein, A Centenary Volume. (A. P. French, Ed.) Cambridge: Harvard Univ Press. 1979. 32, 73, & 67.
___. 1959 (1949). "Autobiographical Notes." In Albert Einstein, Philosopher--Scientist. (Paul Arthur Schilpp, Ed.) New York: Harper & Bros.
___. 1950. Letter to M. Berkowitz, October 25, 1950; Einstein Archive Number 59-215.
___. 1954. Ideas and Opinions. New York: Crown Pub.
___. on many occasions. In Albert Einstein, Creator and Rebel. (B. Hoffmann with the collaboration of Helen Dukas.) New York: The Viking Press.
Hoffmann, B. (collaboration with Helen Dukas). 1972. Albert Einstein, Creator and Rebel. New York: The Viking Press.
Raner, G. H. & Lerner, L. S. "Einstein's Beliefs." Nature, 358:102.
Sommerfeld, A. 1949. "To Albert Einstein's 70th Birthday." In Albert Einstein, Philospher-Scientist. (Paul Arthur Schilpp, Ed.) New York: Harper & Bros. 1959. 99-105.
Weinberg, S. 1992. Dreams of a Final Theory. New York: Pantheon Books. 245.