The spirituality of Albert Einstein

  • 2016

Albert Einstein is one of the most famous scientists, iconic, influential and, universally admired by so many people in the history of mankind.

The way of realization of the genius and the preeminent scientist of the modern era, its theories and discoveries, have profoundly affected the way of seeing and understanding the world and its place in it. Einstein was also known as a philosopher and humanist who was keenly interested and concerned about world affairs.

His intelligent, sagacious and humorous quotes, as well as his letters and articles, are widely used in popular culture, as well as in historical works and academic texts.

Albert Einstein theoretical physicist and in addition to being the most famous scientist in the history of mankind, he developed the general theory of relativity - recently confirmed - one of the two pillars of modern physics, along with quantum mechanics. Best known for its mass / energy equivalence formula E = mc 2. Nobel Prize in Physics for its “services to theoretical physics” and, in particular, for its discovery of the photoelectric effect, a fundamental step in the evolution of quantum theory .

Born in Ulm, Germany, he exhibited extraordinary curiosity and understanding of the mysteries of science. He also took music lessons, where he played the violin and piano; which fueled a passion for music that remained throughout his life.

As a passionate humanist, he took an active and open stance on the political and social issues of his time. As a committed Jew, he advocated a distinctive moral role for the Jewish people. It is known that science was Albert Einstein's first love, however, he always found time to devote tireless efforts to political causes close to his heart. His enormous humanism led him to fight for peace, freedom and social justice. Einstein found the authoritarianism and militarism of the German education system deeply disturbing; and toxic nationalism and the brutality of World War I, confirmed their pacifist and internationalist convictions.

Throughout his life, Einstein felt a great affinity with the Jewish people. He defined Judaism as a culture with a common historical past and common ethical values, rather than as an institutionalized religion. For him the main values ​​of Judaism were the intellectual aspiration and the search for social justice. Like Baruch Spinoza, he did not believe in a personal god, but rather, that the divine is manifested in the physical world.

Einstein had his first contact with religion at a Catholic primary school in Munich. This seemed like a good choice for his parents, who had rejected the Jewish rituals of their ancestors as obsolete superstitions, that is, until their son seemed too influenced by the teaching of the Catholic religion. A distant relative was hired to teach him again about Judaism, to a much stronger effect than expected; becoming fervently religious which led him to wear the kosher.

This stage ended at age 12, when a student of poor and Jewish medicine, named Max Talmud (Dr. Max Talmey), gave him books of scientific dissemination that introduced him to the positivist critique of religion (the idea that he only authentic, is the "positive" knowledge, which can be verified by observation and experiment). The books characterized Judaism and Christianity as belief systems that operated largely in fear of God's punishment.

Einstein suddenly saw a God who punishes, as a dishonest trick to scare children into obedience. He also came to believe that the miracles of the Bible were in conflict with scientific knowledge and therefore could not be true. It was, he later wrote: "a devastating experience, " which led him to distrust all religious authority, symbolized by his refusal to have a mitzvah bar. Then, scientific research was introduced “to free me from the chains of the 'merely personal', from an existence that is dominated by primitive desires, hopes and feelings. Beyond this enormous world, which exists independently of human beings and presents itself to us as a great and eternal enigma ... The contemplation of this world made a sign of liberation, and suddenly I realized that beyond a man to who learned to esteem and admire, I found inner freedom and security in the occupation dedicated to it ”(Albert Einstein).

One of these men he admired was the Dutch Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza, a man of the Age of Reason. Spinoza said that everything important could be proven, including truths related to the existence of God (which he believed was identical to Nature), human psychology, and ethics. Spinoza openly rejected the divinity and the literal truth of the Bible. In his time Spinoza was considered by most Christians and Jews as an "infamous atheist, " centuries later, the romantic poet Novalis called him an "intoxicated man of God." Einstein identified strongly with Spinoza and wrote what could be Spinoza's only poem in praise: "For Spinoza's Ethics." The first verse says: How I like that noble man / More than I can say with words. / Although I fear he will have to remain alone / He with his bright halo.

This perspective of Einstein caused storms of protest. Was he the scientist, religious believer or atheist? Einstein tried to find a similar point between the opposite poles of positivism and traditional religion. While Spinoza's spirituality was based on what was knowable, Einstein was inspired by the mystery and wonder of what he did not know, the reality beyond human understanding. As he wrote in his creed "My vision of the world" (1930):

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mystery. It is the fundamental emotion that is placed in the cradle of true art and true science. He who does not know and can no longer be amazed and marvel, is as if he were dead, and his eyes are dimmed ... The knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perception of the deepest reason and the most radiant beauty - that only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitutes true religiosity; In this sense, I am a deeply religious man (ideas and opinions).

In one sense, Einstein's approach to God reflects the classic Talmudic notion of shamayim yirat "the fear of the heavens." While most of us can feel overwhelmed when we look at a sky full of stars on a clear night, Einstein's fear extended beyond what he could see to the impressive power behind him. While traditional Jews studied the books of Torah, Einstein studied the book of nature, sustained by the experience of the "cosmic religious feeling" that emanates from the natural world.

Einstein, Albert (1930). Religion and Spirituality

AUTHOR: Laura Gamboa, editor of the great family of hermandadblanca.org

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