EINSTEIN'S SPIRIT MYSTERY *
In 1930, while sailing and ruminating, Albert Einstein composed a credo, "What I Believe," He wanted to express his feelings, both for himself and for all those who sought a simple answer from him about his faith. It ended with an explanation of what he meant when he called himself religious: "The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed out candle. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly; this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man."
On another occasion, Einstein further explained his belief when he was questioned by a sixth grade Sunday school girl in New York: "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 feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive."
Einstein also said he had "a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos," and relished "the music of the spheres."
For Einstein, the beauty of his faith was that it informed and inspired, rather than conflicted with, his scientific work. 'The cosmic religious feeling,' he said, 'is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research.'"
Einstein offered his view of the relationship between science and religion at a conference at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, "Science can be created only by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion."
His remarks got front-page news coverage while his concise conclusion became famous: "The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Near the end of his life, Einstein reflected again upon the limits of the mind. The following is a quote from an unknown source. "The mind can proceed only so far upon what it knows and can prove. There comes a point where the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge, but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap."
Einstein is giving us broad brush strokes of how he sees the cosmos. At the same time he reveals to us his inner conviction of what holds it all together and how this perception affected him in his scientific activity. This grand and beautiful mystery he calls "a spirit vastly superior to that of man," and "something that our minds cannot grasp." He says that "behind anything that can be experienced there is something...whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly; this is religiousness." As his biographer, Walter Isaacson says, Einstein's faith inspired and informed his scientific work.
In reading these words, I could not help but remember how a great poet, William Wordsworth, said something similar in "Lines, Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey." In gratefulness to nature and his fellow man he talks
"Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
In which the burden of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened.
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things."
I give here a much quoted segment of Wordsworth's beautiful poem.
"For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing often-times
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue. And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts, a sense sublime
Of something more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things."
If consciousness and not the material world is the primary reality, as many quantum physicists now claim, we have to allow that we can receive truth from within, that we can respond and welcome what wells up within us. I see Wordsworth engaging in poetic form the mystery he sees us living in, while Einstein's ordinary discursive style gives us his view of the same. It may not be presumptuous to refer to their experiences of what different mystics have referred to as the Silentium Mysticum or the Mystical Silence.
It would seem that both Wordsworth and Einstein sensed the "otherness" of what their senses beheld. in moments of transcendence they perhaps saw God as the Infinite Life in all things. They elaborate on the beauty of the mystery they encountered. Could they have had "a draught of that Wine of Absolute Life which runs in the arteries of the world?" See Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, p. 234-235, 455, who sees mysticism as an experience of Reality.
Since Einstein talks about "a spirit vastly superior to that of man," and Wordsworth of a spirit dwelling in man that "rolls through all things," it would be helpful to look at one of the great Western sources that describes the mystery of the Spirit: John 3: 1-21. To see things with the eye of the spirit requires that I be begotten by the Spirit. Jesus says, "Flesh begets flesh, and Spirit begets spirit." Nicodemus, with an open mind, came to Jesus to inquire about these matters. He was a Pharisee and member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme council headed by the High Priest to handle religious, civil, and criminal matters. He had an inkling that some higher power could be working in Jesus, and sought him out at night to help him see whether this were true. Jesus says:
"The wind blows about at will;
You hear the sound it makes
But do not know where it comes from or where it goes,
So it is with everyone begotten of the Spirit."
Nicodemus is perplexed and replies, "How can things like this happen?"
Jesus' answer:
"I solemnly assure you,
We are talking about what we know,
And we are testifying to what we have seen."
Jesus response leaves no doubt that he knew he was moved by the Spirit. Perhaps it satisfied Nicodemus because no more is heard from him in this discussion. The verses clearly show that there is something mysterious about being born from above through the Spirit. I think we can say that all that comes from God or from above has an element of mystery. But the fact of mystery does not detract one bit from the reality of the Spirit's action. We have to confess to an inability to know how the Spirit works, to know where it comes from or where it goes. The Spirit as well as Jesus are from above, and therefore are mysterious to men from below.
Nor does it lessen the fact that Einstein and Wordsworth could have been touched by the Spirit. It is possible for all of us to be aware at times of an inner illuminating activity which simultaneously is of my doing and not of my doing. The Bible is a Grand Indicator or Pointer. It is not only about God but also very much about my response to God, to my neighbor, and to all of reality.
* All quotes within this reading are from Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe.
On another occasion, Einstein further explained his belief when he was questioned by a sixth grade Sunday school girl in New York: "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 feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive."
Einstein also said he had "a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos," and relished "the music of the spheres."
For Einstein, the beauty of his faith was that it informed and inspired, rather than conflicted with, his scientific work. 'The cosmic religious feeling,' he said, 'is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research.'"
Einstein offered his view of the relationship between science and religion at a conference at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, "Science can be created only by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion."
His remarks got front-page news coverage while his concise conclusion became famous: "The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Near the end of his life, Einstein reflected again upon the limits of the mind. The following is a quote from an unknown source. "The mind can proceed only so far upon what it knows and can prove. There comes a point where the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge, but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap."
Einstein is giving us broad brush strokes of how he sees the cosmos. At the same time he reveals to us his inner conviction of what holds it all together and how this perception affected him in his scientific activity. This grand and beautiful mystery he calls "a spirit vastly superior to that of man," and "something that our minds cannot grasp." He says that "behind anything that can be experienced there is something...whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly; this is religiousness." As his biographer, Walter Isaacson says, Einstein's faith inspired and informed his scientific work.
In reading these words, I could not help but remember how a great poet, William Wordsworth, said something similar in "Lines, Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey." In gratefulness to nature and his fellow man he talks
"Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
In which the burden of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened.
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things."
I give here a much quoted segment of Wordsworth's beautiful poem.
"For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing often-times
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue. And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts, a sense sublime
Of something more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things."
If consciousness and not the material world is the primary reality, as many quantum physicists now claim, we have to allow that we can receive truth from within, that we can respond and welcome what wells up within us. I see Wordsworth engaging in poetic form the mystery he sees us living in, while Einstein's ordinary discursive style gives us his view of the same. It may not be presumptuous to refer to their experiences of what different mystics have referred to as the Silentium Mysticum or the Mystical Silence.
It would seem that both Wordsworth and Einstein sensed the "otherness" of what their senses beheld. in moments of transcendence they perhaps saw God as the Infinite Life in all things. They elaborate on the beauty of the mystery they encountered. Could they have had "a draught of that Wine of Absolute Life which runs in the arteries of the world?" See Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, p. 234-235, 455, who sees mysticism as an experience of Reality.
Since Einstein talks about "a spirit vastly superior to that of man," and Wordsworth of a spirit dwelling in man that "rolls through all things," it would be helpful to look at one of the great Western sources that describes the mystery of the Spirit: John 3: 1-21. To see things with the eye of the spirit requires that I be begotten by the Spirit. Jesus says, "Flesh begets flesh, and Spirit begets spirit." Nicodemus, with an open mind, came to Jesus to inquire about these matters. He was a Pharisee and member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme council headed by the High Priest to handle religious, civil, and criminal matters. He had an inkling that some higher power could be working in Jesus, and sought him out at night to help him see whether this were true. Jesus says:
"The wind blows about at will;
You hear the sound it makes
But do not know where it comes from or where it goes,
So it is with everyone begotten of the Spirit."
Nicodemus is perplexed and replies, "How can things like this happen?"
Jesus' answer:
"I solemnly assure you,
We are talking about what we know,
And we are testifying to what we have seen."
Jesus response leaves no doubt that he knew he was moved by the Spirit. Perhaps it satisfied Nicodemus because no more is heard from him in this discussion. The verses clearly show that there is something mysterious about being born from above through the Spirit. I think we can say that all that comes from God or from above has an element of mystery. But the fact of mystery does not detract one bit from the reality of the Spirit's action. We have to confess to an inability to know how the Spirit works, to know where it comes from or where it goes. The Spirit as well as Jesus are from above, and therefore are mysterious to men from below.
Nor does it lessen the fact that Einstein and Wordsworth could have been touched by the Spirit. It is possible for all of us to be aware at times of an inner illuminating activity which simultaneously is of my doing and not of my doing. The Bible is a Grand Indicator or Pointer. It is not only about God but also very much about my response to God, to my neighbor, and to all of reality.
* All quotes within this reading are from Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe.