earthbound wrote:
Ahhh, now if you want to quote Albert Einstein, there are some very interesting thoughts that I can relate to..
Good! Then we are in agreement that there is a God.
This was always the basis of his scientific foundation.
Quote:
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. EINSTEIN
The quotes that interest you ............
Quote:
The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. (Albert Einstein)
Perfect description of a one world religion to unite all people under a one world government. Get rid of differing dogma and establish unity "on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual" It is coming too!
BTW... did Einstein say he was a Buddhist?
Quote:
It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. (Albert Einstein, 1954, The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press)
He is speaking of Intelligent Design. He had a deep awe for how intricately things worked together. He did not believe in God exactly as I do. Never said he did.
The topic under discussion was science and religion .... are they mutually exclusive? Loved his honest approach to life. Definitely not a merely a product of his culture. Fascinating man.
Quote:
Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being.
(Albert Einstein, 1936, The Human Side. Responding to a child who wrote and asked if scientists pray.)
He believed in God but not a God who was personally involved. The noted Orthodox Jewish leader in New York, Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein, sent a very
direct telegram:
"Do you believe in God? Stop. Answer paid. 50 words." Einstein used only about half his allotted number of words. It became the most famous version of an answer he gave often:
"I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind." He did not believe in the free will of man and so saw no point in prayer. God was in his heaven as far as he was concerned....... and what was designed to happen would happen.... he thought. But that impersonal God sure created some amazing things!
And Einstein was constantly in awe of it.
Quote:
A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
(Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science", New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930)
LOL. And man is indeed in a poor way when he needs such restraint. The law of the Old Testamant is like muzzling a dog that will not stop biting. But change the heart of the dog and no muzzle is needed. This is what God did in Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
You must note that his perspective here is about personal living. Not really relevant to the discussion.... The discussion? Are science and religion mutually exclusive? Again the quote...."The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."Einstein.
Ideas about the inherent nature of man have also advanced since 1930. Do you wonder what his observations on the holocaust were? Remember the holocaust only started in 1933........
three years after your quote EB. http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/sound/voice2.wav This is what he was recorded saying....
Quote:
"As long as Nazi violence was unleashed only, or mainly, against the Jews, the rest of the world looked on passively and even treaties and agreements were made with the patently criminal government of the Third Reich.... The doors of Palestine were closed to Jewish immigrants, and no country could be found that would admit those forsaken people. They were left to perish like their brothers and sisters in the occupied countries. We shall never forget the heroic efforts of the small countries, of the Scandinavian, the Dutch, the Swiss nations, and of individuals in the occupied part of Europe who did all in their power to protect Jewish lives."
It is recorded that Einstein failed to reconcile the evil he saw and lived-the evil of the Jewish Holocaust-with his strongly held views of a completely determined universe. Being a Jew and a well-known Zionist he personally encountered much anti-Semitism and when the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed, these became a great challenge to his philosophy. Here is Einstein writing to a Jewish Holocaust survivor:
“When one sees how the rest of mankind treats us in view of this, one is filled with pervading disgust. I wonder if Spinoza would have found strength to rise above it without inner damage. It is good that he was spared this brutal test.” (4) The problem is simple,
“Are the Nazis morally responsible?” His observations said, “Yes” (evil is real), but his theory denied it, (Nazis – not guilty). For Einstein there was no simple answer. Education and social ties do not seem to be have been enough to effect the sympathy he speaks of in 1930. People sold out others to protect their own skin.... even in families. It says in the Bible that even family members will turn on each other in the end times.
Quote:
I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature. (Albert Einstein, The World as I See It)
Personal beliefs. What a surprise he must have had when he met his Maker! I wonder if he saw Spinoza.
Quote:
I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.
(Albert Einstein, responding to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein who had sent Einstein a cablegram bluntly demanding "Do you believe in God?" Quoted from Victor J. Stenger, Has Science Found God? 2001, chapter 3.)
Yes... as commented above. He did not believe in the free will of man and so saw no point in prayer. He can give me no satisfactory account to my own answers to prayer with such a perspective. Just a man finding his way.... but a very creative and intelligent scientist.
Again I must point out.........Relevance of his ideas to the discussion were not his personal spiritual struggles but that one of the finest scientific minds could not divorce science and the Spirit world .........as was being suggested.Quote:
One strength of the Communist system ... is that it has some of the characteristics of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.
(Albert Einstein, Out Of My Later Years, 1950)
How is that as a solution to this crazy world we have? Take away the free will of the people. (Remember Einstein does not believe in the free will of man) Take away their worldly goods to "share" it with "everyone". (The basic tenet of communism.) Tell them what to believe in........... You have it!
A one world religion. He was more prophetic than he knew perhaps.
Quote:
The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action. (Albert Einstein)
Your point here EB? You saying he said God is a myth? Can't be. For he spoke of God. You saying that he is saying that everything in the Scriptures is a myth? No context given so your point is unclear.
Quote:
I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it. (Albert Einstein, The Human Side)
Personal beliefs again. Believed in an impersonal God and no immortality.
I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one, 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 own being. (Albert Einstein)
Jesus Himself said.... except you be as a little child you will not see the Kingdom of God. A wise man to recognise our weakness in intellectual understanding. One day we will understand many things much better. In the meantime what God reveals is awesome!
Quote:
What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of "humility." This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism. (Albert Einstein)
He acknowledged his God. The same God as Spinoza. Impersonal.
Quote:
The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly in the rampant growth of the so-called Theosophy and Spiritualism, is for me no more than a symptom of weakness and confusion. Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning. (Albert Einstein)
Relevance? Theosophy and Spiritualism have nothing to do with Christianity. Very different religions. I agree with him.....the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning. This quote just thrown in ...?
Quote:
Strange that we both find such differing quotes...
Strange that you think them differing EB.........
Same man... consistant message. Your point? I think you have showed as well that Einstein believed that science and religion are not mutually exclusive.
Backyard Aquaponics
Chill...........
