To End All Einstein Quote Mining

[Xaqaria]

"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." "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." "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" "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 impenatrable 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. In this sense, and in this sense alone, I rank myself amoung profoundly religious men." "A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "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 for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." (Albert Einstein, What I Believe, 1930) ¤ Albert Einstein was a brilliant man who saw the limited capacity of human beings to understand that which is. His beliefs were well thought out and intricate enough that they can not fall under any label that some might wish to apply to him, thus making it appear as though he would have agreed with them on all fronts. If there is any common theme that flows through all that he has said about what it is he believes it is the idea that we can never know, but we should never stop looking. To take his words out of context and attempt to apply them to an argument for your own world view is misrepresentative and dishonest and quite frankly, a failure to articulate your own beliefs in a way that can be understood.

[The Enterer]

Yeah, good luck with that. True enough Einstein’s views don't jibe with Scientism, but the vultures will be here soon enough to pick his bones. Selectively, of course.

[ClassyElf]

Sounds like he's somewhat of a Pantheist to me.

[Neruo]

Albert Einstein was a brilliant man who saw the limited capacity of human beings to understand that which is. His beliefs were well thought out and intricate enough that they can not fall under any label that some might wish to apply to him, thus making it appear as though he would have agreed with them on all fronts. If there is any common theme that flows through all that he has said about what it is he believes it is the idea that we can never know, but we should never stop looking. To take his words out of context and attempt to apply them to an argument for your own world view is misrepresentative and dishonest and quite frankly, a failure to articulate your own beliefs in a way that can be understood. Well, yeah. You selected a few quotes that underline your idea of what Einstein thought.

[Xaqaria]

Well, yeah. You selected a few quotes that underline your idea of what Einstein thought. Actually no, I copied Einstein's paper, "What I believe" in full and unedited.

[Sandform]

Even though some people enjoy spreading the lie that I am not, I am most definitely an Atheist. ~ Einstein.

[Bonsay]

“It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I feel also not able to imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. My views are near those of Spinoza: admiration for the beauty of and belief in the logical simplicity of the order which we can grasp humbly and only imperfectly. I believe that we have to content ourselves with our imperfect knowledge and understanding and treat values and moral obligations as a purely human problem—the most important of all human problems.” “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.” These are about his views too, are they not?

[juroara]

well..Ive seen this argument lots of times both quotes that say "atheist" and both quotes that say "some sort of God, but not like in Christianity" solution?? is it possible, just possible, his beliefs changed over time? or that when he says atheist, its more of a buddhist statement. and some buddhists still recognize a consciousness throughout the universe. but is weary to use the word God because this consciousness is not separate from anything. Unlike the traditional view of the Christian God, which is sitting on a cloud some where. in other words, in their own right they do believe in God, but have no need to separate this God from them self, so no need to designate a special term for God, like 'God'. maybe the times are a problem too? today spirituality is a lot more diversified than ever, with more terms than people had in the past if Einstein were here today, and we could give him a huge list of all the spiritual and religious terms, than maybe he would be able to accurately describe himself but really whats the point? maybe you believe Einstein believed in God, or maybe you didn't? It doesn't change his scientific findings.

[Neruo]

Actually no, I copied Einstein's paper, "What I believe" in full and unedited. Still, it's out of context. (I was/am kidding)

[Scatterbrain]

Yeah, good luck with that. True enough Einstein’s views don't jibe with Scientism, but the vultures will be here soon enough to pick his bones. Selectively, of course. The religious are usually the first ones to try and pull Einstein to their side of the argument though. Like you just did, with some subtlety of course.

[DreamCloud]

I thought that you were very fair and non divisive, Xaqaria, in your communication of Einstein’s own words. Well said. It just reinforces my belief that he was by far the most interesting and amazing individual of the last century.

[Original Poster]

It's funny, people think because he was an atheist he never gave any thought to more esoteric matters. He thought about them constantly, and had a pretty well developed idea in his head of what existence might be beyond our initial perception. However I think he preferred to remain grounded in a concrete reality, and while he played with these ideas he didn't take them with any weight because he knew he couldn't prove them.

[wendylove]

He thought about them constantly, and had a pretty well developed idea in his head of what existence might be beyond our initial perception. I wonder what quote you're going to mine to prove this. The thing about quote mining Einstein is that he is not consistent in what he says, nor can you actually know someones belife from a quote. Also, its funny how the quoter of Einstein always say Einstein believes the same thing as him. I remeber reading Hoft's how to be a bad scientist and one of the point is that quoting a famous person to make you seem right.

[Original Poster]

Who doesn't contradict themselves? I am in no way asserting einstein and I came to the same conclusions about life. I'm just trying to add in my version of einstein based on what I had read about him. It's no different from what any atheist has said thus far about Einstein. When you have someone with his amount of respect and prestige, it's kind of hard not to look at him as a role model, pretty much no matter what, so it's a natural process to highlight aspects of him that you prefer to follow. With any historical figure, there are many versions. But honestly, who doesn't love Einstein? The man has a more unanimous, long term respect for him than Jesus.

[spockman]

Another thing people fail to realize is that throughout his life as he studied more his views changed. When he was younger, I suppose he would have been considered a Jew. That changed. The atheist thing. That changed. Maybe it changed back to atheism, I don't know. I'd like to see his sfinal thoughts and conclusions before he died, since his views and his qoutes aren't permanent. Especially for a scientist who formulates new ideas and conclusions all the time.