Preferring a search for objective reality over revelation is another way of satisfying religious hunger. It is an endeavor almost as old as civilization and intertwined with traditional religion, but it follows a very different course: a stoic's creed, an acquired taste, a guidebook to adventure plotted across rough terrain. It aims to save the spirit, not by surrender but by liberation of the human mind. Its central tenet, as Einstein knew, is the unification of knowledge. When we have unified enough certain knowledge, we will understand who we are and why we are here.
Today's meditation consists of a number of Albert Einstein's sayings on religion and life followed by a period of silent reflection. Please enter the space of silence and honesty, which is known by many names. Let us open our hearts in the spirit of meditation.
Surprise, psychologists tell us, is one element in comedy. It is also an element in tragedy: I once had a religious adviser who told me that the most common reaction to death, that most certain and tragic event, was surprise. Surprise in the tragic sense came to me in the middle of last week when I received a phone call from Marlene Lieb. Marlene and her husband, Rob, are long-time and well-loved members of this congregation. Marlene told me that her father had died and that Rob, who was scheduled to lead today's service, was ill and in the hospital. One is always saddened when bad things happen to such good people. On this Sunday morning, I wish for Marlene and Rob: solace, good health, and peace.
Marlene had another surprise for me: She suggested that I speak in Rob's place today since the congregation would expect to hear a physicist speak. She reasoned that since all physicists think alike, I'd be a good replacement. I protested weakly that this wasn't so. After all, Rob's an experimentalist, and I'm a theoretician. Marlene also suggested that I might want to repeat my sermon on Einstein's religion, which, as you now know, I'm doing. Perhaps, this dizzying turn of events also leaves you feeling surprised. I know I am. You are gathered here today to listen to one physicist talking for another physicist about a third physicist's religion. You'll have to decide whether this little surprise makes you laugh or cry. Let's turn now to Albert Einstein and his religious thought.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." So Einstein once wrote to explain his personal creed.... His was not a life of prayer and worship. Yet he lived by a deep faith—a faith not capable of rational foundation—that there are laws of Nature to be discovered. His lifelong pursuit was to discover them. These are the words that Abraham Pais chose to begin his biography of Albert Einstein. These words show the intimate connection between Einstein's science and his religion and reflect many of the themes that I would like to explore with you this morning. I'd like to do several things. First, I'd like to describe, as best I can, the kind of person that Albert Einstein was. Next, I'll describe his approach to religious questions. And I'll end with some comments on my reaction to Einstein's religious thought. Throughout the presentation I'll lean heavily on Einstein's own words, particularly on his less formal writings such as letters and unpublished notes.
Images of Einstein are everywhere and very familiar, so perhaps you might be interested in how he saw himself. When Einstein was about forty years old he wrote the following tongue-in-cheek description of himself to a niece who had missed seeing him:
I hear... that you are dissatisfied that you did not see your Uncle Einstein. Let me therefore tell you what I look like: pale face, long hair, and a tiny beginning of a paunch. In addition an awkward gait, and a cigar in the mouth—if he happens to have a cigar—and a pen in his pocket or his hand. But crooked legs and warts he does not have, and so he is quite handsome—also no hair on his hands such as is often found on ugly men. So it is indeed a pity that you did not see me.
The inclusion of the ever-present pen in this description is particularly interesting. Einstein was once asked where his laboratory was. He smiled, took a fountain pen out of his pocket, held it up, and said, "Here." His whole approach to physics was theoretical. He was possessed, if not obsessed, by physics and his deepest need was to think separately, to be by himself. By his own admission he was,
... a real loner, who has never belonged with his whole heart to his state, his homeland, his circle of friends, or, indeed even to his immediate family.
He did collaborate with others, but when an obstacle was encountered he would signal them to withdraw by saying, "I will a little think." He didn't care for teaching, once writing to a friend, "How wretchedly inadequate is the theoretical physicist as he stands before Nature—and before his students!" He never guided a student to a Ph.D.
Music was a profound necessity: He played the violin when young and the piano in his later years. He was strongly attracted to the visual arts and well-read outside the sciences. He mastered foreign languages passably, but not really well. His facility with the German language was on the same level as his science. He spoke in a gentle voice; his English had a distinct and lovable accent. He had great wit, a good sense of humor, and occasionally liked to tell stories. He was not a sports enthusiast but liked sailing. He never owned or drove a car. He never had a television set. He was a shrewd observer of human nature: friendly, courteous, not swayed by class or rank, but also able to be critical in private conversation.
He was not a perfect human being, nor did he have a perfect life. He was married twice and divorced once. He was not a good husband. He was open and frank about these shortcomings, once writing about a friend, "What I most admired in him as a human being is that he managed to live for many years, not only in peace but also in lasting harmony with a woman—an undertaking in which I twice failed rather disgracefully." The fate of Einstein's daughter, born to him and his first wife before they were married is, despite much research, still unknown. Relations with his two sons were often strained. He had several extramarital affairs. Einstein's creative energies went completely and always into science, perhaps at a cost to himself, certainly at a cost to those close or trying to be close to him. He once said, "I must search in the stars for what is denied me on earth."
The last years of Einstein's life were spent in Princeton, New Jersey; and I would like to close this section by sharing with you some reminiscences by Princeton residents about their experiences with Einstein. These reminiscences were published in a local Princeton newspaper on the one hundredth anniversary of Einstein's birth, March 14, 1979. The first is from a woman who as a young girl used to go caroling at Christmastime, and once did so in front of Einstein's home: "Presently the old gentleman came slowly down the icy steps to the sidewalk where we stood and, in the glow of the streetlamp, told us in a heavily-accented voice how much he had enjoyed our rendering of the old carols and asked one or two of us our names and about our school. It was all over in a few moments and the head of bushy white hair, wrapped in its long muffler, retreated to the warmth of the house. But the warmth within each of us was now equal to that of the fireside and we continued on our appointed route with a personal radiance."
The next is from a woman who owned a flower shop: "When he would pay his bill with his check I would save them. I thought the autograph was worth more than the check. When I had accumulated quite a few, Dr. Einstein telephoned and asked if I would cash the checks so that he could balance his checkbook. He also offered to provide us with as many of his autographs as I wished."
The last, and my favorite, is from his doctor: "After the war, I limited my practice to ophthalmology, and was happy to make certain that the Einstein family [was] able to see well. The professor insisted on a regular appointment, and sat serenely in the waiting room awaiting his turn. He wanted no special favors. When I finished my yearly check-up of his eyes, I would tell him that his glasses could be improved 40 percent with a new prescription. His reply invariably, with a smile, would be, "A friend in New York sends me these simple magnifying glasses as a gift each year, and if they do no real harm, Henry, I prefer not to change them. I don't want to hurt his feelings. You don't mind if I continue, do you? So, year after year, I would have the pleasure of checking the eyes of this great stubborn man, knowing that my final prescription was of academic interest only."
Was Einstein a religious person? The answer to this question seems to depend strongly on each person's reaction to Einstein's religious statements. One prominent religious leader declared that Einstein's effort's were, "Befogged speculations producing universal doubt about God and his creation," and "cloaking the ghastly apparition of atheism." Many of his biographer's conclude that Einstein was areligious. Einstein's own answer to this question seems to me a bit subtle, which makes it possible to characterize his beliefs in these different ways. For example, he once wrote the following:
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery—even if mixed with fear—that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds—it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity; in this sense, and in this sense alone, I am a deeply religious man. 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 egotism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness 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.
Notice that his religiosity springs not from a calculation or an abstract principle but from a kind of transcendent emotion: a sense of awe at the marvelous, rational structure of the existing world. His religious belief in the simplicity, beauty, and sublimity of the universe was the primary source of inspiration in his science. He evaluated a scientific theory by asking himself whether, if he were God, would he have made the Universe that way. Einstein coined the term cosmic religion to describe his religious feelings, about which he wrote the following: "It is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it... The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man's image; so that there can be no church whose central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely among the heretics of every age that we find persons who were filled with this kind of religious feeling and were in many cases regarded by their contemporaries as atheists, sometimes also as saints."
Now, I would like to read you a portion of a letter that Einstein wrote to a long-time friend. The letter was handwritten in German near the end of Einstein's life and contains, I think, some interesting insights into his religious thinking. Here's what he wrote:
Now I come to the most interesting point in your letter. You find it strange that I consider the comprehensibility of the world... as a miracle or as an eternal mystery. Well, ... one should expect a chaotic world which cannot be grasped by the mind in any way. One could (yes one should) expect the world to be subjected to law only to the extent that we order it through our intelligence. Ordering of this kind would be like the alphabetical ordering of the words of a language. By contrast, the order created by Newton's theory of gravitation, for instance, is wholly different. Even if the axioms of the theory are proposed by man, the success of such a project presupposes a high degree of ordering of the objective world, and this could not be expected.... That is the "miracle&qquot;which is being constantly reinforced as our knowledge expands. There lies the weakness of positivists and professional athesists who are elated because they feel that they not only successfully rid the world of gods but "bared the miracles." Oddly enough, we must be satisfied to acknowledge the "miracle" without there being any legitimate way for us to approach it. I am forced to add that just to keep you from thinking that—weakened by age—I have fallen prey to the parsons.
Here Einstein rejects the position of both the positivists, those who accept only sense perceptions and their interrelationships as the basis of knowledge and precise thought, and the atheists. He also rejects by implication the traditional religious approach to the "miracle" through revelation, worship, and prayer. His god is manifested in sheer being, an order in nature, and rationality to a degree that astonishes the human mind, but not in personality and will such as is found in human beings.
As for morality, he believed it to be of the highest importance—but for us not for God. Amongst his writings was found the following. It is not known to whom it was addressed.
Our time is distinguished by wonderful achievements in the fields of scientific understanding and the technical application of those insights. Who would not be cheered by this? But let us not forget that knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth. What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for me higher than all the achievements of the enquiring and constructive mind. What these blessed men have given us we must guard and try to keep alive with all our strength if humanity is not to lose its dignity, the security of its existence, and its joy in living.
He also once wrote to his sister as follows:
The big political doings of our time are so disheartening that in our generation one feels quite alone. It is as if people have lost the passion for justice and dignity and no longer treasure what better generations have won by extraordinary sacrifices.... After all, the foundation of all human values is morality. To have recognized this clearly in primative times is the unique greatness of our [religious teachers.]
Einstein left some advice for generations to come. When asked for a written contribution to be preserved and opened in the distant future, here's what he wrote:
Dear Posterity,
If you have not become more just, more peaceful, and generally more rational than we are (or were)—why then, the Devil take you. Having, with all respect, given utterance to this pious wish, I am (or was),
Your, Albert Einstein
What does posterity have to say about Einstein's religious thought? I would venture the opinion that, except for academics, Einstein's approach to religion is little known. His concept of God is nearly the polar opposite of traditional concepts. In Einstein's thought, the personal emerges as a consequence of the impersonal: it is the universe following deterministic laws that nurtures and brings forth human consciousness. In the traditional approach, God is the ultimate personality and produces human consciousness by an act of direct creation. The physicist, Steven Weinberg, points out that Einstein's God is remote and impersonal: One does not pray to or have a personal relationship with the order and harmony found in Nature. The personal enters into Einstein's religious thought through human agency. Einstein's view is that morality and providential care are strictly human affairs.
Another criticism often lodged against Einstein's religion is that it is atheistic. Einstein never agreed with this criticism. Perhaps, a little historical background will shed some light on the perception of Einstein's religion as a form of atheism. Karen Armstrong, a well-known religious scholar, has written: "people who have been dubbed 'atheists' over the years have always denied a particular conception of the divine." In Einstein's case, we know that he rejected a personal God. Armstrong continues: "Atheism has often been a transitional state: thus Jews, Christians and Muslims were all called 'atheists' by their pagan contemporaries because they had adopted a revolutionary notion of divinity and transcendence." Is this the case for Einstein? Is Einstein's religion a message for his time, for our time, for all times? Whether his religious thought is characterized as befogged speculations, areligious musings, or a profound religiosity is for each of us to decide individually. Truly, no Unitarian Universalist would have it otherwise. May it always be so.