I’m not an atheist and I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God.
-Albert Einstein
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19 Responses
But to compare it to a huge library of books that were written by someone, Einstein is *assuming* that they were sentient and somehow documented every natural law of the universe. That’s a very dangerous assumption.
Posted on April 10th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Isn’t it just as dangerous to assume that there is no sentience involved?
Posted on April 10th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
If thought and life weren’t dangerous, there would be no point.
Posted on April 10th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I believe Einstein is speaking metaphorically comparing a child in a library to the human condition. His message indicates more of a mystical and spiritual position in my opinion. Certainly from this short passage one can conclude little.
Posted on April 11th, 2009 at 12:41 am
Hey Phil, he’s saying that we are too little knowledge to even begin to understand the nature of the universe. That saying there is or isn’t a god or gods is way beyond us yet. Asshat.
Posted on April 11th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Thank you Albert! That is exactly how I feel, it’s so tough to explain to people who are both atheists and hardcore into organized religion. Its the feeling that we can’t explain anything yet, that there’s so much more beyond what we know. We’ve only scratched the surface and, like children, we desire so much more!
Posted on April 12th, 2009 at 2:50 am
Exactly, its the feeling that the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know.
Posted on April 12th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
The mistake is to ascribe meaning to the universe. I am with Phil E on this one.
The quote above is about seeing order /intelligence in the universe.
Einstein did not believe in the monotheist creator god who has a plan for us and with whom you can have a personal relationship.
Posted on April 13th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Definitely with Phil E. Just because the content of the universe and the order is not understood does not mean that you can say that there was or wasn’t a being who put it that way.
Posted on April 18th, 2009 at 1:35 am
“conclude” not *”say”
Posted on April 18th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Einstein is just saying that he believes in *something*–something, perhaps, “that does not play dice with the universe.” As has been noted, he used the term “God” in a special sense. I think Einstein’s belief was irrational, as Phil E. pointed out, and it seems he was fumbling for a way to rationalize it. This is, of course, assuming he really held it and wasn’t just speaking in this way to please his audience (as often occurs when great men must engage with the public). But if irrational, it is certainly excusable–not just because knowledge of the universe has progressed since his time, but also because this belief (a kind of impersonal–perhaps even non-supernatural–Deism) arises from his appreciation of the mysterious–a strongly felt emotional whiff of the numinous–and (most importantly) does not directly contradict any acknowledged facts. I have no beef with this kind of Deism, but being a (relatively) thorough rationalist and empiricist (no emotional urge to believe in something) I must remain myself both an atheist and an a-deist. Show me some evidence, Albert!
Posted on April 18th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Einstein in his own words:
“What really makes me angry is that they (people who say there is no God) quote me for support of their views”. There is a God,by Anthony Flew, 2007 p 100
“Everyone who is seriously engaged in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that the laws of nature manifest the existence of a spirit vastly superior to that of men, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble” There is a God, by Anthony Flew p 102
Posted on April 19th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
‘Shopped.
Posted on April 23rd, 2009 at 11:53 pm
The Universe is absurd. Omg you didn’t get the memo?
Posted on April 25th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
He didn’t say this. This quote is untrue. Are you people idiots? I think so yes. You probably believe this now too, you fools.
Posted on April 30th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Uh, Jack?
You can read it here too. And here. And more ad nauseam if you try google.
You call us fools?
Posted on April 30th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Uh, Jeremy?
Did you bother to read either?
The article quote is a small fraction of a much larger text. As usual it was sectioned from the larger to illustrate a point of view that I believe inaccurate and misleading. Believe what you will and what makes your life easier and more full. Personally I lean towards Panthesism as I’m not a big fan of zombie stories.
Posted on May 12th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Locozuna: I can only claim to have skimmed it. I was arguing the validity of the quote, not any meaning associated with it or whether the man was this or that. I don’t really care what Einstein was or wasn’t. I don’t deify him. I think he was a really interesting cat with great quotes.
People are often misquoted or quoted out of context. Is this quote true? Beats me, I never heard the man say it. But it is attributed to him from numerous sources. So it is either something he said or revisionist history. Either way it is from him now. He owns it. It is part of his dynasty.
I didn’t post this to illustrate any point. I find it kind of interesting that you make that claim. What point was I trying to make exactly? That he was in awe of the universe? Anyone who isn’t is a fool, because they aren’t paying much attention.
I do love that it has generated so much discussion though.
Thank you for recognizing everyone’s right to believe what they will. That is a sign of wisdom. Panthesism is a very commendable point of view. And yes, zomies are kinda silly to me too.
Posted on May 13th, 2009 at 12:12 am
“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, letter to an atheist (1954), quoted in Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas & Banesh Hoffman
“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’s question “Do you believe in God?” quoted in: Has Science Found God?, by Victor J Stenger
Sounds like a pantheist to me. Whether he thinks he can call himself one or not, he fits the definition.
Posted on July 14th, 2009 at 11:07 am
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