PHILOSOPHY
Einstein's Religious Theses
Comparing the famous physicist's concepts of God and soul
to Hindu beliefs
By Mark Hawthorne, California
Hinduism Today
http://www.hinduismtoday.com
January/February/March, 2004
Many people, mostly theologians, have accused Einstein of
being an atheist; such a scientist, say his detractors,
could hardly be religious. Einstein's view of religion
did not include a personal God, which in the first half
of the twentieth century was tantamount to saying he was
atheistic. But no atheist spent so much time, and put so
much thought, into celebrating God. And perhaps no
physicist ever considered so deeply the link between
science and religion. When asked how he accounted for
being both a scientist and a man known for religious
musings, Einstein replied: "Well, I do not think that it
is necessarily the case that science and religion are
natural opposites. In fact, I think that there is a very
close connection between the two. Further, I think that
science without religion is lame and, conversely, that
religion without science is blind. Both are important and
should work hand-in-hand. It seems to me that whoever
doesn't wonder about the truth in religion and in science
might as well be dead."
Then there are the theological issues raised by
Einstein's scientific discoveries. For example, Hindu
philosophers have frequently suggested that Einstein's
famed equation, E=mc2 (that mass and energy are different
manifestations of the same thing), is remarkably parallel
to certain concepts in Hindu philosophy. Other aspects of
his work, such as the mutability of time, have intriguing
parallels in the philosophies of India. At the request of
Hinduism Today who gave me the assignment despite my lack
of philosophical credentials I ventured into the
fascinating world of Albert Einstein's religious beliefs
and the theological consequences of his scientific
discoveries.
Born to Jewish parents in Germany in 1879, Albert
Einstein's first education was at a strict Catholic
school in Munich, where order and discipline were
instilled in the students. The experience left him with a
lifelong disdain of regimentation and a distrust of
authority figures. Apparently to balance the Catholicism
Albert was learning in primary school, his parents hired
a distant relative to tutor him in the fundamentals of
Judaism. These studies sparked a spiritual interest in
young Albert, who began preparing for his bar mitzvah,
the religious rite Jewish boys undergo when turning 13.
He eagerly read the scriptures of his faith and even gave
up eating pork. While other boys were dreaming of
becoming soldiers and going to war, Einstein abhorred the
thought of being in the military. "When I grow up, I
don't want to be one of those poor people, " he told his
parents. He would remain a devout pacifist throughout his
life. He spent a lot of time deep in thought, and he
credited his trait of profoundly wondering about things
with helping him in his scientific endeavors. Einstein
even believed his childlike curiosity, allowing him to
think without boundaries, set the stage for his discovery
of the relativity theory as an adult.
Einstein maintained a deep interest in his Jewish studies
until a family friend lent him several books on natural
science. Suddenly, he viewed the world through an
empirical lens. He wrote in his autobiography: "Through
the reading of popular scientific books, I soon reached
the conviction that a lot in the Bible stories could not
be true. The result was downright fanatical freethinking,
combined with the impression that young people were being
lied to by the state: it was a shattering discovery."
Einstein turned his back on organized religion and
refused to take his bar mitzvah; he was, therefore, not a
proper member of the Jewish community something that
might have later become an issue had he taken up Israel's
1952 offer to be the country's second president.
The young Einstein soon focused his attention on
geometry, finding in Euclid's axiomatic-deductive method
a clarity and certainty that he had not found in the
Torah and Talmud of his Jewish instructions. From higher
mathematics it was only a short and logical step to the
world of philosophical thought. With an analytical mind
and a passion for deep thinking, he was equal to the task
of absorbing Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, a
complex work addressing issues of human existence.
The influence of Spinoza
Einstein most admired the seventeenth-century Dutch
philosopher Baruch Spinoza, whose writings he had
discovered in his twenties. In Spinoza he found a kindred
spirit. Both were solitary, pensive Jews who were
eventually alienated by their religious heritage.
Einstein was especially impressed by Spinoza's major
work, Ethics, in which the philosopher uses Euclidean
geometry to prove the validity of ethical ideas. Spinoza
argued that "God, or substance, consisting of infinite
attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite
essentiality, necessarily exists." According to Spinoza,
infinite substance is indivisible. "God is One, hence, in
the nature of things, only one substance is given, "
Spinoza wrote in Ethics. Philosophically, his position
that whatever exists is a part of a single substance is
called, in Western philosophy, "monism." A similar
concept exists within many forms of Hindu philosophy.
Spinoza believed in a form of pantheism, from the Greek
pan and theos, meaning "everything is God." Adherence to
monism specifically, his belief in pantheism has
parallels with the tenets of several Hindu systems of
thought, including Advaita Vedanta. The common scientific
view is that there is nothing but the physical universe
that we can see and measure with our instruments. What
separates Spinoza, and later Einstein, from this is two-
fold. One, that "what exists " likely extends far beyond
our human ability to perceive and analyze it, and two,
that "what exists " is divine, Godly and not inert
matter.
Some place Spinoza's philosophy under the heading of
modified pantheism, in which God is believed to be the
reality behind nature. In this way his philosophy differs
from Sankara's Advaita Vedanta, in which Brahman alone is
reality and all else is illusion. In his Dictionary of
Philosophy and Religion, William Reese calls Advaita
Vedanta "Acosmic Pantheism, " the belief that God is in
and beyond the manifest world, which does not enjoy true
existence.
But Spinoza's view is similar to the view of Saiva
Siddhanta and several others systems that the universe is
the body and mind of God, while at the same time God
transcends the universe. It's a difficult task to compare
these Western and Eastern philosophies, not only because
they use different terminology, but because the Western
philosophies are generally reasoned out, while the
Eastern philosophies rely more upon meditative experience
and insight. One also has to keep in mind that from the
17th century onward, in Europe and America, Western
religion was under full-scale attack from the emerging
philosophy and discoveries of science. The relationship
between science and religion in the West remains largely
hostile. Not so in the East.
Spinoza's views on religion therefore provided something
of a way around the hostilities, and they validated ideas
that were already germinating in Einstein's mind. "I am
fascinated by Spinoza's pantheism, " he said, "but admire
even more his contribution to modern thought, because he
is the first philosopher to deal with the soul and body
as one, and not two separate things." Einstein viewed the
human being as a single unit, and scoffed at the idea of
a soul which transcended death.
"I am not an atheist."
Einstein's ideas on spirituality enjoyed some influence
due to his revolutionary work in physics. Some
theologians felt threatened by his scientific theories,
and Einstein was frequently asked to contribute articles
about religion, perhaps in part to demonstrate he was not
an atheist attempting to disprove the existence of God or
to demonstrate he was, since both sides interpreted
Einstein's ideas to suit their own agenda. These
articles, interviews and essays are some of the best
evidence we have of Einstein's philosophy.
One, titled "Science and Religion, " presented at the
1940 Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in
New York, became the center of controversy. "A person who
is religiously enlightened, " he wrote, "appears to me to
be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated
himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is
preoccupied with thoughts, feelings and aspirations to
which he clings because of their superpersonal value." He
then went on to define religion as "the age-old endeavor
of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious of
these values and goals and constantly to strengthen and
extend their effect."
Einstein concluded his paper with a statement about the
conflict between science and religion, which he believed
has its root in the concept of a personal God.
Theologians attending the conference were in an uproar,
misinterpreting Einstein's statement as a denial of God.
He was asked straight out if he believed in God, and he
replied: "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."
One faction took this to mean Einstein was a believer in
God as they understood God. An opposing camp said
Einstein's believing in Spinoza's nonpersonal God was the
same as believing in no God at all.
In an attempt to define why and in what way he was
"religious, " Einstein said, "Try and penetrate with our
limited means the secrets of nature and you will find
that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there
remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable.
Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can
comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point
of fact, religious."
One person asked Einstein to define God. He replied in
this fashion: "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 languages. The child knows someone must have written
those books. It does not know how. It does not understand
the languages in which they are written. 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. We see the universe marvelously arranged and
obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these
laws. Our limited mind grasps the mysterious force that
moves the constellations."
Einstein was blunt in his rejection of the central tenets
of Western religion. "I cannot conceive of a God who
rewards and punishes his creatures, " he said, "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."
An unusual aspect of Einstein's beliefs, again following
Spinoza, was in "determinism, " the position that every
event or occurrence is determined, that is, could not
have happened other than it did. For Spinoza, the feeling
of being free is simply the state of ignorance concerning
the cause. Einstein's belief in determinism was in part
behind his lack of acceptance of quantum mechanics, which
held one could not deduce the future state of the
universe from the present one. He famously said, "God
does not play dice with the universe." However, despite
his best efforts, he could not disprove quantum
mechanics.
The "cosmic religion "
Einstein summarized his philosophy in what he termed the
"cosmic religion, " which is characterized by a feeling
of awe and an experience of the mysterious that he
declared to be the source of his religiosity. In this
experience, God does not punish or reward. Although his
cosmic religion does not include a personal God (i.e.,
Ishvara), which he believed was devised due to fear of
the unexplained, Einstein believed, "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." At this point,
for Einstein, religion and science meet, for the cosmic
religious experience "is the strongest and noblest
driving force behind scientific research."
In response to a question about whether or not modern
science can offer spiritual insights where organized
religion has failed, Einstein said, "Speaking of the
spirit that informs modern scientific investigations, I
am of the opinion that all the finer speculations in the
realm of science spring from deep religious feeling, and
that without such feeling they would not be fruitful. I
also believe that this kind of religiousness, which makes
itself felt today in scientific investigations is the
only creative religious activity of our time." Einstein
said that science cannot teach men the importance of
ethics and morality, for the simple reason that science
deals with what is, and ethics with what should be.
Meeting Tagore
Among the most famous Einstein dialogues took place in
1930, when Rabindranath Tagore visited him in Germany.
Einstein reserved the highest admiration for Tagore, as
well as Mahatma Gandhi, and they, in turn, regarded him
with esteem. They were united in their concern for the
poor and the state of the human condition. Tagore and
Einstein shared a love of music and the belief that
religion is not found in rituals and tradition. But the
poet and the physicist disagreed on at least one point.
When Einstein said he agreed with Tagore's concept that
beauty is inseparable from man, but that he did not agree
that the same held true for truth, Tagore asked, "Why
not? Truth is realized through man." After a long pause,
Einstein replied simply, "I cannot prove that my
conception is right, but that is my religion." Tagore
finally declared, "If there be some truth which has no
sensuous or rational relation to the human mind, it will
ever remain as nothing so long as we remain human
beings." To this Einstein replied, "Then I am more
religious than you are!"
Relativity in the light of Vedanta
In Einstein's theory of relativity, E=mc2, he postulates
that mass is equivalent to energy. Both space and time,
deduced Einstein, are no longer absolutes. Consider his
theory in light of the Vedanta system of Hindu
philosophy. All matter throughout the universe is the
outcome of one primal matter called akasha. Moreover, all
force, whether gravitational or electromagnetic, is the
outcome of one cosmic energy called prana. Prana acting
on akasha is creating or projecting the universe.
Einstein had thus proven mathematically what Vedantists
had known for years. Some theologians have taken the
theory of relativity one step further, speculating that
Einstein's mass-energy equivalence also accounts for
energy and matter as true functions of each other. A God
of pure energy could thus become an avatar a doctrine
held by some Hindus, Tibetan Buddhists and Christians.
Relativity may also be explored in terms of the system of
36 tattvas, or categories of existence, common to several
systems of Hindu philosophy. These begin with shuddha
maya, pure spiritual energy, the first evolutes,
emanations or creations out of God. The first five
tattvas are forms of consciousness, while the next seven
are forms of spiritual-magnetic energy, including time
(number 7, kala tattva). The final 24 consist of
magnetic-gross energy, and include the mental faculties,
organs of perception and action and finally the elements
ether, air, fire, water and earth. The system of tattvas
also regards matter as a form of energy. The major
difference is that Einstein did not appear to speak in
terms of consciousness as Hindus do, and his religious
concepts seemed for the most part to deal with physical
reality and not these higher realms of knowing or the
subtle worlds spoken of in the Vedas.
The search for a unified field theory
In 1933, Einstein renounced his German citizenship and
accepted a position in the United States at the new
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He
spent the rest of his life as an American citizen in
Princeton with his wife, Elsa. They lived in a simple
house, and most mornings he walked a mile or so to the
Institute to work on his unified field theory. He was
attempting to link all known phenomena to explain the
nature and behavior of all matter and energy in
existence, work that caused some excitement among
nonscientists then and now. Paramahansa Yogananada
praised the physicist in his 1946 autobiography.
"Reducing the cosmical structure to variations on a
single law, " Yogananada wrote, "Einstein has reached
across the ages to the rishis who proclaimed a sole
fabric of creation: a protean maya."
More recently, Eknath Easwaran wrote in his commentary on
the Bhagavad Gita that Einstein's quest is a theme found
in Hinduism: "One of the most fervent hopes of Einstein
was to find an overriding law of nature in which all laws
of matter and energy would be unified. This is the
driving question in some of the ancient Hindu scriptures,
too. Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.3 asks, 'What is That by
knowing which all other things may be known?' "
Einstein's search for proof of a unified field eluded him
his entire life, although his perception of existence
seemed as clear to him as it was to the rishis. He wrote,
"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us
'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 to us. Our task
must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening
our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to
achieve this completely, but the striving for such
achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a
foundation for inner security."
For more information on Albert Einstein, log on to the
new Einstein web site, http://www.alberteinstein.info
additional references are "Einstein and Religion " by Max
Jammer and "Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion " by
William Reese.
More at:
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2004/1-3/50-53_einstein.shtml
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
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