Speaking of Faith: Einstein's God

"Why do we come, sometimes spontaneously, to wonder about something? I think that wondering to one's self occurs when an experience conflicts with our fixed ways of seeing the world. I had one such experience of wondering when I was a child of four or five and my father showed me a compass. This needle behaved in such a determined way and did not fit into the usual explanation of how the world works. That is that you must touch something to move it. I still remember now, or I believe that I remember, that this experience made a deep and lasting impression on me. There must be something deeply hidden behind everything." - Albert Einstein

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In this episode of Speaking of Faith, Krista Tippett teams up with world renowned physicists Mr. Freeman Dyson and Mr. Paul Davies to discuss, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant and influential men in the history of the world's view on God and religion, mystery, and eternity. Many people today see science as a challenge to faith / Faith, a means by which the existence of God may be disproved. However, this was not Einstein's approach. One of the main sources of Einstein's drive for what he did was to figure out what God was thinking, to learn what went on in the mind of God. Freeman Dyson gives us an idea of Einstein's God, "... certainly it was not the kind of personal God that many people believe in. And he said that very explicitly, that he did not believe in a personal God who was interested in human affairs. He did believe in nature as some sort of universal spirit, or I suppose you might say world soul, or some kind of universal mind which ruled the universe and which was far beyond our comprehension. That's what he called "God" or "The Lord." He was not a practicing Jew, but he certainly knew that Jewish literature and "The Lord" is a phrase that's used in the Bible, in the Old Testament."

Einstein was born a Jew and for the majority of his life he was only a cultural Jew, not observing the Sabbath or being deeply involved in Jewish matters of Faith. He kept a distinct reverence for Judaism, however, and said explicitly that anybody who does not approach science with religious awe is not a true scientist.
"In an address at a conference on science, philosophy and religion in 1941, Albert Einstein declared that science can only be created by those who aspire toward truth and understanding. He famously concluded: "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." Einstein understood science and religion to be separate realms, but joined by reciprocal relationships and dependencies. Most often he stressed how both realms acknowledge and honor the human sense of mystery."
This excerpt from the episode can sum up the intertwining relationship between science and religion as Einstein saw it, and is not too far off of the view that our reading book explains.

Einstein's work brought the study of quantum physics, or study of the smallest pieces of matter, to the light. When trying to predict the behavior of electrons and other quantum particles, Einstein's contemporaries could find no trace whatsoever and Werner Heisenberg concluded that "…anything could happen. Atoms veer off in wholly unpredictable, illogical directions, seemingly of their own will." This explanation was unacceptable for Einstein, as he firmly pleaded, "I do not believe that God plays dice with the universe." According to Mr. Dyson, Einstein had religious Faith in the power of nature as something predetermined and not as it appears today. He found it miraculous that nature spoke in mathematics, and he spoke that very language. Another characteristic that stood out about Einstein was his sense of humor, an essential characteristic for modern scientists. If there was one spiritual interest in Einstein's life, it was his passion for music, as he was constantly intrigued by the big composers and their pieces.

Einstein's discoveries provided time as something not as straight and simple as most of us think, but as dependent on certain factors just like many other things, and this is one of the things that Einstein's "God" could influence. If nothing else, Einstein's word "God" was meant to describe some unfathomable power that is totally beyond human comprehension and governs nature and all its implications. "And yet, as always, the springtime sun brings forth new life, and we may rejoice because of this new life and contribute to its unfolding. And Mozart remains as beautiful and tender as he always was and always will be. There is, after all, something eternal that lies beyond the hand of fate and of all human delusions. And such eternals lie closer to an older person than to a younger one, oscillating between fear and hope. For us there remains the privilege of experiencing beauty and truth in their purest forms." Einstein's words to the grieving Queen of Belgium describes this power, and his view on something bigger, beyond us. He believed that morality is very important to us as humans, not to God. Every part of the mysterious power called "God" that may be discovered, no matter how miniscule, will manifest in itself.

Great sites on Einstein and his legacy:

Einstein's Biography on the Nobel Prize site

Einstein's Big Idea - The Famous Equation

American Museum of Natural History site