Einstein and the Mind of God

There are those who believe that it strains credulity to think that Einstein would have thought in terms of the "mind of God." These observers disparage such a thought as a religious anthropomorphism of the kind that Albert Einstein criticized and abhorred. The truth about Einstein, however, is more subtle and more intriguing, as the truth often stubbornly insists on being. In fact, Einstein famously said that his entire effort in physics was in order to know the mind of God. Einstein, to be sure, also said that he did not believe in a personal God in the traditional sense and was interested in design rather than theology. He saw true religiosity as knowing that "what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms." When he was close to death, Einstein said, "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details." Clearly, although he was not orthodox, he had no qualms about using religious phraseology to evoke the wisdom and beauty of the universe that is beyond measure.

Would that today's pack of warring ideologues, whose sights are set so much lower than Einstein's expansive view, could honor each realm of knowledge for what it is and not confuse it with what it was never intended to be. Would that they could teach children by example to respect both science, as the study of the measurable aspects of the universe for which we have physical evidence, and spirituality, as the appreciation of the awe, mystery, and meaning that lie beyond the grasp of our limited instruments and dull faculties. Instead they caricature each other's views, twist Einstein's words one way or the other to support their own ends, indulge in small-minded attacks, and inject nonscientific ideologies such as intelligent design into our schoolchildren's science curricula - and American science education is in danger of being undermined as a result. God and science both are larger, more subtle and intriguing, than this false dichotomy would suggest. If we continue on this path, America's future will pay the price for the ignorance and lack of imagination that some of us are imposing on our children. Do your homework.