Time&Eternity

notes to chapter 3 293
Fühlen macht wahre Religiosität aus; in diesem Sinn und nur in diesem gehöre ich zu den
tief religiösen Menschen” (The fairest thing that we can experience is the mysterious. It is
the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science. He who
knows it not, and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a
snuffed-out candle. 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 our minds seem
to reach only in their most elementary forms;—it is this knowledge and this emotion that
constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious
man). Einstein, Mein Weltbild, 9f.; trans., 242. Even if Otto’s tremendum et fascinosum
appears to linger on here, Einstein attaches the greatest importance to the distinction
between the “religion of fear” [Furcht-Religion] and its further development into
“moral religion” [Moral-Religion] from the third (and highest) level of cosmic religiosity
(Einstein, ibid., 15–18; trans., 261–67; initially published as an article in 1930). While the
first two hold to an anthropomorphic concept of God, cosmic religiosity knows no dogmas
and no God, “conceived in man’s image” [der nach dem Bild des Menschen gedacht
wäre], 16; trans., 264. Unlike Kant, Einstein separates ethics from religion: “Das ethische
Verhalten des Menschen ist wirksam auf Mitgefühl, Erziehung und soziale Bindung zu
gründen und bedarf keiner religiösen Grundlage. Es stünde traurig um die Menschen,
wenn sie durch Furcht vor Strafe und Hoffnung auf Belohnung nach dem Tode gebändigt
werden müßten” (A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education,
and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way
if he had to be restrained by the fear and punishment and hope of reward after death), 17;
trans., 266. Cosmic religiosity is the type of religion that characterizes religious geniuses of
all times. Antagonism between this religiosity and science is excluded, for, as Einstein says,
“[e]s scheint mir, daß es die wichtigste Funktion der Kunst und der Wissenschaft ist, dies
Gefühl [kosmischer Religiosität] unter den Empfänglichen zu erwecken und lebendig zu
erhalten” (In my view it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this
feeling [of cosmic religiosity] and keep it alive among those who are capable of it), 17;
trans., 265. Conversely, cosmic religiosity is “the strongest and noblest incitement to scientific
research” [die stärkste und edelste Triebfeder wissenschaftlicher Forschung], 17; trans.,
266. When the notion of a personal God and its associated system of reward and punishment
is overcome, then nothing stands in the way of nurturing the good, the true, and the
beautiful; cf. Einstein, Out of My Later Years, 24–30 (“Science and Religion” ii, 1941). Understanding
the magnitude of the rationality incarnated in existence gives birth to humility;
“science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism
but also contributes to a religious spiritualization or our understanding of life” (29). Thus,
the path to genuine religiosity is the striving for rational knowledge. In this sense, Einstein
can say: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind” (26). There are
idealistic, pantheistic, mystical, and in a way, also elitist characteristics that shape Einstein’s
concept of God, “[t]his firm belief, a belief bound up with deep feeling, in a superior mind
that reveals itself in the world of experience” [jene mit tiefem Gefühl verbundene
Überzeugung von einer überlegenen Vernunft, die sich in der erfahrbaren Welt offenbart],
Einstein, Mein Weltbild, 171; trans., 29. As Jammer showed, Spinoza played an important
role in Einstein’s thinking on religion (Einstein und die Religion).
190. “.l.l. daß ein einem Strahl ausgesetztes Elektron aus freiem Entschluß den Augenblick
und die Richtung wählt, in der es fortspringen will.” Letter to Hedwig and Max
Born, April 29, 1924, in Einstein and Born, Briefwechsel 1916–1955, 118; trans., 82.
191. “Die Theorie liefert viel, aber dem Geheimnis des Alten bringt sie uns kaum
näher. Jedenfalls bin ich überzeugt, daß der nicht würfelt.” Letter to Max Born on December
4, 1926, ibid., 129f.; trans., 91. Later Einstein noticed that the “same ‘non-dice-playing