The Mystery of Conscious Life

Albert Einstein, “What I Believe”

“From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men–above all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected with a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received…”

―Albert Einstein [“What I Believe,” Forum and Century 84, #4 (Oct. 1930)] pp. 193-194.

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.  This insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has given rise to religion. To know 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–this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong in the ranks of devoutly religious men.”

―Albert Einstein [“What I Believe,” Forum and Century 84, #4 (Oct. 1930)] pp. 193-194.

Paul Davies

His [Einstein’s] considered answer to what God was doing before creating the universe was “the world was made with time and not in time. “Augustine’s God is a being who transcends time, a being located outside time altogether and responsible for creating time as well as space and matter… Plato said much the same thing hundreds of years earlier… The history of philosophy is so rich and diverse that it would be astonishing if theories emerging from science hadn’t been foreshadowed in some vague way by somebody. The significant thing about Einstein’s work is that he showed in a precise, testable way, using detailed mathematical theory, how space and time are part of nature, and not merely a given arena in which the great drama of nature is acted out.

―Paul Davies [Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe is Just Right for Life (2007)].

Additional Albert Einstein Quotes

“Religion and science go together. As I’ve said before, science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind. They are interdependent and have a common goal—the search for truth. Hence it is absurd for religion to proscribe Galileo or Darwin or other scientists. And it is equally absurd when scientists say that there is no God. The real scientist has faith, which does not mean that he must subscribe to a creed. Without religion there is no charity. The soul given to each of us is moved by the same living spirit that moves the universe.”

―Albert Einstein [William Hermanns, Einstein and the Poet: In Search of the Cosmic Man (1983)].

“Let us accept the world is a mystery. Nature is neither solely material nor entirely spiritual. Man, too, is more than flesh and blood; otherwise, no religions would have been possible. Behind each cause is still another cause; the end or the beginning of all causes has yet to be found.”

―Albert Einstein [William Hermanns, Einstein and the Poet: In Search of the Cosmic Man (1983)].

“I am satisfied with the mystery of life’s eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence — as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.”

―Albert Einstein [Mein Weltbild (My World-view, 1931)].