“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
Albert Einstein. I’ve been deeply impressed by the willingness of some of my more enthusiastic peers to selectively quote from an article in the Guardian about a private letter Einstein wrote in which, among other things, he noted that the “…word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses…”
Sloganeering, with its vituperative dialectical reductiveness, is less about insight than about self-congratulation, and I suppose that prevented the dozens of rebloggers from noting either the quote above or this paragraph at the end of the article:
“Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him,” said Brooke. “It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions … but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion.”
Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote, “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”*
But why deal with Einstein the complete man, the fully brilliant and subtle thinker, when we can reduce him to a few quotes that substantiate our views confirm our own young wisdom? It is especially dispiriting to note that, as the Guardian article begins with the above quote, the rebloggers must (1) have simply not read it, (2) felt that to deal with Einstein’s complexity on this issue was too laborious, or (3) decided to ignore it and just take from him what they wanted because they don’t actually respect him.
(The comprehensibility of the world, incidentally, is mysterious; it is what Einstein referred to when he wrote, “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.” Emphatically, Einstein did not believe in a personal god, but take him at his word:
“You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth.”)
“I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.” Tyler Durden – ‘Fight Club’ (via danhacker)
“just remember one thing…anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of time. i mean, there are too many mediocre things in life, and love shouldn’t be one of them.”
So, I got detention for this Saturday. I got it for saying “What the hell” very loudly in English class, Rob Huebel-style. It was funny, tho, cuz when I said it, everyone else who was talking (which was like the entire class) shut up. I gotta say, tho, Ms. Jolly (my English teacher) is mentally insane.
So yeah, I guess I’m just gonna show up there for the hour, bring my iPod, and doodle a bit. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll either be really depressed that day or pretty content with myself, depending on how I handle tomorrow.
You’ll all learn what the dillio is if I’m happy. If I’m sad, just write it off as more of my emo bullshit.
This includes anything by The Curly Fries, anything in the "Remembering Songs" podcast, and pretty much anything that I didn't repost, unless stated otherwise.
