The Polish-born Nobel laureate, who turned 80 in July, seems to have lost none of his mischievous mix of playfulness and high purpose. Speaking before an enthralled audience in Sanders Theatre Monday, he alternated humorous asides about goblins and imps with references to Emmanuel Kant's theory of causality and Spinoza's notion of free will. And he offered some undisguised moralism, even if he claimed only to be quoting a certain rabbi of Lublin no longer around to defend himself. The Almighty does not require good intentions.
Deeds are what counts . . . .
If you are in despair, act as though you believed. Faith will come afterward. Modern man really thinks his emotions are the highest authority. If he feels something, he must immediately do it. The older people knew that free will is higher than emotions and is expressed best in deeds.