Audio log: Einstein cosmic religious feeling

Albert Einstein explains how he sees religion.

## Location

Head past the main ruins to a small ruined wall on the far side by the coast (if you've completing the Desert Obelisk, that's where the enviromental puzzles 7 and 8 of side 4 are located). Climb to its top, past the big circle that reflects solar light, and look down to see the tape.

## Transcript

I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research. Only those who realize the immense efforts and, above all, the devotion without which pioneer work in theoretical science cannot be achieved are able to grasp the strength of the emotion out of which alone such work, remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can issue.

What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe and what a yearning to understand, were it but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world, Kepler and Newton must have had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics!

Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the mentality of the men who, surrounded by a skeptical world, have shown the way to kindred spirits scattered wide through the world and through the centuries.
Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men and given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite of countless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength.

A contemporary has said, not unjustly, that in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.

Albert Einstein, 1930

## Literal interpretation

This quote is found at a sundial, which is used to study the movement of the sun by astronomers. Einstein calls out Kepler and Newton by name, two of the best known astronomers.

## Literary Context

This piece titled "Religion and Science" by Albert Einstein appeared in the New York Times Magazine on November 9, 1930 pp 1-4. It has been reprinted in Ideas and Opinions, Crown Publishers, Inc. 1954, pp 36 - 40. It also appears in Einstein's book "The World as I See It", Philosophical Library, New York, 1949, pp. 24 - 28.

This is the conclusion of part 1, where he argues that what he describes as the 'cosmic religious feeling' can exist without religion and churches. He argues that a God who rewards and punishes makes no sense to him.

On the other hand, here he also states that to devote your life to science and to try to understand the wonders of the universe is, in his view, the main way that someone can have a truly religious experience.

## Relation to the six themes of the Witness

This relates to Theme 3: Faith.

Einstein argues that the search for truth through science is one that is single-minded and can be done to the exclusion of everything else. He praises Kepler and Newton for excluding themselves from society and devoting themselves purely to a life of science.

Thus: We see the similar way that Faith is used in the game. The single-minded pursuit of the search for truth, regardless of the harm to yourself. Kepler and Newton might have suffered socially by withdrawing from society, but they managed to make some of the most important strides in science as a result.