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The greatest mind of the 20th Century, Einstein, tries to answer Why?
How many of us has asked Why, when something happened, that seemed so unfair or senseless! It can be a very passionate emotion. I love the deep emotions the song evokes when it asks why so passionately.
A little fun fact: in 1951, coming out of the darkness of two World Wars, a college student, Marion Block, wrote to one of the greatest minds of the 20th Century, Albert Einstein, Why? Einstein tries to answer the question, but ultimately defers it to the divine.
When Marion Block Anderson, an altogether exceptional woman, was a freshman at Oberlin College in 1951, she reached out to “the quintessential modern genius” and asked him, “Why are we alive?” She later told Dave about the impetus for her letter:
We were having one war after another — first we had the First World War, then we had the Second World War and I just couldn’t see any point to the whole thing. So I wrote him a letter and I said, “What’s the point of living with what we’re going through here — having one war after another?”
Lo and behold, Einstein wrote back. While short, his letter extends with exquisite precision both the answer to the question about the meaning of life and his views on religion:
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13 Replies
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Well Jung, I can only say that very few could relate to, much less understand the intellect of Albert Einstein. He was on a vastly different plain than the average bear. Fortunately for the world he wasn’t a musician or we would likely have been overrun by techno babble soulless junk in 1940. No offense intended to the academics and brainiacs of the world. Of which I certainly am not one of. Certainly without the purveyors of binary logic and synthetic sound processing wizardry I certainly would not be making the sounds I do through my digital amplifiers. Having admitted to my own lack of 6 string ingenuity, I can only say that a yearn for a good old tube amp to plug my Hotcake pedal into, crank the gain up and do some good old analog recording overlaying some multiple looped tracks with only my Alesis drum machine to pace me…😉
Then when I play my creation back I will have a good reason to ask: “Why Lord?”
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Hi Daryl, interestingly Albert Einstein was quite the musician, an accomplished violinist actually. Refer to the link here in the forum of his musicianship. He use to retreat to his music in between working on his theory of relativity. Being a man of science, he was neither an atheist nor religious. “Einstein at times said he was not an atheist, and resented being labelled as one.” As a man of science, in absence of scientific proof of the existence or non existence of God, he remained neutral, although some of his quotes might suggest a spiritual side.
“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous, says Albert Einstein.”
Einstein at times said he was not an atheist, and resented being labelled as one.
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There are actually two flavors of atheism, often called hard and soft. A hard atheist asserts that no gods exist, and thus takes on a burden of proof for that claim. A soft atheist is simply not convinced of claims that gods do exist, thus leaving the burden of proof with theists. Einstein’s letter here suggests he was a soft atheist.
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Hi David, interesting distinction between hard and soft atheist. I’ve read some refer to Einstein as agnostic (a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God). Given his dislike of being labeled the term atheist, agnostic would be a better description for him. Some of his quotes to me would suggest an acknowledgement, perhaps later in life, of existence of a greater order or divinity beyond the material phenomena.
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Hey, Jung.
This is a topic that I’ve really tried to educate myself on a lot recently, because labels color how we perceive things. Gnosticism/agnosticism refers to knowledge, and theism/atheism refers to belief. So you can be a gnostic theist (you believe and are certain), an agnostic theist (you believe but are uncertain), a gnostic atheist (you don’t believe and are certain), or an agnostic atheist (you don’t believe but are uncertain). The term agnostic by itself is not a neutral position.
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Hi David, wow, I didn’t know it was so complicated! Thanks for adding the colour, love it! 😊
From what I’ve learned of Einstein, he was quite devout as a child (gnostic theist), and then in his early adulthood/student was more agnostic atheist, and as he uncovered more secrets of the universe, became agnostic theist.
Einstein said many things on this topic during his career, at one point Einstein wrote a very pointed and harsh article in response to an article by a theologian who asserted religion in science to discredit it. This gave fuel to the atheist camp assertion that Einstein was a purist atheist like them. Einstein resented being labeled an atheist and kept an open mind and always acknowledged the existence of the unknowable (God) as he uncovered more secrets and mysteries of the universe.
“If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.” Albert Einstein
“Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.” Albert Einstein
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I think ‘soft atheist’ is better said as agnostic.
Disavowing certainty. Taking nothing faith.
Cheers
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I admire Einstein’s honesty, when it comes to God, he admits he does not know, and so does not take a position one way or the other on the topic, which is a virtue for a man of science, and basis of faith. He is after truth, based on facts and evidence, and is very humble for a man of his accomplishments in science, and does not try to instill his beliefs on others. Just the facts, science and an open mind.
Above all, he loved music like all of us here, made music, and embraced music and science. Why? tries to offer some insight into this crazy world we all find ourselves in, and I think Einstein would have loved this album “Why?”, and given it a big thumbs up, and would be a big MLT fan if he were still alive.
He criticised “fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics”.
Nick Spencer, a senior fellow at the Christian think tank Theos, said: “Einstein offers scant consolation to either party in this debate. His cosmic religion and distant deistic God fits neither the agenda of religious believers or that of tribal atheists.
“As so often during his life, he refused and disturbed the accepted categories. We do the great physicist a disservice when we go to him to legitimise our belief in God, or in his absence. -
WHY?
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PRETTY LITTLE THING
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Well, in spite of you clarifying my lack of knowledge of his musical talent, there’s still a heckuvaot more in this world I don’t know than what there is…
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Hi Daryl, I just learned of Einstein about his violin playing just last year, after decades of admiring him. It seems the more we learn, the more we discover we don’t know. LOL! 😊
I mentioned this elsewhere, but I really love the contrast at the end of the album from the emotional and epic “Why?” to the sweet chirping sound of Neve in the sweet and adorable song “Pretty Little Thing”. The effect is brilliant actually, tickles my heart and brain every time, the best album ending imaginable. The album ends on an amazing ray of sunshine and hope.
When my time comes up to retire, I want to be Janitor Joe. I will pack my space ship with MLT CDs and a portable piano. Then off to Destination Sunrise! Maybe get another Mustang?
“Soon he will be retired, Dreams of leaving Mother Earth, Flying through the universe”.
“We’ve never gone this far, Never been where we are, Let’s see how far we can go from here”.
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Hi Jung. The way “Pretty Little Thing” follows “Why?” reminds me of the end of Abbey Road, where the epic medley and its profound final line is followed after a bit of silence with “Her Majesty”. You could also point to the white album where “Good Night” tucks us in with a lullaby after “Revolution 9”. I think Mona and Lisa learned from the Beatles that if you start to sound too big, you’d better follow it up with something that shows you don’t come off as thinking you’re “all that.”
Speaking of epic and profound, the five hour Philip Glass/Robert Wilson opera, “Einstein on the Beach”, had Einstein as a motif, making the occasional appearance playing his violin, as you can see in this excerpt.
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