The Rest Are Details....

I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know his thoughts. The rest are details. (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, 2000 p.202)

One of the great minds in human history, Albert Einstein was an interesting cat. His Theories of General Relativity and Special Relativity literally redefined our observations of the universe and reality. Rather than get into a diatribe describing those theories and their impacts on physics, and indeed our view of the Universe, I want to focus on a few aspects of Einstein’s view of reality at a much more esoteric and spiritual level and what this means to us simple humans.

Einstein, despite being a devout man of science, and a mathematical genius on levels above what only a small percent of us could possibly understand, was a theist. Indeed, the more he pondered the Universe, and the more he understood the true nature of reality, the more he realized that science could only describe the basics of the Universe; only by applying a much deeper sense of understanding does the Universe make sense.

What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of "humility." This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.

He did not believe in a “meddling God” or a God that was concerned with the minutiae and day to day affairs of its inhabitants, but a maestro who conducted the creation and development of the Universe in a way we cannot comprehend. In fact, he related us to “school children” in trying to comprehend the mind of God.

I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science. [He was speaking of Quantum Mechanics and the breaking down of determinism.] My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.

What Einstein understood, and many individuals turn their minds off to is this; that we can never answer the questions underlying the meaning of the Universe regardless of how advanced our science becomes without taking the Universe en toto—that is, taking the Universe into account in its whole by exploring the scientific and spiritual natures of the Universe simultaneously.

In fact, the only thing that makes the Universe “real” is its very observation by its inhabitants. Indeed one of the axioms of Quantum Physics, the Observer Effect simply states that the very act of observing /measuring an event has an effect on the outcome and very nature of that event. Much like checking a tire with a tire gauge lets a little air out of a tire, the very nature of the tire is changed.

To take this a step further, and without resorting to an essay on quantum mechanics, the Universe is made up of only two things, waves and particles. From a "particle viewpoint" the Universe contains 99.999% emptiness. At the very basic level of the Universe, we have what physicists call “quantum foam” a chaotic state that exists at the very foundation and fabric of space time that cannot be measured or ordered.

Above that we have all the fundamental particles that make up the Universe, more of which we discover all the time. When we break down a tree, for instance in its constituent parts down to the elementary level, what we really have is a swarm of particles…atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons—beneath that quarks, gluons…and the now famous “God Particle” the Higgs-boson, which was observed in CERN in July of 2012. All this matter is in continual chaotic flux and change. Electrons zipping around from atom to atom, going from one energy state to another. Photons literally blinking in and out of existence faster than is measurable. If we could actually “see” the tree we would not recognize it at all—we would indeed see a fluctuation in the energy field where the tree is exists, and incomprehensible chaos.

However, somehow we observe this chaos and nearly empty space and observe a beautiful living entity. We observe the roughness of the bark, the elegance of its curving branches and the serene beauty of its leaves. We can watch the tree change in subtle shifts, with the leaves turning vibrant colors in the fall, dying in the winter, only to re-grow in the spring. From this quantum chaos we observe beauty and order. We touch the tree not knowing that we are actually touching mostly empty space. It is indeed somewhere in the deep convolutions and recesses of the human brain that the tree is defined. Our very observation of the tree defines it as such, where in the true underlying physicality of the tree, no such order exists.

How is this possible? How is it that we define this through observation of fluctuations of light, and tactile reality of touching mostly empty space through our amazing visual organs and somehow all that becomes a real object in the brain?

There really is no way to explain it on a purely scientific level. We truly take a quadrillion pieces of information and make it a whole picture. We define it as a tree and carry that image around in our consciousness. What we see is “essence”. If we took our human blinders off, we could not navigate the Universe. It would be a scary place. But somewhere, somehow, we were made to observe things in a completely different way than reality produces. We do this in a micro and macro aspect and try to assign meaning. We don’t just observe the tree, but see it as a part of a whole picture; the picture of the Universe with everything in it. We see the connections among the billions upon billions of physical objects not knowing that what we are seeing the manifestation of intent or information that goes far beyond its constituent (and mostly non-physical) parts.
Where does this information really come from? It is the mystery of mysteries, and only knowing the Mind of God would reveal the answer. Everything else is just details.

Additional Sources: Einstein and Religion, Max Jammer, Princeton University Press, 1999

Here's something interesting to peruse along the lines of QM.

When humanity views the apple seed we view it in it's current physical form, we are not viewing the potential for it becoming an apple nor the energy contained within that allows such a transformation

When humanity views the Universe, it can only see with limited eyes, that which is near, that which is affected by certain light wave, that which is visible under certain conditions.

Humanity cannot visualize the potential of the universe in it's entirety nor it's original state, nor all the energy contained therein, because humanity exists in a limited physical world.

The reason humanity looks to the non physical for answers is because it is obvious that there are energies that are beyond the physical and most likely energies beyond the comprehension of humanities reality sphere.

Like 'seeing the light' is like if someone shone a mirror and light into the reality sphere of the truth allowing humanity a glimpse through a glass door, it can catch glimmers of the absolute reality but cannot fully comprehend or enter the doorway. That light can be transferred as 'light bulb' moments and true scientific geniuses perhaps have minds / spirituality attuned to deciphering such 'light'.

reply to post by QuantumKat


I (like many people) used to find Einstein's theories to be "above me" and hence only barely understood their implications or relevance.

But after reading Robert Anton Wilson's book Schrodinger's Cat, it really got me thinking about Einstein's theories in a very comprehensive and more "spiritual" way.. The only reason i think he seems confusing to most people, is that he is speaking "the language of science", but he could have just as well wrote both theories of Relativity as a philosophy work, or even a novel (Flatland is a pretty interesting example of a "romance of dimensions") but in focusing on science, i think he actually brought this mode of thinking into the culture itself and this was a huge leap in evolving thought..

of course we are now at the other extreme from what they were in the early 1900s, and think EVERYTHING is relative, but the "relative mode of thought" is also more open to combining religion and science.. or should I say I personally started to see "spirituality" as being feasibly combined with science, instead of explained by it.. or should i say, i also started to realize that what we know of as certain "ancient primitive mythologies", were actually a combination of Science and Religion, integrated together in a very real and applicable way..?

I'm not against the far-out ideas and explanations of "aliens" and the rest of it, but since we know there's not a whole lot of "solid evidence" available, i think it's interesting enough to just think about what we DO know (or think we know) about human history..

As far as progress since Einstein and the rest of the Quantum and String Theory folks, I hafta say that my brain has been whizzing while studying up on the theories of Ken Wilber and his Integral Theory because it is essentially all about emphasizing understanding the balances and reactionary states and stages of things (accounting for determinism) but also emphasizing the value in understanding approaching life in an intuitive way.. (accounting for free-will)

he sums up his theory by saying "everyone is right.. but everyone can't be equally right.. we just have to acknowledge that everyone has a piece of the puzzle"

We "know" The Universe "is what it is" and take that for granted.. and that is a correct view. What most people don't realize is that they are only seeing The Universe from a single vantage point and could greatly benefit from using whatever data they can find that is relevant to their life and integrating it into their ever-changing self.

very interesting thread!

reply to post by HyphenSt1


Excellent feedback, thank you. I, too, am a big fan of Ken Wilber---and count him as an influence as you can probably tell from the tone of my post.

reply to post by QuantumKat


most definitely! I've only known about him for a few months now, but I related to his system like.. immediately haha. His "I, We, It" system has been something I've thought about since almost middle school haha! but damn his "map" is very thorough and very good to help one keep themselves "in check" (or at least define what that means to the individual) and empirically approach spirituality and philosophy, in the same manner as we are supposed to approach science.

I find it very interesting that the man has been writing since the 70s, and yet i haven't met one person in real life who knows about his work..? I think that integral-theory has been applied to a lot of fields, but no one is really talking about it outside of their circles.. i think it would be very useful for everyone in general just because it is so all-inclusive and just understanding the basic "game rules" behind life, would better allow people to live the life they actually want, instead of what they're told to have.

It weird how certain shapes are similar in different things in nature(from visual anyways), like small to unfathomably large. Like looking at a seashell which has a spiral shape, like a spiral galaxy. Or galaxy super clusters end up forming tree branches or webs made up of countless galaxies. Or even how a brain cell of a mouse looks much like a computer simulation of super clusters(which brain boggling).

For all we know, the universe could be in a leaf?

The main problem with science is that its always gotta be right one way or the other(Like a dogmatic God), whether it through actual realistic facts or observations, to trial and error possibilities.

I still enjoy Einstein philosophies whether spiritual or scientific.

theabsolutetruth
Here's something interesting to peruse along the lines of QM.

When humanity views the apple seed we view it in it's current physical form, we are not viewing the potential for it becoming an apple nor the energy contained within that allows such a transformation

When humanity views the Universe, it can only see with limited eyes, that which is near, that which is affected by certain light wave, that which is visible under certain conditions.

Humanity cannot visualize the potential of the universe in it's entirety nor it's original state, nor all the energy contained therein, because humanity exists in a limited physical world.

The reason humanity looks to the non physical for answers is because it is obvious that there are energies that are beyond the physical and most likely energies beyond the comprehension of humanities reality sphere.

Like 'seeing the light' is like if someone shone a mirror and light into the reality sphere of the truth allowing humanity a glimpse through a glass door, it can catch glimmers of the absolute reality but cannot fully comprehend or enter the doorway. That light can be transferred as 'light bulb' moments and true scientific geniuses perhaps have minds / spirituality attuned to deciphering such 'light'.

edit on 19-2-2014 by theabsolutetruth because: (no reason given)

Ever thought that maybe these things can be seen with the use of an awaken pineal gland, or third eye?