I am a part of infinity The spiritual journey of Albert Einstein

Kieran C. R. Fox

Book - 2025

"Nearly everyone is familiar with Einstein's scientific accomplishments-but few know the truth of how spiritual philosophies shaped his life and work. Scientists and biographers have treated Einstein's views on the eternal as vague and metaphorical. For Einstein, however, spirituality and science were a vital pairing. In I Am a Part of Infinity, Kieran Fox examines for the first time the strength and the subtlety of Einstein's spirituality. Revealing the Greek philosophies and East Asian religious teachings that Einstein revered, Fox traces, for example, how Pythagoras and Democritus allowed Einstein to conceptualize mathematical simplicity and the power of the mind, and how the Upanishads and Jainism shaped his views on... the nature of the universe and morality. Fox shows how Einstein melded those ideas with his science to create one all-encompassing philosophy, in which the cosmic oneness of his work in physics was inextricably linked to his pacificism and his moral commitments to all life. Drawing on little-known conversations, recently published letters, and new archival research, I Am a Part of Infinity shows, for the first time, what Einstein really believed, and why his perspective still matters today"--

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Subjects
Published
New York : Basic Books 2025.
Language
English
Main Author
Kieran C. R. Fox (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
pages cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781541603578
Contents unavailable.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Albert Einstein's nonscientific ideas also hold an irresistible fascination. The greatest scientist of modern times was not shy about discussing his personal philosophy; an occasional author has taken the bait, and Fox, a physician-scientist, adds an earnest, often revealing account in his first book. Einstein divided religious history into three phases. Fear dominated the first, with malevolent, unpredictable gods that humans tried to please with sacrifices. The second phase led to social and moral religions in which a humanized God "protects, disposes, rewards, and punishes." All familiar creeds fall into this phase. While that was certainly an improvement, Einstein disagrees with theologians who proclaim this the climax of religious evolution. He denounced their "fairytales about creation," emphasis on blind faith, failure to live up to their lofty ideals, and contempt for rival religions and free thought. Einstein promoted a third phase, which he called "cosmic religion," in which individuals move beyond submission to an omniscient god or prophet to glory in an immense, rational, harmonious universe in which their destiny is to ponder its laws. This philosophy lacks a personal god or divine laws--and has little mass appeal. As Fox writes, "even now, prominent unbelievers like Richard Dawkins argue that Einstein's pantheism is nothing more than 'sexed-up atheism.'" On the rare occasion that Einstein explained himself to the general public (a 1930 article in theNew York Times Magazine, a conference on science and religion a decade later), responses were hostile. Fox, though, backs his case that Einstein's beliefs have a long, honorable history, offering first-rate summaries of the philosophies of, among others, Pythagoras, Plato, Lao-Tzu, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Mahatma Gandhi. "With an elegant simplicity," he writes, "Einstein's spirituality integrates the many interests of a versatile mind and the varied experiences of an extraordinary life. Whether we agree with his message or not, the cosmic religion represents the concentrated wisdom of a well-examined life." A thoughtful study of a brilliant mind's approach to the divine. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.