Did Albert Einstein say this?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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retrofuturist
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Sarath,

I'm pretty sure that this is the quote Ben was referring to, back in the 2nd post of this topic.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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DNS
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by DNS »

Here's one for those of us who like statistics:

"42.7% of all statistics are made-up on the spot."
:tongue:
shaunc
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by shaunc »

I reckon they're both great sayings regardless of who said it.
SarathW
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by SarathW »

Agree, but it is inappropriate to misrepresent another person.
We should not mislead people. It amount to a lie and break the forth precept.
See another saying:

===================
Did Arthur C Clarke say this?

http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... it=+Clarke
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Way~Farer
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by Way~Farer »

As a matter of interest, there is a collection of Einstein's quotations here, at Wikiquotes:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

These generally have sources, annotations and commentary. I admire Einstein's humanity and warmth and the fact that he was such a deep thinker on spiritual questions.
dan.chong
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by dan.chong »

It is in the letter, presumably translated by Einstein's secretary, dated March 4, 1950.

One can request a PDF file of the scanned image from the Albert Einstein archive:
http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Record/EAR000025410

Also the entire content of the letter appeared in the 1972 New York Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/29/arch ... an-of.html

I received my personal copy after emailing the request by following this website:
http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Digital/EAR000025410

However, I cannot upload the PDF file to the web, due to the copyright restriction.

There is another letter with similar content dated February 12, 1950:
http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Record/EAR000028196
http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Record/EAR000028197
http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Record/EAR000028198
http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Record/EAR000028199
dan.chong
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by dan.chong »

SarathW wrote: Mon Nov 24, 2014 2:44 am Another saying. :shrug:

“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend any personal god and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there were any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.”
--Albert Einstein
A possible source of the above adaption is from the book "The World As I See It" :

The World As I See It – Albert Einstein
https://tinyurl.com/y7lclxty
https://archive.org/details/AlbertEinst ... t/page/n19

The individual feels the nothingness of human desires and aims and the sublimity and marvellous order which reveal themselves both in nature and in the world of thought. He looks upon individual existence as a sort of prison and wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole. The beginnings of cosmic religious feeling already appear in earlier stages of development--e.g., in many of the Psalms of David and in some of the Prophets. Buddhism, as we have learnt from the wonderful writings of Schopenhauer especially, contains a much stronger element of it.
SarathW
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by SarathW »

:goodpost: Dan Chong
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
dan.chong
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by dan.chong »

Einstein's letter of March 4, 1950 contains two major concepts of Buddhism:

(1). Nonself : "He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness."

(2). Global compassion: "This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creature and the whole nature in its beauty. "
SarathW
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by SarathW »

SarathW wrote: Mon Nov 24, 2014 2:44 am Another saying. :shrug:

“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend any personal god and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there were any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.”
--Albert Einstein
The above quote was mention in the following speech as well.
Perhaps this is a true statement by A. Einstein.

“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
DeaconBlues
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by DeaconBlues »

An article illuminates this further.

https://www.thymindoman.com/einsteins-m ... the-whole/
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Sabbe_Dhamma_Anatta
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Re: Did Albert Einstein say this?

Post by Sabbe_Dhamma_Anatta »

SarathW wrote: Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:50 pm I found the follwing statement in the net and it seems that statement from Albert Einstein.

“ A human being is a part of a whole, called by us “universe”, a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and whole of nature in its beauty.”

to me this is almost like Buddha's word!




Einstein or not, the quote belongs more to the imaginatively created almighty-universal-self than to the Blessed One, imo.

:heart:
𝓑𝓾𝓭𝓭𝓱𝓪 𝓗𝓪𝓭 𝓤𝓷𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓿𝓸𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓓𝓮𝓬𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽
  • Iᴅᴇᴀ ᴏꜰ Sᴏᴜʟ ɪs Oᴜᴛᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴ Uᴛᴛᴇʀʟʏ Fᴏᴏʟɪsʜ Vɪᴇᴡ
    V. Nanananda

𝓐𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓽ā 𝓜𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓘𝓼
  • Nᴏ sᴜᴄʜ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀs ᴀ Sᴇʟғ, Sᴏᴜʟ, Eɢᴏ, Sᴘɪʀɪᴛ, ᴏʀ Āᴛᴍᴀɴ
    V. Buddhādasa
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