This is an excerpt from the soon to be published book, The Cosmic Breath: Metaphysical Essays of Don Pendleton. The publication date for the new book should be October 15th, and will be available at Amazon. Don considered himself to be a metaphysical scholar and although most of his writings over the years were fiction, he loved sharing his metaphysical beliefs. I love this quote by Albert Einstein and wanted to share it.
This excerpt is from Don’s Essay, The Basic Question, which is about just that—Is there a reason for the existence of the world?
All the great systems of human thought have conceded that all of science and all of philosophy and, yes, even all of religion cannot answer the unanswerable question of existence—yet we have done so, and we have done so negatively.
Okay, back to metaphysics. Why? Why is there not a reason for the existence of the world? Because you cannot see a creator, a God? Albert Einstein has seen him. If science is your religion, then listen to the testimony of one of the scientific greats of all time. “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.” Is that science? No, that is metaphysics. It is also religion, and Einstein had something to say about that also: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” And that, also, is metaphysics.
Indeed, all that admits or examines or even questions the great primordial mysteries of existence is metaphysics. Metaphysics is religion, and science, and philosophy—without the self-imposed chains of those inquiries. Metaphysics is ESP, it is mysticism, it is magic, it is spirituality—and it is the human mind pondering the imponderable.
This excerpt is from Don’s Essay, The Basic Question, which is about just that—Is there a reason for the existence of the world?
All the great systems of human thought have conceded that all of science and all of philosophy and, yes, even all of religion cannot answer the unanswerable question of existence—yet we have done so, and we have done so negatively.
Okay, back to metaphysics. Why? Why is there not a reason for the existence of the world? Because you cannot see a creator, a God? Albert Einstein has seen him. If science is your religion, then listen to the testimony of one of the scientific greats of all time. “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.” Is that science? No, that is metaphysics. It is also religion, and Einstein had something to say about that also: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” And that, also, is metaphysics.
Indeed, all that admits or examines or even questions the great primordial mysteries of existence is metaphysics. Metaphysics is religion, and science, and philosophy—without the self-imposed chains of those inquiries. Metaphysics is ESP, it is mysticism, it is magic, it is spirituality—and it is the human mind pondering the imponderable.
~Linda
