EINSTEIN "GOD LETTER" IN ENGLISH.


EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein") to Guy Raner directly addressing the question of God's existence, 1 p, 4to (216 x 279 mm), Knollwood, Saranac Lake, NY, July 2, 1945, on his blindstamped Mercer Street letterhead, old folds, light stains at margins.EINSTEIN ON GOD — A REMARKABLE LETTER CONTAINING ONE OF HIS MOST ELOQUENT, AND QUOTED, STATEMENTS ON GOD: "We have to admire in humility the beautiful harmony of the structure of this world — as far as we can grasp it. That is all." On June 14th, 1945, stationed on the USS Bougainville in the Pacific, Ensign Guy Raner wrote to Einstein of an encounter with a Jesuit educated Catholic officer, who related a story about a conversation Einstein once had with a Jesuit priest, who presented him with three syllogisms, and unable to disprove the series, Einstein "became a believer in a supreme intellect which governs the universe." Though not particularly reticent on the question, Einstein was usually cagey in response, speaking in broad metaphorical terms often susceptible to ambiguous interpretation. His response to Ramer, while completely consistent with his more complex statements on the subject, is likely the most succinct and eloquent that he ever wrote, in part:"... I have never talked to a Jesuit priest in my life and I am astonished by the audacity to tell such lies about me ... From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist ... It is always misleading to use anthropomorphical concepts in dealing with things outside the human sphere—childish analogies. We have to admire in humility the beautiful harmony of the structure of the world—as far as we can grasp it. And that is all."
|"We have to admire in humility the beautiful harmony of the structure of the world — as far as we can grasp it. And that is all."