Einstein's official portrait after receiving the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics

"A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness." — Albert Einstein

14 is an interesting number – for me, doubly so. When I was 14 years old I realized that Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, often expressed as E=mc², was a spiritual law even more than it was a scientific precept. As it happens, another 14 – March 14 – is Einstein's birthday. As you probably already know, every year EMC² closes its office for a day on or around Einstein's Birthday to celebrate and reflect. This year, 2020, we chose to close on Thursday March 12 because Einstein's Birthday actually falls on Saturday. Since we are already closed on Friday, Thursday won the coin toss, leaving Monday as just another wonderful day to celebrate being alive.

Baseball-great Yogi Berra, author of deep quotes like "It's déjà vu all over again" supposedly also said "I really never said a lot of the things I said." So it is with Albert Einstein. He is quoted a lot, but often not with a great deal of accuracy which is why in our March 6, 2020 newsletter I added "or something like that" to the quote of the week. It's a great quote, but there is a lot of dispute as to whether Albert actually said it. Despite this, it's lots of fun to quote and misquote Einstein. Regarding any quotes in this article, this is a heads-up to do your own due diligence if you care.

There are a number of reasons why we celebrate Einstein's Birthday. First and foremost, I believe that Einstein was as much a spiritual teacher as he was a scientist. And maybe one can and should argue that any scientist, in his or her highest and best form, should always be foremost a spiritual teacher working towards revealing the mysteries of the universe and of life itself. Along these lines, Einstein famously wrote: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

He also said, as quoted in "Sanctuary: The Path to Consciousness": "To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the ranks of devoutly religious men."

There are plenty of other Einstein quotes that slant towards religiosity. One of the most interesting was his response to a letter by a young girl named Phyllis in 1936. She wrote:

My dear Dr. Einstein,

We have brought up the question: 'Do scientists pray?' in our Sunday school class. It began by asking whether we could believe in both science and religion. We are writing to scientists and other important men, to try and have our own question answered.

We will feel greatly honored if you will answer our question: Do scientists pray, and what do they pray for?

We are in the sixth grade, Miss Ellis's class.

Respectfully yours,

Phyllis

Einstein replied, saying that science leads to the existence of a superior spirit that appears in the laws of the universe:

Dear Phyllis,

I will attempt to reply to your question as simply as I can. Here is my answer:

Scientists believe that every occurrence, including the affairs of human beings, is due to the laws of nature. Therefore a scientist cannot be inclined to believe that the course of events can be influenced by prayer, that is, by a supernaturally manifested wish.

However, we must concede that our actual knowledge of these forces is imperfect, so that in the end the belief in the existence of a final, ultimate spirit rests on a kind of faith. Such belief remains widespread even with the current achievements in science.

But also, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.

With cordial greetings,

your A. Einstein

EMC² was named not just for the initials of its full name, Energetic Matrix Church of Consciousness, LLC, but also to pay homage to the quantum implications of Einstein's work which are the foundation for the AIM Program, aka EMC²'s Sacrament of Energetic Balancing. These concepts suggest that time and space are an illusion and the idea of "other" comes from a world-view in which those things are not illusions. Thus they are inherently descriptions of the world of spirit.

This newsletter should reach you by March 14th. Please consider using a small part of the day to reflect on the amazing coincidence of the existence of Albert Einstein and his philosophical musings which among other things actually taught us, for better or for worse, how to unleash the power of the very fabric of the universe.

Though later he expressed some regret at doing so, the revelation he shared regarding the Special Theory of Relativity is a true Pandora's Box. Contrary to some teachings, Pandora's box contained not just evils but also blessings. The things that were once inside the box cannot be put back but Einstein's formula E=mc² has allowed us not only to make the most fearsome weapons ever created (for religious context look up Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction, sometimes known as the Destroyer of Worlds), but also allowed us to release that energy in gentler forms like:
- energy production
- determining the composition of materials via nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- time measurement using atomic clocks
- smoke detectors
- medical imaging (PET scans)
- radiocarbon dating
and many more.

We at EMC² wish you a happy Einstein's Birthday!