ALBERT EINSTEIN 97 



He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no 

 longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as 

 good as dead: his eyes are closed. This insight into 

 the mystery of Hfe, coupled though it be with fear, 

 has also given rise to religion. To know that what 

 is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself 

 as the highest wisdom and the 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 in the ranks of the devoutly 

 religious men. 



I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes 

 the objects of his creation, whose purposes are mod- 

 elled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a 

 reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that 

 the individual survives the death of his body, although 

 feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or 

 religious egotism. It is enough for me to contem- 

 plate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself 

 through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvellous 

 structure of the universe which we can dimly perceive, 

 and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal 

 part of the intelligence manifested in nature.^ 



Everything that men do or think concerns the sat- 

 isfaction of the needs they feel or the escape from 

 pain. This must be kept in mind when we seek to un- 

 derstand spiritual or intellectual movements and the 

 way in which they develop. For feeling and longing 

 are the motive forces of all human striving and pro- 



2 The pages which follow are reprinted by the courteous permission 

 of the New York Times. 



