ALBERT EINSTEIN 99 



human communities, are fallible and mortal. The 

 longing for guidance, for love and succor, provides the 

 stimulus for growth of a social or moral conception 

 of God. This is the God of Providence, who pro- 

 tects, decides, rewards and punishes. This is the God 

 who, according to man's widening horizon, loves and 

 provides for the life of the race, or of mankind, or 

 who even loves life Itself. He Is the comforter in 

 happiness and in unsatisfied longing, the protector of 

 the souls of the dead. This is the social or moral Idea 

 of God. 



It is easy to follow in the sacred writings of the 

 Jewish people the development of the religion of fear 

 into the moral religion, which is carried further In the 

 New Testament. The religions of all the civilized 

 peoples, especially those of the Orient, are principally 

 moral religions. An important advance In the life of 

 a people Is the transformation of the religion of fear 

 Into the moral religion. But one must avoid the preju- 

 dice, that regards the religions of primitive peoples as 

 pure fear religions and those of the civilized races as 

 pure moral religions. All are mixed forms, though 

 the moral element predominates in the higher levels of 

 social life. Common to all these types is the anthro- 

 pomorphic character of the Idea of God. 



Only exceptionally gifted Individuals or especially 

 noble communities rise essentially above this level. In 

 these there Is found a third level of religious experi- 

 ence, even If It Is seldom found In a pure form. I 

 will call It the cosmic religious sense. This is hard to 

 make clear to those who do not experience It, since It 

 does not Involve an anthropomorphic idea of God. 

 The Individual feels the vanity of human desires and 



