I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research.
Interpretation
Einstein emphasizes the profound connection between spirituality and scientific inquiry.
In this quote, Albert Einstein argues that the cosmic religious experience, which evokes feelings of wonder and awe about the universe, serves as a powerful motivation for scientific exploration. He suggests that the search for understanding the fundamental laws of nature is driven not only by curiosity but also by a deep sense of reverence and responsibility toward the universe, highlighting the interconnectedness of science and spirituality.
In practice
In a lecture about the importance of inspiration in scientific discoveries.
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
If I would follow your advice and Jesus could perceive it, he, as a Jewish teacher, surely would not approve of such behavior.
I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details.
In the middle of adversity there is great opportunity.
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject.
There's branches of science which I don't understand; for example, physics. It could be said, I suppose, that I have faith that physicists understand it better than I do.
It's becoming clear that in a sense the cosmos provides the only laboratory where sufficiently extreme conditions are ever achieved to test new ideas on particle physics. The energies in the Big Bang were far higher than we can ever achieve on Earth. So by looking at evidence for the Big Bang, and by studying things like neutron stars, we are in effect learning something about fundamental physics.
The Europeans and the Americans are not throwing $10 billion down this gigantic tube for nothing. We're exploring the very forefront of physics and cosmology with the Large Hadron Collider because we want to have a window on creation, we want to recreate a tiny piece of Genesis to unlock some of the greatest secrets of the universe.
No one knows who wrote the laws of physics or where they come from. Science is based on testable, reproducible evidence, and so far we cannot test the universe before the Big Bang.
True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
The historian of science may be tempted to exclaim that when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them.
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