It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion.
Interpretation
The feeling of mystery, even when accompanied by fear, is a fundamental aspect that inspired the development of religious beliefs.
In this quote, Albert Einstein suggests that the profound experience of encountering the unknown or the mysterious, which can evoke feelings of fear, is a key catalyst for the creation and foundation of religious beliefs. He highlights the interplay between fear and curiosity, indicating that the mysteries of existence prompt humanity to seek answers, often through the lens of religion.
In practice
During a lecture on the origins of faith, one might reference Einstein's quote to illustrate how uncertainty shapes human belief.
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.
Anyone can lie. One need only have the requisite intention - in other words, to say something with the intention to deceive. Faking, by contrast, is an achievement. To fake things you have to take people in, yourself included.
I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time I enter the pulpit.
The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.
I should like to save the Shire, if I could - though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don't feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.
We might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of criticism.
Reincarnation contains a most comforting explanation of reality by means of which Indian thought surmounts difficulties which baffle the thinkers of Europe.
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