If Einstein pointed the way to a new form of spirituality through his comment on Buddhism in which he gave the key criteria for a "cosmic religion of the future," such a religion, he said, should
- Transcend a personal God
- Avoid dogma and theology
- Embrace both the natural and the spiritual
- Establish itself on a personal sense of unity among all things
What's left for us is to apply the same criteria today, fifty years after Einstein's death. For many people the first step will prove the hardest. They seek the reassurance and solace of a personal God, but Einstein had seen enough of world catastrophe to reject the possibility of a God who intervenes in daily affairs. A benevolent God who doesn't intervene also seems rather futile. The alternative, as he saw it, is to transcend to a level of Nature where harmony, wonder, and unity are real experiences. One would then have God's essence without needing God's interference. The second point, avoiding dogma and theology, releases us from organized religion. Einstein, being an independent thinker of the highest order, couldn't fit into any organized faith, and more to the point, the Judeo-Christian tradition is based on a personal God, which he had already rejected. Being freed from religion offers an open field for new and unknown possibilities.
The rest of the essay on Einstein's god ...
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