From: starmaker@ix.netcom.com   
      
   On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 10:12:58 -0800, Ross Finlayson   
    wrote:   
      
   >On 01/31/2026 11:38 PM, The Starmaker wrote:   
   >> On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 23:25:14 -0800, The Starmaker   
   >>  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2025 14:44:12 -0800, The Starmaker   
   >>>  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> Einstein's God (a cosmic religion) is called Spinoza's God , the God   
   >>>> Einstein believes in.   
   >>>> No Free Will   , human free will is an illusion; our choices are   
   >>>> determined by natural causes.   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> Here are some quotes by Albert Einstein  that appear to me was   
   >>> influenced by  Spinoza's God:   
   >>>   
   >>> If the moon, in the act of completing its eternal way around the   
   >>> earth, were gifted with self-consciousness, it would feel thoroughly   
   >>> convinced that it was traveling its way of its own accord on the   
   >>> strength of a resolution taken once and for all. So would a Being,   
   >>> endowed with higher insight and more perfect intelligence, watching   
   >>> man and his doings, smile about man's illusion that he was acting   
   >>> according to his own free will.   
   >>> Albert Einstein   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> I do not believe in free will. Schopenhauer's words: 'Man can do what   
   >>> he wants, but he cannot will what he wills,' accompany me in all   
   >>> situations throughout my life and reconcile me with the actions of   
   >>> others, even if they are rather painful to me. This awareness of the   
   >>> lack of free will keeps me from taking myself and my fellow men too   
   >>> seriously as acting and deciding individuals, and from losing my   
   >>> temper.   
   >>> Albert Einstein   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> Human beings, in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free   
   >>> agents but are as causally bound as the stars in their motion.   
   >>> Albert Einstein   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> So would a Being, endowed with higher insight and more perfect   
   >>> intelligence, watching man and his doings, smile about man's illusion   
   >>> that he was acting according to his own free will.   
   >>> Albert Einstein   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> I agree with your remark about loving your enemy as far as actions are   
   >>> concerned. But for me the cognitive basis is the trust in an   
   >>> unrestricted causality. 'I cannot hate him, because he must do what he   
   >>> does.' That means for me more Spinoza than the prophets.   
   >>> Albert Einstein   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> I am a determinist. As such, I do not believe in free   
   >>> will...Practically, I am, nevertheless, compelled to act as if freedom   
   >>> of the will existed. If I wish to live in a civilized community, I   
   >>> must act as if man is a responsible being.   
   >>> Albert Einstein   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> I am a determinist. As such, I do not believe in free will. The Jews   
   >>> believe in free will. They believe that man shapes his own life. I   
   >>> reject that doctrine philosophically. In that respect I am not a Jew.   
   >>> Albert Einstein   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> More...I am a determinist. As such, I do not believe in free will.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> "In a sense," he added, "we can hold no one responsible. I am a   
   >> determinist. As such, I do not believe in free will. The Jews believe   
   >> in free will—they believe that man shapes his own life. I reject that   
   >> doctrine philosophically. In that respect I am not a Jew."   
   >>   
   >>   "Don’t you believe that man is a free agent, at least in a limited   
   >> sense?"   
   >>   
   >>   Einstein smiled ingratiatingly. "I believe with Schopenhauer: *We can   
   >> do what we wish, but we can only wish what we must.* Practically, I am   
   >> nevertheless compelled to act as if freedom of the will existed. If I   
   >> wish to live in a civilized community, I must act as if man is a   
   >> responsible being.   
   >>   
   >>   "I know that philosophically a murderer is not responsible for his   
   >> crime; nevertheless, I must protect myself from unpleasant contacts. I   
   >> may consider him guiltless, but I prefer not to take tea with him."   
   >>   
   >>   "Do you mean to say that you did not choose your own career, but that   
   >> your actions were predetermined by some power outside yourself?"   
   >>   
   >>   **The Danger of Too Much Analysis**   
   >>   
   >>   "My own career was undoubtedly determined not by my own will, but by   
   >> various factors over which I have no control—primarily those   
   >> mysterious glands in which Nature prepares the very essence of life:   
   >> our internal secretions."   
   >>   
   >>   "It may interest you," I interjected, "that Henry Ford once told me   
   >> he, too, did not carve out his own life, but that all his actions were   
   >> determined by an inner voice."   
   >>   
   >>   "Ford," Einstein replied, "may call it his inner voice. Socrates   
   >> referred to it as his *daimon.* We moderns prefer to speak of our   
   >> glands or internal secretions. Each explains in his own way the   
   >> undeniable fact that the human will is not free."   
   >>   
   >>   "Don’t you deliberately ignore all psychic factors in human   
   >> development? What, for instance," I asked, "is your attitude toward   
   >> the subconscious? According to Freud, psychic events registered   
   >> indelibly in our nether mind make and mar our lives."   
   >>   
   >>   "Whereas materialistic historians and philosophers neglect psychic   
   >> realities, Freud is inclined to overstress their importance. I am not   
   >> a psychologist, but it seems to me fairly evident that physiological   
   >> factors—especially our endocrines—control our destiny."   
   >>   
   >>   "Then you do not believe in psychoanalysis?"   
   >>   
   >>   "I am not," Einstein modestly replied, "able to venture a judgment on   
   >> so important a phase of modern thought. However, it seems to me that   
   >> psychoanalysis is not always salutary. It may not always be helpful to   
   >> delve into the subconscious. The machinery of our legs is controlled   
   >> by a hundred different muscles. Do you think it would help us to walk   
   >> if we analyzed our legs and knew exactly which of the little muscles   
   >> must be employed in locomotion and the order in which they work?   
   >>   
   >>   "Perhaps," he added with the whimsical smile that sometimes lights up   
   >> the somber pools of his eyes like a will-o’-the-wisp, "you remember   
   >> the story of the toad and the centipede? The centipede was very proud   
   >> of having one hundred legs. His neighbor, the toad, was much depressed   
   >> because he had only four. One day, a diabolic inspiration prompted the   
   >> toad to write a letter to the centipede as follows:   
   >>   
   >>   *Honored Sir: Can you tell me which one of your hundred legs you move   
   >> first when you transfer your distinguished body from one place to   
   >> another, and in what order you move the other ninety-nine legs?*   
   >>   
   >>   "When the centipede received this letter, he began to think. He tried   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)