XPost: sci.physics.relativity, sci.math, alt.atheism   
   From: starmaker@ix.netcom.com   
      
   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   
   first one leg, then another. Finally, to his consternation, he   
   discovered that he was unable to move a single leg. He could no longer   
   walk at all—he was paralyzed!   
      
    "It is possible," Einstein concluded, "that analysis may paralyze our   
   mental and emotional processes in a similar manner."   
      
    "Are you then an opponent of Freud?"   
      
    "By no means. I am not prepared to accept all his conclusions, but I   
   consider his work an immensely valuable contribution to the science of   
   human behavior. I think he is even greater as a writer than as a   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)