In 1879, Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany. In many cases a leader or ruler or a privileged class whose position rests on other factors combines priestly functions with its secular authority in order to make the latter more secure or the political rulers and the priestly caste make common cause in their own interests. This, though not created, is in an important degree stabilized by the formation of a special priestly caste which sets itself up as a mediator between the people and the beings they fear, and erects a hegemony on this basis. In this sense I am speaking of a religion of fear. Thus one tries to secure the favor of these beings by carrying out actions and offering sacrifices which, according to the tradition handed down from generation to generation, propitiate them or make them well disposed toward a mortal. Since at this stage of existence understanding of causal connections is usually poorly developed, the human mind creates illusory beings more or less analogous to itself on whose wills and actions these fearful happenings depend. With primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notions - fear of hunger, wild beasts, sickness, death. Now what are the feelings and needs that have led men to religious thought and belief in the widest sense of the words? A little consideration will suffice to show us that the most varying emotions preside over the birth of religious thought and experience. Feeling and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor and human creation, in however exalted a guise the latter may present themselves to us. One has to keep this constantly in mind if one wishes to understand spiritual movements and their development. 24 - 28.Įverything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of pain.

It also appears in Einstein's book The World as I See It, Philosophical Library, New York, 1949, pp. It has been reprinted in Ideas and Opinions, Crown Publishers, Inc. The following article by Albert Einstein appeared in the New York Times Magazine on Novempp 1-4.

The cosmic view of albert einstein pdf