Einstein's last regret: "I was I had read more of the Mystics"

As you all know, or some of you at least, I am a Christian Mystic (Nondualist).

Anyway, it feels great to know that towards the end of Einstein's life, he had wished he could have read more about the Mystics. Had he done so, I'm sure he would have fallen in Love, like I have, with Quantum Physics!

Einstein's Last Regret

From the article:

"Albert Einstein was asked toward the end of his life if he had any regrets. He answered: "I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life." This is a significant confession, coming as it does from one of the greatest geniuses of the 20th century, a man who moved beyond the modern science of Newton and ushered in a postmodern science and consciousness."

Originally posted by dominicus
"Albert Einstein was asked toward the end of his life if he had any regrets. He answered: "I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life."

I'm going to cry skeptic on this one.

A short search leads me to conclude that, like your article, all reports of this quote lead back to the one source - a book currently being promoted.
Title - "Christian Mystics"
Author - Matthew Fox

As far as I can see, there is no other reference anywhere for this supposed Einstein quote. Did Matthew Fox just make it up?

reply to post by dominicus


Are you a christian gnostic?

so ... a chris-tic. oooh maybe a mys-tian

what does that entail? any voodoo?

ritual self flagellation?

lots of prayers inside some mystical circle?

do tell..

Interesting. I have no idea if he really did say that or not, but to me it makes a lot of sense. Anything that happens in the world around us that we don't understand can simply be explained by magic... just look at all kinds of stuff in history, like people thinking the world was flat and they could sail off the edge or get attacked by giant seamonsters... the fact remains none of us really knows why they thought some of the things they did, but all in all, I think it's safe to assume they simply called it "magic". It'd be like trying to explain how the parts of a computer work to a 1 year old.... or an even better, more common example:

"why is the sky blue?"
"because I said so."
"it's magic"

Einstein on boxers or briefs: 'Boxers.'

For your enlightenment:

Mysticism in Judaism

Mysticism and mystical experiences have been a part of Judaism since the earliest days. The Torah contains many stories of mystical experiences, from visitations by angels to prophetic dreams and visions. The Talmud considers the existence of the soul and when it becomes attached to the body. Jewish tradition tells that the souls of all Jews were in existence at the time of the Giving of the Torah and were present at the time and agreed to the Covenant. There are many stories of places similar to Christian heaven and purgatory, of wandering souls and reincarnation. The Talmud contains vague hints of a mystical school of thought that was taught only to the most advanced students and was not committed to writing. There are several references in ancient sources to ma'aseh berei# (the work of creation) and ma'aseh merkavah (the work of the chariot [of Ezekiel's vision]), the two primary subjects of mystical thought at the time.

In the middle ages, many of these mystical teachings were committed to writing in books like the Zohar. Many of these writings were asserted to be secret ancient writings or compilations of secret ancient writings.

Like most subjects of Jewish belief, the area of mysticism is wide open to personal interpretation. Some traditional Jews take mysticism very seriously. Mysticism is an integral part of Chasidic Judaism, for example, and passages from kabbalistic sources are routinely included in traditional prayer books. Other traditional Jews take mysticism with a grain of salt. One prominent Orthodox Jew, when introducing a speaker on the subject of Jewish mysticism, said basically, "it's nonsense, but it's Jewish nonsense, and the study of anything Jewish, even nonsense, is worthwhile."

The mystical school of thought came to be known as Kabbalah, from the Hebrew root Qof-Beit-Lamed, meaning "to receive, to accept." The word is usually translated as "tradition." In Hebrew, the word does not have any of the dark, sinister, evil connotations that it has developed in English. For example, the English word "cabal" (a secret group of conspirators) is derived from the Hebrew word Kabbalah, but neither the Hebrew word nor the mystical doctrines have any evil implications to Jews.

Judaism 101

This is the "Mysticism" to which Einstein referred.....

Not all of the mystics were christian, many weren't. However, there is so much accumulated knowledge to be found among the philosophers of the last few hundred years, even before, that to fully understand ourselves takes years of study, even for a genius like Einstein.

Colin Wilson's the Outsider is a very good introduction some some of the greatest mystics of the last while.

I'm busy with William Blake, what an astonishing mind!!!!

Wow, that's actually some pretty heavy stuff maxmars.. and harry there's a difference between Christians and Jews. I'm no expert on religion but I was raised as Christian and from what I know, the Jewish faith doesn't believe Jesus was God, while Christianity does. I'm under the impression that if you're Jewish you feel that Jesus was just a prophet, and that there were several prophets.

But, that's about the extent of my religious knowledge - please correct me if I'm wrong.

A few points:
1) I am also skeptical, but Matthew Fox is rather well known and an influential theologian-- not expected to be making things up.
2) Christian Mysticism and Jewish Mysticism are conceptually inseparable, while theologically difficult to reconcile-- the spiritual experiences are essentially identical but the meaning and attribution would, obviously, be expected to differ in defining the persons of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
3) Judeo-Christian mysticism has nothing to do with secular mystics-- no crystal balls, no seances, and no chickens are killed in the practice of it! Think: "Carmelites" not "Shirley Maclaine."
4) I like smart people, and want to learn that they value what I value, so I hope the quote is accurate. I would like to think that Einstein had a robust spiritual life; but I fear that he did not.

~IR

Isnt Matthew Fox Jack from lost?

reply to post by Time2Think


Mmmmm some very interesting points you raise, i'm not sure they're relevant though.

One of the beautiful aspects of philosophy is that despite being shaped by many, many aspects, like a man's personal religion, the questions and answers have to be outside religious dogma, and it's a rule that has served very well over the years.

Compare Spinoza with Kiekegaard, jew and christian respectively, neither lost their faith, but both found an externally valid set of truths / morals which enhanced their religious or mystical perspectives, usually without ruining their belief system. Moreso, what they both agreed on was the negativity induced by the all powerful religious sects, and the rejection of dogma for direct experience.

What is most important these days IMHO, is for us as men and women, to reclaim our intellectual freedom, which we really don't have anymore ... to such an extent that it seems an impossibility.

I think its more crediable to talk about the nazis. They had the best team of scientists, and engineered many advances, and helped americans with the moon landing and nasa. Yet their leaders still pushed for the occult.

Sorry, no time to look for the references now, but I like this quote from Einstein. "I never got anywhere thinking inside the box". He was still doing that when he died, as an open copy of one of Emmanuel Velikovsky's books was found on his desk. Those are the premiere works on geologic catastrophism.