List, I came upon these quotations today from *Einstein and the Poet: In Search of the Cosmic Man*:
"I like to experience the Universe as one harmonious whole. Every cell has life. Matter, too, has life; it is energy solidified..." "The basic laws of the Universe are simple, but because our senses are limited, we can’t grasp them. There is a pattern in creation." "If we look at this tree outside whose roots search beneath the pavement for water, or a flower which sends its sweet smell to the pollinating bees, or even our own selves and the inner forces that drive us to act, we can see that we all dance to a mysterious tune, and the piper who plays this melody from an inscrutable distance—whatever name we give him—Creative Force, or God—escapes all book knowledge.." "[A cosmic religion] has no dogma other than teaching man that the Universe is rational and that his highest destiny is to ponder it and co-create with its laws.." "The soul given to each of us is moved by the same living spirit that moves the Universe." ~Albert Einstein Source of Quotes: Einstein and the Poet: In Search of the Cosmic Man (1983). From a series of meetings William Hermanns had with Einstein in 1930, 1943, 1948, and 1954. See: How Einstein Saw the World https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/.../how.../ <https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/how-einstein-saw-the-world/?fbclid=IwAR0ZuavlHYcE39uemJNDosvdfbC0_P0AI7q6usO41jdX7TwpFulTHrJs7m4> This immediately reminded me of something Gary Fuhrman posted to his blog a day or so before. There he juxtaposed a famous passage from the *Tao Te Ching* with a thought of Peirce to the effect that God does not 'exist' but, like the Tao, is 'real'. Water surely exists, but does its *flow* exist? There's no question that the water's flow is *real* enough. Slightly shortened and edited excerpts from Fuhrman's blog post: The highest good is like water. Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive. It flows in places people reject and so is like the Tao.— Tao Te Ching 8 (Feng/English) A comment on this text by Wang Pi: "The Tao does not exist, but water does. Hence, it only approaches the Tao." [Fuhrman] Does the flow of water exist? Does energy flow exist? We can say it does when we see work being done, some purpose being served. But what determines which product or service exists or occurs as a result of the process? The Way it works. Charles S. Peirce would agree with Wang Pi that the highest good (or God) does not exist, but is real, because it ‘determines the suchness of that which may come into existence, when it does come into existence’. Fuhrman adds: "Who or what is that good for?" Here are a few additional short quotations from *How Einstein Saw the World:* "Religion and science go together. As I’ve said before, science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind. They are interdependent and have a common goal—the search for truth." "Through my pursuit in science I have known cosmic religious feelings." "The world needs new moral impulses which, I’m afraid, won’t come from the churches, heavily compromised as they have been throughout the centuries." Albert Einstein Best, Gary Richmond
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