Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a mystic but also a scientist specializing in nuclear physics. We include him in this encyclopedia because he gave us the question that begins the journey from P-B to P-A. His question was: Is the universe friendly?[i] If we cannot answer that question in the affirmative then we cannot begin to consider transcendence as a possibility because we have surrendered to fear and the false self, we will live out our lives in an unconscious state.
Einstein also had a worldview that affirmed the connection and interrelatedness of all human endeavors. “The purpose of both art and science is to keep alive the cosmic religious feeling.”[ii]
As we know “feeling” is the experience of the present moment, the joy we experience in P-A. Mysticism was a subject that interested Einstein’s ever inquisitive mind. “It is said that Einstein numbered among his most prized possessions The Secret Doctrine by Madame Blavatsky.”[iii]
Einstein had what would come to be called a “peak experience” as a boy, an intuitive insight that would influence much of his subsequent work. He had a “feeling” about what we have called in this encyclopedia, the tapestry of Oneness. “At this early point in Einstein’s life, a strong feeling came over him: there must be some hidden structure behind the visible universe.”[iv]
In keeping his intellect subordinate to his intuition and thereby seeing deeply into the nature of Simple Reality, Albert Einstein demonstrated for all of us a foundational principle which enables anyone who chooses to enter the timeless NOW.
[i] Smith, Robert. “Why Do Bad Things Happen?” Venture Inward. Virginia Beach: VA, A.R.E. Press, January/ February 1994, p. 25.
[ii] Fox, Matthew. Original Blessings. Santa Fe: Bear and Company, 1983, p. 180.
[iii] Fisichella, Anthony J. Metaphysics: The Science of Life. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1984, p. 9.
[iv] Ferrucci, Piero. Inevitable Grace. Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1990, p. 237.
