With all the uncertainty and turmoil in our lives, many have wondered whether there is meaning to the world, and whether, as Einstein said, God Truly Does Play Dice With The Universe. In many ways, Einstein and his findings of Relativity can help us answer this important question.
Einstein the scientist disliked uncertainty, but was plagued by it his entire professional life. Much in science is actually unknowable, and Einstein's most important equations did not work unless he added fudge factors, which are called constants, to “fix” things. Einstein developed the idea of a cosmological constant, which he thought shortly thereafter to have been a terrible mistake, but which turns out may not have been a mistake at all. How many times have we made what we think is a wrong decision, but which turns out to be the right one? How many times have we tried to fix things by adding something to the mix? Candy for a tearful child, the keys to the car to a pestering adolescent, ignoring signs of dependency in a loved one? The right way may not be absolutely knowable, but I often think we can sense it.
As a philosophical point, Einstein did not actually think that all things were relative. Einstein did believe that all things are knowable, not mysterious or left to chance like the roll of the dice.
Heisenberg, another great physicist and a contemporary of Einstein, developed what is commonly referred to as the Uncertainty Principle. Heisenberg proposed that one cannot simultaneously know the mass and the position of a particle. I think that this is more a technical issue than a basic law of nature. But as a concept, uncertainty was absolutely unacceptable to Einstein. Einstein was an absolutist in many things. He said, “It is hard to sneak a look at God's cards. But that there should be statistical laws with indefinite solutions, laws that compel God to throw dice in each individual case, I find highly disagreeable.” I too strongly disagree with the uncertainty principle, but for different reasons, both in physics and as applied to interpersonal relations.
How does all this relate to us as individuals and to our own interpersonal affairs? Perhaps the Uncertainty Principle means that sometimes the correct Moral and Ethical choices really are relative and uncertain. Uncertainty in ethical decisions can lead directly to Situational Ethics, commonly known as “whatever.” I am not at all convinced that all things that really count are relative
Does God Play Dice With The Universe?
I think not. Not all can be known, but important things can be understood well-enough.
Einstein accepted a teaching position at Princeton in the 1930s. Carved into the mantelpiece in the old Fine Hall is the German saying "Raffiniert ist der Herr Gott, aber boshaft ist er nicht." Translated, this reads: “Shrewd is the Lord, but malicious he is not.”
Perhaps it is true that very little said has not been said before, for Psalm 18 reads:
“To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.”
There is little doubt that Einstein had seen this German phrase, and that he had read Psalm 18. What does this Psalm mean?
First, that we were made in God’s image, however we see God. As a creator, as a universal force of love, or in a more classic sense. To me, Psalm 18 means that we should see ourselves as part of nature in God, and God in ourselves. When viewed in the sense of universality of life, and of God as a life force, this is entirely consistent with modern ethical principles.
Second, God reflects ourselves, and we can see our reflection in God. Can we look at ourselves, and do we like what we see?
Third, no one can fool God. But we can certainly fool ourselves and those we care about most, at least for some relative amount of time. God, our universal spirit, knows our hearts, and is revealed to us as required. Great peace can come from harmonizing our lives and our ethics with the rhythm and flow of the universal spirit.
There are many things which Einstein was not aware of. Although he told us that his knowledge was limited, his hubris seems insincere and for public consumption. I don’t think that he seriously considered how reliance on scientific principles truly limited his knowledge of the universe.
Einstein did not know of the existence of many things which he could not see, touch or measure and yet which exerted huge powers in his life. Only in the last few years have we become aware of dark matter and dark energy, which may constitute 90% of the universe and hold it together. Or it may not really exist, apart from components of certain mathematical equations.
Einstein did not know of String theory, cell phones, computers, transistors, transplantation, DNA, the internet and social networking media.
Physics defines four forces in nature: strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational. Einstein never knew that Love, forgiveness, pride and the spirit of life are also very strong and very important forces
But what does all this have to do with us as individuals?
Moral Relativism holds that moral decisions are relative to the social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances surrounding each situation, and don’t represent universal truths. Moral Relativism claims that no universal standard exists by which to assess an ethical proposition's truth. Moral values are applicable only within certain cultural boundaries or in the context of individual preferences. An extreme relativist position might even suggest that judging the moral or ethical decisions or acts of another person or group has no absolute meaning at all. But as I will show, there are absolute moral rights and wrongs, without which society will simply collapse, as did Soviet Russia, China during the cultural revolution, and Cambodia during Pol Pot.
Some moral relativists hold that a personal and subjective moral core lies at the foundation of an individuals' moral acts. In this view, public morality reflects social convention. In this mindset, whatever everyone thinks is right must be. In my opinion, we need to reject these simplistic labels, with their implied pre-fab meanings. Remember, if everybody’s right, than no one is wrong. Otherwise. we could say "all beliefs (ideas, truths) are equally valid," or we might just as well throw up our hands and say "all beliefs are equally worthless" Whatever !!!
For me, moral Relativism and its consequence Uncertainty can undermine our confidence in how we see morality, resulting in a breakdown of norms and values. Complete Social Darwinism follows – the survival of the fittest. You can see this within a society, but also within a family, a marriage, a friendship, a job. The principles of social justice are ignored, violating some of the basic concepts of pluralism and social justice. We have seen for the last 50 years the call to Social Darwinism in American politics, ironically supported by the very poor, the less educated, the disenfranchised, the religious fundamentalists, those most likely to be harmed by those very precepts of Social Darwinism.
Lots covered, much to consider. Thank you for your time. Feel free to contact me with comments at WhatsApp and Signal messaging apps. I direct you to my personal blog page www.dhmarks.blogspot.com for more of my writings.
