Tuesday 18 April 2017

Albert Einstein : ( 14/3/1879 -18/4/55) A powerful voice of social conscience and humanity that still resonates.

 

The legendary theoretical physicist, author, philosopher, moral leader Albert Einstein   was born at Ulm, Wuerttemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879  and is now regarded  as the most influential physicist of the 20th century, who  made such great contributions to the scientific world, for which  he received the 1921 Noble Prize in Physics for his services to Theoretical Physics. 
In letters, and articles, Einstein wrote that the welfare of humanity as a whole must take precedence over the goals of individual nations, and that we cannot wait until leaders give up their preparations for war. Civil society, and especially public figures, must take the lead. He asked how decent and self-respecting people can wage war, knowing how many innocent people will be killed. Throughout his life he used his professional fame to promote his  strong voice of social conscience,including crticism (while living in Germany) of Germany's role in World War I.Because of his fame, Einstein was asked to make several speeches at the Reichstag. and in all these speeches he condemned violence and nationalism, urging that these be replaced by and international cooperation and law under an effective international authority.
Einstein believed that the production of armaments is damaging, not only economically, but also spiritually. In 1930 he signed a manifesto for world disarmament sponsored by the Womans International League for Peace and Freedom. In December of the same year, he made his famous statement in New York that if two percent of those called for military service were to refuse to fight, governments would become powerless, since they could not imprison that many people. He also argued strongly against compulsory military service and urged that conscientious objectors should be protected by the international community. He argued that peace, freedom of individuals, and security of societies could only be achieved through disarmament, the alternative being “slavery of the individual and annihilation of civilization”. He also lent his voice in support of pacifism, anti-militarism,and was also a socialist  who believed that a socialist planned economy was the only way to eliminate the inequalities of capitalism, he also strongly opposed Adolf Hitler  His deep disapproval of racism  and hate having been born from suffering and because of his Jewish identity.
He also condemned  America's use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,  stood against Joseph McCarthy-era restraints on freedom of speech, in June, 1953, he wrote a letter to a school teacher in which he characterized certain tactics of a Congressional investigating committee as "a kind of inquisition" that "violates the spirit of the Constitution," and advised the "minority of intellectuals" to refuse to testify on the ground that "it is shameful for a blameless citizen to submit to such an inquisition." Faced with this evil, he said, he could "see only the revolutionary way of non-cooperation in the sense of Gandhi's." he also  had a strong disapproval of racism having suffered from it because of his Jewish identity.. Scientific expertise was of no value in most of these cases, yet Einstein's words were taken seriously and reached a large audience.
In letters, and articles, Einstein wrote that the welfare of humanity as a whole must take precedence over the goals of individual nations, and that we cannot wait until leaders give up their preparations for war. Civil society, and especially public figures, must take the lead. He asked how decent and self-respecting people can wage war, knowing how many innocent people will be killed.
For his efforts, he was threatened with assassination several times, was in danger of deportation from the United States, and accumulated a huge FBI file. He even was denied security clearance to work on the WWII atomic bomb project. Einstein's courage in his public activities ran on a track parallel to the boldness of his scientific work.Throughout the remainder of his life, in addition to his scientific work, Einstein worked tirelessly for peace, international understanding and nuclear disarmament. His last public act, only a few days before his death  on 4th of April 1955, was to sign the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, warning humankind of the catastrophic consequences that would follow from a war with nuclear weapons. Since his death  he is know considered one of the outstanding thinkers of his generation, a symbol of the human spirit and its highest aspirations, a fighter for social justice and human fraternity, a powerful voice of peace that still resonates. .
Here are a  few valuable life lessons that Einstein said :-

1. Follow Your Curiosity -
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

2. Perseverance is Priceless -
“It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

3. Focus on the Present -
“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”

4. The Imagination is Powerful -
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

5. Make Mistakes -
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

6. Live in the Moment -
“I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.”

7. Create Value -
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

8. Don’t be repetitive -
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”


9. Knowledge Comes From Experience -
“Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”

10. Learn the Rules and Then Play Better -
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
 
11. Devote Your Life to a Cause -
 “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”

12  Serve the World  – 
“The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule. The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.”

13. Question Authority - 
" Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

14. Imagination is more important than knowledge -
 “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
 

 15. Never ever stop learning  – 
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.

16. We are all one -
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

17. Never stop Questioning-
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
" People like you and I, though mortal of course, like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live. What I mean is that we never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we were born."

18. Let nature be your teacher -  
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

19. There are no limits except those we impose on ourselves -  
“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”
“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”

20.  Dare to be your true self -  
“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.”
 At the end of the day, we will all experience successes and failures.So strive, fail, succeed and smile and remember, there is always room for optimism and  another world is possible. Thank you Albert Einstein for your valuable words.

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