The mind of Einstein is a great mystery. Let's solve the puzzle now.

Even advanced physics students and their professors fail to understand the mind of the late Albert Einstein, the American physicist whose theories revolutionized modern thought on the nature of space and time.

For example, the physics students play a parlor game in which they randomly name two famous physicists, such as Maxwell and Heisenberg, or Bohr and Hawking, or Kepler and Newton, or Einstein and Galileo. Then the students ask: Who was the greater genius? Although they continually conclude that there was no greater genius than Einstein, they are utterly wrong.

Einstein was not a genius.

At the age of 15, Einstein failed a crucial examination in his studies to become an electrical engineer. Shortly thereafter, continuing with related studies, he wrote of his plans for the future:

If I were to have the good fortune to pass my examinations, I would go to Zurich. I would stay there for four years in order to study mathematics and physics. I imagine myself becoming a teacher in those branches of the natural sciences, choosing the theoretical part of them. Here are the reasons which [sic] lead me to this plan. Above all, it is my disposition for abstract and mathematical thought, and my lack of imagination and practical ability.

 

Later, in 1900, Einstein graduated from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), in Zurich, as a secondary teacher of mathematics and physics, but was unable to secure a permanent position at any university. Eventually he gave up on that idea and instead became a "technical expert third class" at the Patent Office, in Bern, Germany. Then, in his spare time, working almost entirely alone, he began his writings in theoretical physics.

In 1905, Einstein earned a doctorate from the University of Zurich, became a professor of physics there, and, subsequently, a full professor at the Karl-Ferdinand University, in Prague, then took up a chair at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, a research position at the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and a chair at the University of Berlin.

In 1905 Einstein introduced his Special Theory of Relativity, which described the motion of particles when they were moving close to the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). It proposed that Sir Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion, which scientists had believed for more than two centuries, were approximately correct, but began to fail when the velocity of particles approached that of light.

In 1915 Einstein introduced his General Theory of Relativity, which submitted that matter causes space to curve. It proposed that Newton's Law of Gravitation was approximately correct, but broke down when gravitation became very strong.

On the basis of what was believed to be a confirmation of Einstein's predictions, on 7 November 1919 "The London Times" ran the following headline:

Einstein then became renowned throughout the world as a mathematician and physicist. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London and awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics (not for relativity, but for his work on the photoelectric effect), in 1921, and the Copely Medal, the highest award from the Royal Society of London, in 1925.

If, like most people, you have had trouble understanding what Einstein allegedly proved, he explained it once, quite simply: "When forced to summarize the General Theory of Relativity in one sentence: Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter."

In 1939 Einstein urged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to develop an atomic bomb before Germany did. Subsequently Roosevelt decided to fund what became the Manhattan Project.

Later Einstein regretted that act, saying, "I made one great mistake in my life -- when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made ...."

Subsequently, in one of the last acts of Einstein's life, he urged all nations to give up nuclear weapons. Then, having said that if he had it all to do over he would have become a locksmith, Einstein died a few days later, on 18 April 1955, at age 76.

But Einstein really was a genius after all, wasn't he?

Here is what Einstein, himself, said about the matter:

I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.

It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.

You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I've only ever had one.

With fame I become more and more stupid, which, of course, is a very common phenomenon.

 

Some of Einstein's statements were as enigmatic to the public as his theories of relativity. For example, he advised, "Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I assure you that mine are greater."

On another occasion he stated, "I don't believe in mathematics," and even concluded, "Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore."

Some of Einstein's statements were humorously revealing. For instance, when asked to describe radio, he replied:

You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: You send signals here; they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.

 

Some of Einstein's statements were simply enlightening. Consider these:

It is not so very important for a person to learn facts. For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not learning of many facts, but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.

Wisdom is not a product of schooling, but of the life-long attempt to acquire it.

If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies .... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which [sic] cannot be enforced.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research.

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

 

A few of Einstein's statements were brilliant, such as these:

A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem.

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex .... It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.

Human beings, vegetables, or comic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player

I have deep faith that the principle of the universe will be beautiful and simple.

Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.

When the solution is simple, God is answering.

Not until the creation and maintenance of decent conditions of life for all people are recognized and accepted as a common obligation of all people and all countries -- not until then shall we, with a certain degree of justification, be able to speak of humankind as civilized.

 

For a person to score in the genius range on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -- Revised, the world's most modern and accurate IQ test, he or she must score extraordinarily well in all the key facets of the test. Einstein had a genius for physics. Having a genius for a particular subject, however, is entirely different from being a genius. Given that Einstein's IQ, which is a measurement of all his key facets of intelligence, was less than 130, Einstein most certainly was not a genius.

Accordingly, with all due respect for the gentleman, some of Einstein's statements were utter nonsense. For instance, he said, "The search for truth is more precious than its possession."

That's false! Believe me, the possession of truth is incomparably more precious than merely hunting for it. The only sort person who could conclude that the search for truth was more precious than truth itself would be someone who, in the grand scheme of things, had failed to find much truth and was taking solace in at least having searched.

Einstein also said, "I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it."

In fact, the importance of ethics greatly supersedes that of all other intellectual activity throughout this universe, both human and non-human, and the precise, proper, and advanced application of ethics can even result in the immortality of the individual.

Einstein also said, "We know nothing at all. All our knowledge is but the knowledge of schoolchildren. The real nature of things we shall never know."

Einstein must have been having a difficult day to have been so pessimistic. In the grand scheme of things, although man's knowledge is as woefully deficient as the knowledge of schoolchildren, the real nature of things is child's play to know, when approached with sufficient intelligence.

And, Einstein said:

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

Einstein could not have been more mistaken.

No problem ever exists until an individual considers that it exists (a condition may exist before then, but not a problem). The problem will then continue until such time as the person considers that it no longer exists. The consideration that something "is" and the consideration that something "isn't" are at the same level of consciousness.

Have you ever considered that you had a problem, then decided that you had created the problem unnecessarily, and then considered that you no longer had the problem? Creating it and solving it involved the same thinking.

And Einstein said, "Nothing will benefit health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."

Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets may be helpful or detrimental to one's health, depending on the specifics of each diet.

Regardless of whether a change by man to a vegetarian diet is an upward or downward evolution, to say that it would increase the chances for survival of life on Earth more than anything else is a statement of lunacy. For example, the elimination of weapons of mass destruction from Earth would accomplish much more, and might even allow mankind to survive for another century (which might even be enough time to make broccoli palatable).

What is worth knowing and staying aware of at all times is this: Just because a person who is not a duly certifiable and true genius has a skill, talent, or even a genius for one facet of life does not mean that he or she necessarily has even the intelligence of a head of broccoli when talking about any other facet of life.

About the time of Einstein's demise, the pseudoscience of biopsychology emerged. It is essentially the study of the biology of behavior and mental processes, such as attention, perception, learning, memory, emotion, motivation and cognition. In other words, it studies how the chemistry and physiology of the brain result in thinkingness. Biopsychology is the field of knowing how the brain does it.

Biopsychology is complex, indeed. It is also called biological psychology, psychobiology, behavioral biology, and behavioral neuroscience, and is related to such fields as cognitive neuroscience (how the brain's neural mechanisms work), psychopharmacology (how drugs affect the brain's functions), neuropsychology (how brain damage affects the brain's functions), behavioral genetics (how genes influence behavior), evolutionary psychology (how evolution shapes psychological processes), and comparative psychology (how animal behavior differs among species).

If Einstein was right when he said, "When the solution is simple, God is answering," then God must have nothing at all to do with biopsychology.

Biopsychology is one of the most pretentious fields of study on this planet. For example, just a few days ago one of the world's foremost biopsychologists admitted publicly that a person doesn't even have to take a basic course in psychology to become a biopsychologist. Then she rethought what she had admitted and added, "Well, he almost doesn't have to."

Then, after half a century of biopsychologists having spent incalculable funds studying how the chemistry and physiology of the brain results in thinkingness, the same imminent biopsychologist was asked, "So, how does the brain think a thought?"

She replied by launching some impressively polysyllabic words into an almost endless sentence of technobabble, stumbling dreadfully over her own answer, and then finally sighing and confessing, "That's what we call 'the hard question.'" (Translation: We wouldn't have an inkling if our lives depended on it.)

In fact, the human brain has never created a single thought and never will. The human brain and the human mind are two entirely different and separate components of a person.

The mind is composed of the pictures that you see in your mind's eye and is located well outside your body. For example, close your body's eyes and imagine an apple rolling from your lap and falling to the floor. Then open your eyes and point to where the apple is. Notice that you pointed to the floor and not to your brain.

The human brain is merely a relay that fires neurons in the formulation of motor impulses. Consequently, the reason biopsychologists call "how does the brain think a thought?" the hard question is because they are studying entirely the wrong component. The answer never existed one inch behind Einstein's forehead. The answer is to be found in the mind, which makes the question one that the brain will never resolve.

This is in complete accord with what was the traditional belief of man until about a century ago, when psychology veered into a ditch from which it has failed to extricate itself.

Some with vested interests may doubt me, but be smart. Take the intelligent approach. Just watch from the sidelines as biopsychologists continue to spin through the decades on "the hard question."

You should not be surprised to learn that upon Einstein's death pathologist Thomas Harvey quickly preserved Einstein's brain, which was then sectioned and examined carefully. All variations were within the normal range and there was nothing unusual, whatsoever.

The truth is that Einstein's brain was just like yours.

Incidentally, on at least one occasion Einstein's spoke with superlative wisdom, when he warned, "We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive."

"The Mega Genius Lecture Series," beginning with "The Genius Formula Series," is the solution Einstein prophesied.

Mega Genius

28 April 2003