An Existentialist Reading of Einstein’s Later Life

  

All right, so I will be frank, I did not read Einstein: His Life and Universe to get invested on an emotional level. I expected I would be reading about black holes and formulas that went right over my head. However, what I received, particularly in the latter half of the book, was something that strangely resonated with my own doubts, concerns, and definitions of meaning, purpose, and the notion of making a choice of what you are.

I read it through the existentialist perspective, and I began to view Einstein not only as a genius of science, but as a man who always had to struggle with the burden of freedom. Free, as in not tied to an operative system. That type of freedom where you must fully own your choices, including the ones that do not feel good. Sartre refers to it as being condemned to be free- which essentially translates to there being no other person to blame your life other than yourself.

One incident that always deeply reluctantly remained with me was that of Einstein out-rightly rejecting to comply with the spirit of nationalism, even at the time when Nazi threat was looming large. Many intelligent people remained silent. Einstein didn’t. He termed nationalism as an infantile sickness. It is the measles of humankind” (Isaacson, 2007, p. 389). That struck me. Like, wow. It was not merely a clever view--it was a position. He was consciously deciding to contradict the majority, which was regarded by both Nietzsche and Sartre as the definition of authenticity. That is the point, that one should do something in accordance to his/her values, not simply repeat the others.

And the loneliness. So many times and in so many ways was Einstein an alienated man: as a Jew in Germany, as a pacifist during a war, and even in America during the Red Scare. Isaacson briefs how he never felt at home absolutely anywhere (p. 450). That was a holding-up line. Because, I mean, come on, many of us have felt that--that we are not quite fully belonging. However, rather than treating that as a curse, Einstein embraced it. His conviction was that he was loyal not to a particular country, but to the mankind (p. 486). There you have it, the existential gesture, making your isolation work on your behalf, making it into something larger than you are.

But Einstein was not ideal—and that is one of the things that make him seem real. He approved the Manhattan Project despite abhorring war because he did not want Hitler to beat him to it (p. 509). He bitterly regreted it later and campaigned vigorously on nuclear disarmament. That contradiction? It is not weakness, it is his human part. Life is not tidy. Existentialism does not require you to be perfect. It simply tells you to make your decisions and live them truthfully.

The way Walter Isaacson narrates the story is what I like very much. He does not put a gloss on things. He depicts Einstein as a person who continued to pose difficult questions not only of the universe, but of himself as well. That is what was special about the book to me. It was more than a bio it was a commentary on what it takes to live an upright life in a world that seldom adds up.

It turns out that Einstein was not afraid of uncertainty. He breathed in it. And in some way that made him more than a scientist--it made him something of a philosopher.

#Einstein #WalterIsaacson