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The world as I see it an essay by Albert Einstein

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

"I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts --

possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.

"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."

"My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon

degenerates; force attracts men of low morality... The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.

"This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!

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The World As I See It- SUMMARY

Introduction

The World as I See It is an interesting essay in which Albert Einstein has expressed his personal views about the purpose and ideals of life; democracy and dictatorship; war and peace; mystery and religion.

Albert Einstein is one of the most famous scientists and the greatest mathematical physicist of the current century. However, in this chapter, he gives us his views not about science but about the world as he sees and understands it.

Summary

There are several things that Einstein mentions in this connection. Firstly, Einstein tries to find out the purpose of the existence of human beings and giving an answer. He feels that we human beings are created for each other and we are dependent on each other.

Einstein goes on to declare that he does not believe in class differences. Einstein also declares that he believes in simple living and a simple way of life. Next, he expresses his opinion

regarding freedom. Einstein declares that he definitely believes in freedom but he does not believe in unlimited freedom because according to Einstein unlimited freedom is not possible, freedom has to be limited.

Further, Einstein goes on to talk about his ideas and goals in life. These are for three in number truth, goodness and beauty. Einstein says that friendship should be made only with like-minded people. Einstein at time prefers to be alone so that he can think well. Einstein now moves to another factor and that is the system of Government. According to Einstein democracy if practiced correctly, is the best for of Government for any country. While talking about

Governments, he goes on to declare that he is totally against war and he has always favoured peace.

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“This life which seems so fair, is like a bubble blown up in air.”

Conclusion

After the study of this thought-provoking essay, we come to the conclusion that Einstein is really a great man. He has profound love for humanity. He is a genius and has philosophical bend of mind. In short, we can say that Einstein is a man of keen observation, great wisdom, deep insight and profound knowledge

The World As I See It

Reference

The passage given for contextual explanation is extracted from the lesson The World as I See It, written by Albert Einstein.

About the Author

Albert Einstein is generally regarded as the greatest mathematical physicist of the current century and one of the greatest scientists of all times. He was awarded the Noble Prize for Physics in 1921. He is bold and straightforward man and expresses his views freely and unhesitatingly. His work rests very little on laboratory work but more on theories and philosophies. His writings for the layman are few, but they include an introduction to the general theory of relativity. His writings demonstrate his admirable capability.

About the Essay

The World as I See It is an interesting essay in which Albert Einstein has expressed his personal views about the purpose and ideals of life; democracy and dictatorship; war and peace; mystery and religion.

In this particular passage Albert Einstein says that our position in this world is unusual. Man is mortal. We have come into this world for leading a very short life. What is the purpose of man’s creation? When we deliberate over this fundamental question we come to the conclusion that life is not purposeless. There is a purpose in life. As far as the practical life is concerned we live for our fellowmen. In the first place we live for those who are known to us personally and our happiness depends on their smiles and welfare. In the second place we live for those who are not known to us personally but a tie of sympathy binds us with them.

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He strongly believes that one should lead a simple life as limple life is conducive to health and happiness. Plain life keeps a person fit physically and mentally. If a man leads a luxurious life, he has to run after worldly wealth and remains worried because he always thinks of earning more and more money by fair means or foul. Thus he has no peace of mind and peace of heart. His health deteriorates due to worries and cares. But if a man leads a simple life, he has no worries and cares and leads a pleasant, peaceful and contented life.

Einstein also expresses his views on class differences which, he thinks, are contrary to justice and are based on force and compulsion. Thus we can say that he is strongly opposed to class differences and perhaps he wants to say that he is strongly opposed to class differences and perhaps he wants to say that these class differences must not exist in any human society. He really believes in equality and fraternity.

In this particular passage Einstein has expressed his views on the ideals of his life. His ideals have been Truth, Goodness and beauty which have brightened up his ways of life and have given him a new courage to face the problems, difficulties and hardships of life with a smile.

Beauty is truth, truth beauty __ that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know

Thus we see that the ideals which Einstein cherishes, are high ideals of life. He loves these ideals because they give him spiritual pleasure. In other words these ideals give spiritual pleasure to every person who loves these ideals.

He, then, talks about the sense of fellowship with man of like mind. He wants to say that life is colourless and meaningless if a man does not enjoy the company and fellowship of like minded people and if a person is not preoccupied with the objective, which is not attainable in the field of art and scientific research. We are really startled when Einstein says that property, outward success and luxury are the ordinary objects of human endeavor. We are at a loss to understand when he finally says than these objects have always seemed to him contemptible. But we are deliberate over the philosophical ideas; we come to the conclusion that Albert Einstein is right.

In this passage Albert Einstein, expresses his views with reference to democracy and

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believe in force and in autocratic system cruel rulers, rule over the people with high-handedness. They do not care for the moral values and give no importance to the welfare of the people.

Einstein believes that it is an invariable rule that intelligent cruel rulers are succeeded by people of low morality.

In other words Einstein means to say that an autocratic system of government is not beneficial to the people because of the values. It is very difficult for people to breathe freely in dictatorship, as the people do not enjoy any kind of freedom.

Einstein loves democracy and hates dictatorship. He is a humanist and wants to see each and every individual happy. So he wants that the rulers must rule the country with love so that the people may breathe freely and live happily.

In this passage Albert Einstein expresses his views on war and peace. He says that war seems to him a mean and hateful thing. He would rather die than take part in such a hateful business. He hates war because he is humanist. He is fully aware of the fact that thousands of innocent people are killed mercilessly and purposelessly in the war. No doubt he hates war but does not hate human beings. He thinks that man is not blood-thirsty and the curse of war would have disappeared long ago if the sound sense of the nations had not been corrupted by political and commercial interests. He means to say that war break out because the commercial and political interest of various nations are involved.

Einstein is a great lover of humanity. He believes that the highest purpose of a man’s life if to serve humanity and people must live in peace and tranquality. He wants to say that if nations ignore their commercial and political interests and if mankind learns a degree of mutual respect, this world will become a place of happiness and nations will not think of waging wars against each other. No doubt Einstein is a noble man and has noble ideas. He is not only a humanist but also a pacifist.

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In this passage Albert Einstein has expressed his views on religion and mystery without any mental reservation. He is a straightforward man and whatever he has experienced he has described it unhesitatingly. He rightly says that curiosity of man has led to the birth and growth of true art and true science. He has deliberated almost on every aspect of human life and has drawn certain conclusions with which he has acquainted us. We are greatly impressed by profound and philosophical thoughts, which he has expressed in this passage and we

spontaneously utter that Einstein is a learned broad-minded, sagacious and straightforward man.

References

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