I just read an essay " THE WORLD AS I SEE IT" by A. Einstein and I would request you to simplify the given lines for me.
" It was the experience of mystery---------even if mixed with fear-----that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only in this sense, I am a deeply religious man…
Don’t worry about your use of the word request. We know you well enough that you would never be rude. Could you please explain the following is another way of asking.
Back to Einstein. He is explaining, as I understand it, that whereas some people believe in a formal religion together with rituals and ceremonies, he accepts the idea that religion is really based on a belief of something beyond (outside) human understanding - something that can’t be easily explained. To him that’s what constitutes (makes) religion and in that sense he is very religious.
If you read more of Einstein’s quotes, I think you’ll understand what he means better. He spoke pretty often about how he sees religion.
What I understand:
Einstein was a scientist. His efforts (and often his inability) to fully explain natural laws brought him to a point where he decided that there must be some kind of superior spirit or presence with profound logic and extreme beauty. And we humans can understand and perceive only a very tiny bit of this superior logic and beauty. This was Einstein’s personal definition of religion.
:?