![\"Einstein](\"http:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Einstein_Students-300x270.jpg\")
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When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the question students asked him most was: Do you believe in God? And he always answered: I believe in the God of Spinoza.<\/p>\n
Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.<\/p>\n
According to Spinoza, God would say: \u201cStop praying. I want you to go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I’ve made for you.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That’s where I live and there I express my love for you.
\n\u201cStop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don’t blame me for everything that others made you believe.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can’t read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son’s eyes\u2014you will find me in no book!<\/p>\n
\u201cStop asking me, \u2018Will you tell me how to do my job?\u2019 Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry or bothered. I am pure love.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop asking for forgiveness, there’s nothing to forgive. If I made you, I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies, and best of all, free will. Why would I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How could I punish you for being the way you are, if I’m the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?<\/p>\n
\u201cRespect your peers, and don’t give what you don’t want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life\u2014alertness is your guide.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, not a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now\u2014and it is all you need.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.<\/p>\n
You are absolutely free to create in your life. It\u2019s you who creates heaven or hell.<\/p>\n
\u201cLive as if there is nothing beyond this life, as if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist. Then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is an afterlife, rest assured that I won’t ask if you behaved right or wrong, I’ll ask, \u2018Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cStop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don’t want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop praising me. What kind of egomaniac God do you think I am? I’m bored with being praised. I’m tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That’s the way to praise me.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop complicating things and repeating as a parrot what you’ve been taught about me. Why do you need more miracles? So many explanations?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the question students asked him most was: Do you believe in God? And he always answered: I believe in the God of Spinoza. Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes. According to Spinoza, God would … <\/p>\n