20 April 2008

We have proven Nietzsche true on far too many counts. Obviously, we failed to heed his advice and warnings. Perhaps reworded and repackaged from Einstein, we will attempt to take agency and make an effective difference?

This may be a shot in the dark, but I will bet with the realists and suggest we not hold our collective breath on this one...

In a radio broadcast to accept his Lord and Taylor award on 4 May 1953, Einstein expressed the critical importance of nonconformism:

"To be sure, we are concerned here with nonconformism in a remote field of endeavor, and no Senatorial committee has as yet felt impelled to tackle the important task of combating, also in this field, the dangers which threaten the inner security of the uncritical or else intimidated citizen."

Indeed, this continues to be the problem with the individual who rather flocks to the safety of the herd rather than express the courage, tenacity, and strength to be critical and the daring to nonconformism...

In many areas, it is apparent that Nietzsche influenced Einstein:

On the subject of Good and Evil - Nietzsche's bailiwick - Einstein stated:

"To be sure, it is not the fruits of scientific research that elevate a man and enrich his nature, but the urge to understand, the intellectual work, creative or receptive" (Mein Weltbild, Amsterdam: Querido Verlag, 1934).

This is creative potentiality at the heart of hyphenation...

Just as Nietzsche, Einstein abhorred the herd mentality:

"The really valuable thing in...life seems to me...the creative, sentient individual...it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd...remains dull in thought and...feeling" (Living Philosophies, pp.3-7, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1931).

Similarly, on Society and Personality, he spoke out against a very Nietzschean evil - decadence:

"In my opinion, the present manifestations of decadence are explained by the fact that economic and technologic developments have highly intensified the struggle for existence, greatly to the detriment of the free development of the individual" (Mein Weltbild, Amsterdam: Querido Verlag, 1934).

And independence and creativity, were values he too extolled for the individual:

"Without creative personalities able to think and judge independntly, the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personlaity without the nourishing soil of the community. The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close social cohesion" (ibid).

With as stunning a mind as his, how could he have gotten it so wrong on his observations of America?

From an interview for Niewe Rotterdamsche Courant in 1921 (Berliner Tageblatt, 7 July 1921), Einstein said of his first impressions:

"...knowledge and justice are ranked above wealth and power by a large section of the human race. My experience teaches me that this idealistic outlook is particularly prevalent in America."

How far off the mark he was...good thing he stuck with his equation...

In the same interview, he added:

"The overestimation of money is still greater in this country than in Europe, but appears to me to be on the decrease. It is at last beginning to be realized that great wealth is not necessary for a happy and satisfactory life."

If only this were true in America, there would not be the 'cult of celebrity' and Hollywood would not be extolled to the level it is today...

Great minds past and present surround us. Their words of wisdom and warnings are plentiful. When will we ever take note and act upon them? Act for our future? Act for the collective good?

What a dream, what a far off dream...

...if only to remain in the creative potentiality of hyphenation and transcending virtuality...

Einstein, how profoundly we disappoint.