One of the Most Well-Known Scientists Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is one of the most well-known scientists in history and has many interesting stances and viewpoints. Einstein connects arts, scientists and religion in the quote “All religions, art and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed towards ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading with the individual towards freedom.” Einstein takes these three concepts and relates them to each other while stating his opinion.

Einstein first relates art to religion and this is because of the fact that art can make you happier and give you meaning or a purpose. Studies show that creating art can reduce the amount of stress a person has by reducing the amount of the stress hormone, cortisol. This is because art gives you a sense of peace and gives you something to engage in or to be apart of. Art can also distract you from worries that a person might have in their lives and gives them one thing to give their full attention to similar to yoga. Yoga is proven to improve brain health and put a person at peace, this relates to art as art could be seen as a form of meditation as it reduces stress and puts the brain at ease. 

Meditation is a reoccurring theme in many religions in the form of prayers and meditation is proven to help a person’s mind by making them put their focus on one thing and to relieve their stress. An example of a form of meditation is the Muslim prayer, in which you focus on praying to god by reciting verses of the Quran, similar to Art this form of prayer puts your mind at ease as it focuses the mind on one thing and also gives you comfort or a break from the outside world. 

A UCLA study shows that people who have been meditating for a long period of time have a healthier brain and one that ages slower, people who meditate have less volume loss in their brains as they age. A healthier brain is also shown in artists as according to the NCCA they suffer less from loneliness and depression than non-artists, this means artists typically have better mental health than non-artists which leads to a healthier brain. Einstein also mentioned how art, science and religion can enoble a person’s life and how all three can make you feel.

Einstein believed that religion, art and science can enoble your life. Studies show that Religion can make people happier, this is for many reasons such as being involved with a community that could prevent loneliness and depression as it gives you a chance to engage with other people and make friends. Religious people tend to be more engaged in their community and have these opportunities with people to help them if they ever need someone to talk to. Talking to somebody helps many people worldwide and is a form of therapy. 

For example, psychotherapy also known as talk therapy is a form of therapy in which a person vents out their problems and talks to a therapist who has no connection to them in any form. This works by making the patient feel understood and helping the patient understand their problems and the root of them. Religious people also tend to make better life decisions such as not drinking, smoking or doing any drugs this leads to a healthier, happier life in which they don’t have to go through addiction and other problems that drugs can cause. 

This is what Einstein was referring to when he said “All these aspirations are directed towards ennobling man’s life….” as better decisions and a healthier brain can be ennobling. Knowledge can also be ennobling as it can give you insight into your life and the things around you. The knowledge that is given through science gives one proof to the everyday things that happen in our universe. In the modern era, humans have made many scientific discoveries that provided us with information that we otherwise would have never known. The one biggest fear of many human beings is the fear of the unknown, humans are curious beings and need to know everything that is possible to know and that is where this fear comes from. 

The fear of the unknown is related to the fear of death as the reason most people are afraid of death is that they don’t know what will happen after. This fear is solved for many people by the use of religion or science. The majority of religions provide you with information on how the earth came to be and what will happen after a human dies. This provides comfort to the person that follows the religion as it gives them a belief to follow. Science also helps many people by providing theories such as the big bang theory and individual scientists also have theories of what will happen after the death of a human.

This ennobles one’s life by giving them a different view of life. Einstein says “lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading with the individual towards freedom” this refers to how religion and science can take you to the “freedom”, which would be being content with life and having the knowledge to make you less afraid of the unknown.

Religion and science are very similar and Einstein relates the two by saying “All religions, art and sciences are branches of the same tree.” Science and religion seem as they would be at polar opposites as many people in their respective communities disagree with each other, but in reality, science and religion are very much alike. The similarities between science and religion begin with how both give a person a way to find out about the history of the earth and to give insight into how humans came to be and the afterlife. Science and religion also complement each other as religions mostly focus on the supernatural aspect ( being deities, the afterlife and creation) of human life and science focuses on the natural aspect ( discoveries, how things work, and nature.) 

Many people take concepts from science and religion and combine them for their daily life rather than solely relying on one or the other. A common misconception is that Scientists cannot believe in a higher deity or in a religion because they are scientists. Though it is true that typically scientists are less religious than the average person, a survey taken in 2009 revealed that half the scientists surveyed believe in a deity or higher power. The big bang theory, the most revered theory for the creation of human life and the earth, was created by a Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître. Many religious people believe that they can’t believe science and religion at the same time although they are many religious scientists. 

Fahad Ali is a Muslim scientist that continues to practice Islam while he does his scientific research. He believes that “you need to be skeptical in order to be correct” meaning that people should know that it’s okay to question your beliefs, which is frowned upon within many religious communities. It isn’t only religious groups that promote religion and science being opposites but also people like Richard Dawkins, who has said: “in order to be smart, you need to let go of religion' People who have similar beliefs to Richard Dawkins don’t realize that many of the great scientific discoveries were discovered by religious people such as the big bang theory and most of the discoveries during the “Islamic golden age” in which there were many inventions and discoveries that has improved the world for the better such as, surgery, algebra, optics, toothbrushes and hospitals. Einstein knew how religion and science can connect and how they are “ branches of the same tree.”

Albert Einstein connected arts, religion and science as “branches of the same tree” and the similarities between the tree are proof that he was correct. Art and religion are both things that make you happier or ennoble your life by involving you in a community and giving you something to put your mind towards. Religion and Science provide you with the knowledge that could help you by giving you guidance and help you in making decisions. Religion can help you find your path in life and science compliments this by giving you a physical proof for natural things that have happened and what will happen while religion gives you insight into supernatural things. Einstein talked about how art, religion and science lift your life from mere existence and bring you closer to freedom, which refers to how they make you feel and how they affect your life.