Einstein and Mozart

Arthur I. Miller writes in today's New York Times of the inspiration Albert Einstein derived from the music of Mozart. The article also touches on the interesting notion that in a sense, the music of Mozart as well as the theories of Einstein were a form of pre-existing perfection waiting to be discovered by some gifted individual:

Einstein once said that while Beethoven created his music, Mozart's "was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master." Einstein believed much the same of physics, that beyond observations and theory lay the music of the spheres — which, he wrote, revealed a "pre-established harmony" exhibiting stunning symmetries. The laws of nature, such as those of relativity theory, were waiting to be plucked out of the cosmos by someone with a sympathetic ear.

Thus it was less laborious calculation, but "pure thought" to which Einstein attributed his theories.

Compare the above to the following passage from 'Abdu'l-Bahá:

The virtues of humanity are many, but science is the most noble of them all. The distinction which man enjoys above and beyond the station of the animal is due to this paramount virtue. It is a bestowal of God; it is not material; it is divine. Science is an effulgence of the Sun of Reality, the power of investigating and discovering the verities of the universe, the means by which man finds a pathway to God. All the powers and attributes of man are human and hereditary in origin--outcomes of nature's processes--except the intellect, which is supernatural. Through intellectual and intelligent inquiry science is the discoverer of all things.

Interesting to think about Einstein's notion that his theories of physics--as well as Mozart's music--were "ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered" in the context of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's statement that science is ultimately "the power of investigating and discovering the verities of the universe." In many ways this process seems to be about the ability to discover or bring out what already exists. One is reminded of the great sculpter who said that the perfect sculpture was always there, waiting to be released from the hunk of marble, or of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's remark when laying the cornerstone for the Temple in Wilmette that the Temple was already built.

It is also intriguing to consider 'Abdu'l-Bahá's statement that investigating and discovering the verities of the universe through science is "the means by which man finds a pathway to God." Yet another insight into the complementary relationship between the two sources of knowledge--science and religion.