Einstein on Miracles

I found a great quote hanging on a wall at my kids' school.

There are two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.

-Albert Einstein

Einstein has some really good quotes. I was going to post more, but I think I like this one all by itself.

I taught a lesson in church several months ago that has really stuck with me. In it, I defined a 'miracle' as something that fills us with wonder and awe. Even though we may come to understand some of the mechanisms of natural phenomena, that doesn't have to destroy the wonder we feel when we step back and look at something wonderful. Einstein was a better physicist than I am, so when I read that quote, it really resonated with me. A man who had a phenomenal mind and a well developed mental model of many of nature's workings seems to be telling us to preserve that sense of wonder and awe we feel when we observe or experience something worthy of such feelings.

I used a couple examples in that lesson I gave to illustrate the point. One was my broken ankle, which I had resting on a table in a cast as I sat at the front of the room. I understand how electromagnetic waves propagate and interact with various media. I understand how X-rays are generated and how they leave an image of their intensity on certain types of film. I understand how those rays interact with the tissues in our bodies and how the bones shadow those waves and attenuate the signals passing through them leaving a clear image on the film at the other side. I understand all that and I can even write the equations we use to model electromagnetic wave propagation ... but it still fills me with awe that a machine can take a picture of my bones allowing a doctor to diagnose and treat me.

With all of that understanding combined with an understanding of digital communication theory, I understand how computers, smart phones, and other devices communicate with each other. But it still fills me with awe when I step back and think about punching in a request for information in a search engine and being able to pull up data from computers all over the world from a little handheld device in the comfort of my living room.

I know how light propagates and refracts through our atmosphere, but a sunset can take my breath away.

I know how water waves propagate, but a beautiful lake or the waves on the beach fill me with joy and peace.

I wonder how God reacts to some of His own creations. Surely He understands them better than I do. When He creates something wonderful, perhaps He steps back and says, "I like that. That's good." and maybe that's one of the things that gives Him joy.