Albert Einstein once wrote, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”
This is a strong statement made even more resonant by the fact that it is Albert Einstein saying it. Here’s a scientist speaking about the life giving quality of experiencing beauty. He seems to be implying that there’s a choice involved; “…He is as good as dead…whose eyes are closed”. The interesting aspect of Einstein as an historical figure is, to me, that he is identified first as a great intellect, even though his capacity to imagine was obviously huge. He himself said something to the effect that, “imagination is more important than intellect”. Put this statement together with M.C. Richards’ observation that, “…imagination is more and more recognized as an organ of cognition,…”, and you have a powerful premise for a play in which we might interpret the dramatic character, A. Einstein.
As any experienced reader of a play knows, you learn about a character through three channels; by what he says about himself, what others say about him, and by what he does. If we search A. Einstein’s statements as we would the dialogue of a character in a play, we might see what he is telling us about himself. First he says, “Mystery is beautiful”. Second he is saying that he sees art and science as parallel paths within the mystery upon which stands all of creation. In his second statement, Einstein, the dramatic character, might be saying, “My accomplishments are more a product of my imagination than they are the result of applying my intellect.” If I were directing this play, I would emphasize the heretical nature of his statement within the world of western science at the time. We, the supporting cast in this play, might say in response, “That’s easy for you to say, you possess both a magnificent imagination and an Einsteinian intellect.”
In this play I’m imagining, we don’t see Einstein’s internal process, we only see the results of his work. His statements seem to imply that the value society places on his accomplishments aren’t as important to him as what he experienced while getting there. It seems to me that Einstein was very good at observing nature and he implies that he was “rapt in awe” as he was doing it.
Continuing in our interpretation of A. Einstein, the character, he could be seen as saying, “You can’t just look at the results, you must also recognize the experience of the process. Otherwise, my work can’t have any real meaning to anyone but me.” By his own statement he suggests that his acts of observation engaged his imagination as much, if not more than, his intellect. If I were directing this imaginary play, I would position his statements to mean, “My imagination enhanced my observations. My discoveries were not merely out there in the material universe waiting to be noticed, but came to be within my imagination as well.”
If we take into account the effect of the observer on the observed, we have to allow for the possibility that the electrons, protons and solar photons that Albert watched, in whatever package they appeared, perhaps behaved differently in the presence of his gaze than they would have while being looked at by, say, the likes of you or me; the ‘observer’ and the ‘observed’ interacting as one whole event of consciousness. So Albert can take some credit personally.
Einstein, the character, is telling us that, for him, there is a vital emotional component in his experience. He’s saying awe is an emotion that is vital to life. He says without it, one is as good as dead. He is choosing words with great power in them. He is talking about a state of rapture when he invites us to be “rapt in awe”. This complex character is saying, “Not only does my imagination lead me forward, but my emotions give meaning to my experience. (This is the core of good theatre.) ‘My emotions remind me where I stand, relative to the thing I am observing, and I’m telling you; I’m in awe of it.” So, what is it we are learning about the character? He has humility. He’s not drawing attention to himself, he’s not boasting about his great intellect. He is, in fact, directing attention away from himself, saying, “Look at what I’m looking at, isn’t it amazing!”
If, as I suggest, A. Einstein is telling us that his imagination added scope to his experiences, what is that telling us about him? Perhaps this guy we are encountering is a guy whose left brain and right brain are performing as nature designed them; together, as an indivisible whole, fueled by his personal emotional energy. He was excited to learn.
Do you see where I’m headed with this? If I were directing this play about this character, A. Einstein, I would be presenting him as an Everyman character. I would put a wash on the whole play that points to what the man was doing when he wrote about or spoke about his own process. He was taking an action; putting into context what he did as a scientist. I would, as the director, interpret his actions as a teacher and lecturer to be reminding us, the other characters in his play, that we’re not getting it if we think of him only as being very smart. That everything he did which history values so strongly, he did as a human being first, with imagination and passion. Perhaps he noticed that some people weren’t as excited as he was. To me, the message left for us to intuit at play’s end is, “I want you, fellow humans, to be as excited as I am by this great mystery, of which we are a part.” He expresses faith in all of us by reminding us we can choose to experience life “rapt in awe”.
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