Einstein: A Co-Ordinate System

Register to read the introduction… For Einstein's purposes, the earth (its physical properties and laws) provided the frame of reference for his experiments and theories. The earth was his coordinate system. In one illustration of his theory of relativity he used a room (as a more accessible representative of the earth) to illustrate how the exact same event can occur at different times for two separate observers. …show more content…
Western religion gave Him a name: Jehovah. They gave Him a sex: male. They gave Him speech or the power to speak through humans and write books through them. They gave Him a human body so if one of his followers wants to pray they pray to an image and not just an idea. This image of God is so tacitly and completely acknowledged as the westernized system of religion that He even appeared once on "The Simpsons." It's the same God I saw, when, as a child I needed to ask forgiveness for having squashed a slug on my sister's new dress. In my mind (and on "The Simpsons") I saw a kindly old man with a full head of long, white hair and an equally long, white beard. He wore a flowing white robe tied at the waist with a golden rope, and on his feet he wore Birkenstocks.

With the possible exception of ultra-dedicated scientists and the clergy, however, our everyday lives don't usually revolve solely around either a scientific or religious system. Rather, it is the coordinate system of beginnings and ends, as vague and undefinable as they may be, that we use to frame our lives, our bodies, and our minds. We measure our lives by beginnings and firsts: when we were born, when we spoke our first words, when we started driving, when we could legally buy alcohol, when we began to be a part of someone else. . .