I Want to Be Like Einstein

Dariela Aquique

HAVANA TIMES — Reason rests on the appreciation and discernment of facts. Everything finally reaches a category of relativity. That’s why I try not to be sectarian or biased. I always make my own opinions, which are committed only to sincerity – first with myself, then with others.

Maybe this is due to my fondness for Albert Einstein, one of the great geniuses of humankind, whose personality and thinking always sparked heated discussions. He was sometimes misunderstood and he sometimes aroused certain misgivings (and please understand, I’m not comparing with him).

In matters of ideology or political positions, there’s always a tendency to think in terms of extremes. People are defined as left or right, and they regularly refuse to accept the possibility of a balance.

Let’s go back to Einstein and his relativity, “a theory that defines the variation of physical laws, when the system of reference changes.” I think this applies to all areas of life and thinking.

Einstein believed that his scientific work was part of the philosophical contributions made throughout history to understand the mysteries of nature.

Since I began writing for this site, I’ve been attacked by various sides.

Those “on the left” go after me if I criticize the system, or accuse it of manipulating information or for the lack of it. To top it off, they call me a “mercenary” and make all kinds of insulting comments.

Those “on the right” will hammer away at me if I recognize any value in the policies of the government or express something positive about any figure on the opposite side. They call me everything from “erratic” to “mentally unbalanced.”

Einstein’s attitude towards knowledge, like everything in his life, wasn’t without contradictions. While his early career was influenced by positivist philosophers, in his later years he turned away from positivism.

Einstein used to say, “Here there’s no goal, only the chance to indulge in the pleasant task of thinking.”

This is why extreme positions scare me. Without being flakey or an inconsistent person, I’m inclined to accept the premises such as “special relativity,” which offers the reason for an event, previously inexplicable.

Einstein was a pacifist. His antipathy to the arms race was a constant throughout his life, as was revealed in his commitment to societies working for peace and in his writings. His position became more radicalized as he called on people to conscientiously object to and frontally oppose governments that opted for war as a way to “make peace.”

However, because of the calamities produced by the German Nazis, his message wasn’t so clearly an antonym to the non-participation in war. In 1939 he decided to exercise his influence by participating in political issues affecting the world.

He wrote a famous letter to Roosevelt to promote the atomic project and prevent the “enemies of humanity” from achieving it first. But the fatal ending of the war, with the dropping of atomic bombs, made him again adopt a radical stance against weapons production.

How can we judge this person? Was he left, right, liberal, conservative, wishy-washy or a nut. None of these. He was just a being committed to what he believed was best, from his perspective and depending on the context. I want to continue being like him.