Einstein - The Born-Einstein Letters; Einstein's Reply Sept 1944

With each letter, quote and essay I read of Einstein, I humbly strive to feel the insides of his shoes, little by little I'm gaining a sense of this extraorindary man. In Einstein's reply to Born's July 1944 letter and excerpts below of Born's commentary, it takes more courage than intellect to bear the fruits of ethics. It is an earnest and sometimes lonely pursuit to keep the flag waving whatever the weather or conditions; the problem upholding a standard for the science profession is a human problem.  Much like the quote by John F. Kennedy, found on the Dalai Lama event site I attended; "Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings".

Excerpt of Born's Commentary:

In those days we beleived in the triumph of reason, of the 'brain'. We had yet to learn that it is not the brain which controls human beings but the spinal cord--seat of the instincts and of blind passions. Even scientists are no exception to this.

Einstein did not think much of an 'ethical code'. The words contained in this letter about Bohr, about 'the feeling for what ought to be, and ought not to', and about the role of the individual in the society of cynics, are of profound wisdom.