ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955)

 

formulated theory of general relativity in 1905

 

“I believe America may totally succumb to the fearful militarisation which engulfed Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. There is real danger that political power and the power to influence the minds of people will pass increasingly into the hands of the military, which is used to approaching all political problems from the point of view of military expediency. Because of America's supremacy, the military point of view is forced upon the world.'

'In all countries power lies in the hands of ambitious power-hungry men. This is true whether the political system is dictatorial or democratic. Power relies not only on coercion, but on subtle persuasion and deception through the educational system and the media of public information. One can only hope there are enough people the world over who possess the integrity to resist these evil influences. What is important is that individuals have the honesty and courage to stand up for their convictions.”

 

Einstein 1949

 

An einsteinian home page

 

http://www.humboldt1.com/~gralsto/einstein/einstein.html

 

archives on-line

 

http://alberteinstein.info/

 

nobel laureates page

 

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html

 

“Oh, they’ve got his brain sitting in a jar…could it be we’ve gone just a little too far?”  true story of Einstein’s brain in a jar in Wichita KS

 

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_127.html

 

 

click here for Einstein quotes

 

 

click here to down-load the song “Einstein’s Brain” MP3 or WMA

 

“Einstein’s Brain” was the second song I recorded as The Brink, again at Rick Chapman’s in June of 1985.  Einstein had always been one of my heroes, and I was quite disturbed when I was reading in a science magazine one day that scientists had asked him if they could study his brain after he died, and he told them no.  But they somehow talked his son into giving them the brain.  It was pretty macabre.  And it was funny that Einstein’s brain wasn’t really any different from an ordinary brain, not larger, not more enfolded, nothing.  All they could find was that he had more glial cells, which are a kind of support cell for the neurons.  This song, like “Infotoxin”, relates to the Reagan-era nuclear madness and the push for weapons in space, as well as to a materialistic world-view in general.

 

EINSTEIN’S BRAIN (song lyric)

 

Now, Albert Einstein was a man of whom I like to think,

            A brilliant mind, alas, but mine was taken to the brink…

When I saw in a magazine…just the other day

            That his brain now cubed and pickled…is safely tucked away

In the office of some scientist in central Wichita,

            For this cruel gesture to have transpired is a more than minor flaw!

 

CHORUS:

 

Oh!  They’ve got his brain sitting in a jar!

                        Could it be we’ve gone just a little too far?

As the neurosurgeon screams for more…

                        Thus quoth the Reagan…”Nevermore!”

From the satellites the lasers play…

                        God!  There’s got to be another way!

 

Oh, I’d like to hear the story…his neocortex tells,

            All they’ve learned, it seems, is that he had a few more glial cells.

Now, I’m no neurosurgeon but I certainly DO know,

            That if you want to understand, then use YOUR brain to grow.

The LIVING mind is where it’s at, attuned to love and light;

            Awake, my friends, we’re near the end, you cannot flee the fight!

 

CHORUS

 

Now, Einstein’s brain sitting in a jar

is symbolic of a world that’s gone too far,

Towards extremes of consumption and obsession

With matter…could you call it “material possession?”

 

Oh, his theories of relativity…

showed us we’re all really energy,

He rode in his mind on beams of light…

if we learn to do it then we just might

Transcend our current global nightmare show…

            We’re ALL on the human team, you know?

 

…then again from his work came the atom bomb…

            oh, we can’t turn back now…but can we last long?

 

JEFF PHILLIPS

ATHENS GA

1985