Richard Feynman on ‘God’
The views of the most eccentric genius on God and religion
Feynman’s been one of the most eccentric geniuses of all time. His love for teaching, trying to explain things in an extremely uncomplicated way for general people to understand, bongo-playing, safe cracking, etc. were some of the unique traits that made him stand out from the rest of the scientific community. His out-of-the-box personality and expressive nature gained him some reputation at the universities he taught and being a 1965 Nobel laureate and his demonstration of the failure of O-rings in the 1986 Challenger Shuttle disaster investigation caught him the attention of people from all around the world.
There have been many prominent scientists who believed in the existence of the supernatural and I have written a couple of stories about it already. If you haven’t read it, you can read one of them here:
However, the fact that religion and science are irreconcilable cannot be denied. Science talks about evolution and the big bang whereas religion denies both of it. This is just one example to show the incompatibility of either of them with one another. There are many. The teachings of religious scriptures just don’t fit well with the findings of science and scientific research.
Feynman’s works revolved around a wide range of scientific disciplines primarily theoretical physics. He had significant contributions to the fields of quantum electrodynamics, superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, the Parton model of particle physics, and of course, Feynman diagrams. Feynman diagrams are the diagrammatic representation of how particles interact with electromagnetic radiation. This story, however, isn’t about Feynman’s scientific contribution. In this story, I shall share with you Feynman’s take on the existence of God.
In one of his interviews, when asked if he was an agnostic or an atheist, Feynman mentioned that he was an atheist. The conversation is mentioned in the 1995 book by Denis Brian called The Voice of Genius: Conversations with Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries. This clearly states that Feynman didn’t believe in the existence of God although his parents were Ashkenazi Jews.
During a 1963 Lecture at the University of Seattle as part of the John Danz Lecture Series, Richard Feynman stated the importance of contemplation of the universe and scientific uncertainty:
“It is a great adventure to contemplate the universe, beyond man, to contemplate what it would be like without man, as it was in a great part of its long history and as it is in a great majority of places. When this objective view is finally attained, and the mystery and majesty of matter are fully appreciated, to then turn the objective eye back on man viewed as matter, to view life as part of this universal mystery of greatest depth, is to sense an experience which is very rare, and very exciting. It usually ends in laughter and a delight in the futility of trying to understand what this atom in the universe is, this thing — atoms with curiosity — that looks at itself and wonders why it wonders. Well, these scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in uncertainty, but they appear to be so deep and so impressive that the theory that it is all arranged as a stage for God to watch man’s struggle for good and evil seems inadequate.”
The lines are also mentioned in the paperback version of the 1998 book The Meaning of It All, published nearly 10 years after Feynman’s death based on the very same lectures.
In a 1959 statement given by Richard Feynman, as mentioned in his biography Genius (page 372) by James Gleick, Feynman states his skepticism about the likely presence of the supernatural in the already marvelous universe with such complicated phenomena. He mentions the views of religion in the most straightforward and subtle manner possible,
“It doesn’t seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil — which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama.”
In a 1988 book called Superstrings: A Theory of Everything? by Paul Davies and Julian Brown Feynman answers the question: Why do we need God? The statement clearly showcases his viewpoints about the requirement of God or the invention of God. He associates the need for God with our inability to understand certain phenomena of the universe, like the beginning of the universe itself, or consciousness.
“God was always invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand. Now, when you finally discover how something works, you get some laws which you’re taking away from God; you don’t need him anymore. But you need him for the other mysteries. So therefore you leave him to create the universe because we haven’t figured that out yet; you need him for understanding those things which you don’t believe the laws will explain, such as consciousness, or why you only live to a certain length of time — life and death — stuff like that. God is always associated with those things that you do not understand. Therefore I don’t think that the laws can be considered to be like God because they have been figured out.”
However atheist Feynman was, he didn’t believe in having any sense of disrespect for any religion whatsoever. He always believed that religion is a matter of faith and that it should never be disrespected or disregarded. Feynman’s perspective toward religion and science was totally based upon his idea of science and scientific approaches towards understanding more about the universe. He had little to no interest in getting involved with scholarly comparative religious arguments.
In a 2006 book by Freeman Dyson, who was a good friend of Richard Feynman, called The Scientist As Rebel, chap. Is God in the Lab? Dyson clearly mentions how Feynman never wanted to destroy anyone’s faith or belief in religion,
“Feynman has no interest in scholastic arguments. He is concerned only with human problems. He has a deep respect for religion, because he sees it as helping people to behave well toward one another and to be brave in facing tragedy. He respects religion as an important part of human nature. He does not himself believe in God, but he has no wish to destroy other people’s belief.”
References:
Superstrings: A Theory of Everything?
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist
The Quotations along with the references can also be found on Richard Feynman's Wikiquote.
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