— a reflection often associated with Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein didn’t only ask how the universe works.

He also asked what lies behind it.

Most people remember him as the mind of relativity and equations. But throughout his life, Einstein openly reflected on order, meaning, and what humans call “God.”

From childhood belief to conscious questioning

Einstein grew up in a Jewish household and, for a short period in childhood, experienced religion deeply, with the sincere certainty of a child.

Around the age of twelve, that certainty began to dissolve. Popular science books revealed a universe far older, larger, and more complex than religious stories understood literally.

His childhood faith faded — but it wasn’t replaced by emptiness.

Einstein did not become a conventional atheist. Instead, he began searching for a concept of divinity that did not conflict with science, but revealed itself through it.

The “God of Spinoza”

When asked whether he believed in God, Einstein famously said he believed in the God of Baruch Spinoza — a God revealed in the harmony and rational order of nature, not a personal deity who intervenes in human affairs.

For Einstein, God was not a figure seated on a cosmic throne.
God was the universe itself: nature, its laws, its precise mathematical structure.

A universe that is not random

Einstein was deeply struck by the fact that reality is governed by exact and universal laws — time, space, gravity, and the speed of light obey consistent rules everywhere.

To him, this coherence was not an accident.

That conviction is reflected in his famous line:
“God does not play dice with the universe.”

While rooted in physics, the statement also expressed his belief that beneath appearances lies a deep, intelligible order.

Why can’t we “see” God?

Einstein often used metaphors to explain this. He compared humanity to a child entering a vast library filled with books written in unknown languages. The child senses order and authorship, but cannot fully understand the system or its creator.

In this view, God is not hidden out of secrecy, but out of scale.
Human understanding is limited; the universe is not.

We may not see God directly, but we see the effects — laws, structure, harmony, and beauty.

“Cosmic religious feeling”