einstein important question quote

Do you ever stop to ask yourself how you view the world? If you don’t, you might want to try it now because all time genius, Albert Einstein believes this is one of the most crucial things you can ever do.

Einstein was once quoted as saying:

“The most important question you can ever ask is if the world is a friendly place.”

It’s not what you were expecting from Einstein right? It’s a little left field. But I whole heartedly agree with this point of view and I’ll tell you why in just a moment.

An explanation from Einstein

Einstein went on to explain the meaning behind his quote and here’s what he said:

“For if we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that which is unfriendly and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process.
 
If we decide that the universe is neither friendly nor unfriendly and that God is essentially ‘playing dice with the universe’, then we are simply victims to the random toss of the dice and our lives have no real purpose or meaning.
 
But if we decide that the universe is a friendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to create tools and models for understanding that universe. Because power and safety will come through understanding its workings and its motives.”

How our view of the World shapes our daily interactions

It’s not rocket science really is it? If we have a belief that the world is unfriendly, then we will only continue to put power behind this belief and so our actions will change accordingly and we will do what we can to protect ourselves against others. We will constantly be expecting bad news.

On the other hand, if we decide that the universe is friendly, then we will only do things to help others and the world will no doubt play out this belief and good things will happen to us.

The point is, how we choose to view the world will ultimately define how we live our lives and what comes back to us. If we approach people with an angry, frustrated attitude and an expectation that they too will be angry, then hey guess what, it’s highly likely they will pick up on this and fulfill our very desire.

If however, we approach people with kindness and an expectation that they will be friendly, then they will put down their barriers and give back to us what we initially gave out.

It’s really quite a simple principle: You get what you give out.

Perhaps you can spend today thinking about how you view the world and what your general everyday expectations are? If you find that your view of the World is far from friendly, then maybe it’s time to make some changes.

Simple Life Strategy: Establishing a Healthy View of the World

1. Spend a few moments thinking about Einstein’s question: “Is the Universe a friendly place?”

2. Be honest with yourself and notice what pops up. Can you honestly say that you believe the world is more friendly than hostile?

3. Think about how you generally approach other people and situations? Do you start by expecting the worst, do you find it hard to trust others? Or do you enter relationships and events with a positive outlook?

4. Do you only see the best in people? Or are you constantly looking at the faults and flaws of others?

5. If you feel like your view of the world could do with a shake-up, now is the time to consider what Einstein has said (he was a genius after-all). Perhaps you could experiment by approaching a stranger as if they were a friend and notice how they react to you? Or going into your next situation expecting only the best from others.

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