Reframing Einstein, Embodying Kali
I love Einstein. I love him not because of his contribution to our understanding of the world we inhabit. That is a given after all he is one among the shoulders I stand on. I love him truly because I see myself in him. His words and ideas are resonant not just because of their contents but the deeper process and person who could think, imagine, be a certain way, and then also articulate complexity with eloquence.
He is known to have said, "It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid."
The wisdom is clear. Simplicity in synthesis. It is also said that to explain something simply is to understand it really really well. I get that in my bones. And yet, I feel primordially triggered by the use of the word barmaid. Since I bleed eco-feminism every month, immediately my brain wants to rephrase this wittily -
“It should be possible to explain the laws of emotions to a frat boy”. I chuckle. Another one jumps up “It should be possible to explain the laws of empathy to a narcissist, a socio-path” I chuckle harder. “it should be possible to explain the laws of equity to Trump”. I guffaw, albeit with grief.
But, I have been building the muscle to let my triggers teach me. Help me connect to my deepest essence. That which pierces through my gender, political leanings, ancestry, and identity. What about the past and his choice of the word barmaid hurts I ask myself? Patriarchy. That barmaid could have been an Einstein, a Hamilton, a Gandhi, an MLK, a Graham Bell, explaining the laws of something profound to Albert himself.
I see how my witty reframes hold that pain. Nay. Holds rage. I acknowledge the rage. I feel it. Then the thought emerges - what about the present pains me? It pains me that we as a collective may swing from victim to perpetrator, perpetrator to victim in our blindness to the present moment while grasping on history for ineffective healing. The same violence and injustice will continue in different shades of skin. Humanity is in peril. From ourselves, our own blind spots, and our own creations.
Then channeling my essence and rage brings up - It should be possible to explain the laws of life to humans, another It should be possible to teach the laws of interdependence to a robot. Ironically, the inverse is equally true - It should be possible to explain the laws of life to a robot and It should be possible to teach the laws of interdependence to a human.
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Notes: It is unclear if the quote that is the basis of this blog is by Einstein or Ernest Rutherford. Source