Recently I read a post that grabbed my attention. It sounded profound, but I found myself thinking, ‘this is too good to be true.’ It was a letter supposedly written by Albert Einstein to his daughter Lieserl affirming the universal power of love. Perhaps you’ve seen it too.

Let’s face it, most of us want to believe in love’s conquering force. If someone offers you poignant prose with a universal message that speaks to the essence of the human condition you want to read on.

If it was written by one of the world’s most brilliant scientists, then it must be true. Isn’t that so?

I found myself questioning, ‘Why is it that this scientist who has propounded so much on his theories of relativity, energy and mass hasn’t previously mentioned his theories on love?’

LOVE HAS NO LIMITSI

In this letter to his daughter Lieserl, he allegedly referred to his most famous equation, E = mc2, (Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared). On the most basic level, the equation says that energy and mass (matter) are interchangeable, different forms of the same thing. Under the right conditions, energy can become mass, and vice versa.

Instead, he proposed to Lieserl an alternative equation where the energy to heal the world could be obtained through “love multiplied by the speed of light squared.” He proclaimed that love is the most powerful force there is because it has no limits.

Supposedly, he went on to suggest that each individual carries within them a small but powerful generator of love whose energy is waiting to be released.

DON’T STOP ASKING QUESTIONS

I was rather disappointed when further research revealed that this letter to his daughter was a fake. His daughter Lieserl, it seems, was largely unknown to him, born with a mental disability, she died of scarlet fever before she was two. Although, there were published letters written by Einstein to his wife, Mileva Maric which were discovered by his granddaughter, Evelyn.

In the latter years of his marriage to Mileva, he allegedly sent his wife a letter where he laid out authoritarian conditions, he wanted her to follow. It was the only way he saw they could preserve their marriage as his infidelity was no longer a secret. One such condition was that she should not expect any intimacy from him. Nor should she disturb him in his study. Evidently, she disagreed and decided to end their marriage.

While the question of who composed the letter on the theory of love remains a mystery, Einstein has provided us with a clue. According to this genius, we should always remember to seek the truth in all things.

As he himself supposedly said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

If his letter of love had proved to be valid, it may have redeemed his earlier behavior. It may have changed readers’ opinions about his former philandering.

We don’t need Einstein to tell us what we already know about love.

Most of us have experienced the wonder of newly found love, the heightened passion of the moment, and the tortuous heartbreak of love that has died.

FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF LOVE

While I’m no scientist or expert on love, I would like to give the mystery letter writer some kudos for reminding us to never lose faith in the universal power of love.

I believe it is worth sharing these insights and what was written on the fundamental truths about love in the letter:

• Science has not found a formal explanation for the universal power of love.
• We could do with more love to erase the misunderstanding and prejudice in the world.
• Love is Light, as it enlightens those who give and receive it.
• Love is gravity because it makes some people feel attracted to others.
• Love has the power to unfold and reveal who we are and multiplies the best we have.
• Love conquers all, transcends everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life.

GENIUS OR VILLAIN?

A Nobel Prize winner in 1921, it also earned Einstein the title of the most prominent physicist of the twentieth century and Time magazine’s ‘person of the century’.

Einstein is not alone when it comes to being a terrible husband or father, and like most geniuses he was never good at dealing with other people. There is little doubt Einstein was a genius, but more importantly he was a human, and possibly flawed.

What you may not know about this brilliant scientist is that he was also a poet who enjoyed his own company. I will leave you with his reflections on solitude.

“Solitude is painful

when one is young,

but delightful

when one is more mature.

I live in that solitude

which was painful in my youth,

but seems delicious now,

in the years of my maturity.

Now it gives me great pleasure, indeed,

to see the stubbornness

of an incorrigible nonconformist

so warmly acclaimed . . .

and yet it seems vastly strange

to be known so universally

and yet be so lonely.“

Albert Einstein