![\"Albert](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Albert-Einstein-Letter-2.jpg\")
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Albert Einstein writing a density formula of the Milky Way in 1931 at the Carnegie Institute of the Mt. Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, Calif. (Public domain)<\/p>\n
In 1915, a 36-year-old Albert Einstein was living in wartime Berlin, tirelessly chipping away at what would become one of the world\u2019s most foundational truths: the theory of general relativity. By then, the young physicist had been working on his revolutionary theory for about eight years, and he had finally condensed it into a mere two pages. Only a few days later, he would send a poignant letter<\/a> to his son Hans Albert, who was living with Einstein\u2019s estranged wife and his other son, Eduard \u201cTete,\u201d in Zurich.<\/p>\n \u201cYou told me when I was in Zurich, that it is awkward for you when I come,\u201d Einstein begins. \u201cI will in any case urge that each year we spend a whole month together, so that you see that you have a father who is fond of you and who loves you.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from his lamenting and longing, Einstein manages to reflect upon the joy of learning, offering that there are \u201cmany good and beautiful things\u201d that Hans could learn from him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I have achieved through such a lot of strenuous work shall not only be there for strangers but especially for my own boys,\u201d Einstein notes. \u201cThese days I have completed one of the most beautiful works of my life, when you are bigger, I will tell you about it.\u201d<\/p>\n While the letter\u2019s first section concerns Einstein\u2019s relationship to learning, the second addresses that of his son’s. Einstein praises Hans\u2019s budding passion for the piano, a \u201cpursuit\u201d that, along with carpentry, is among the \u201cbest\u201d for someone his age. He insists that Hans play the music that \u201cpleases you,\u201d even \u201cif the teacher does not assign those.\u201d Einstein muses,\u00a0\u201cThat is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don\u2019t notice that the time passes.\u201d<\/p>\n In just one phrase, Einstein reveals what guides successful learning: completely immersing oneself in creative and intellectual endeavors. This, however, isn\u2019t the only piece of advice he had about such existential matters. In 1951, Marion Block Anderson, then a freshman at Oberlin College, penned a letter<\/a> to Einstein asking, \u201cWhy are we alive?\u201d In his response, he succinctly yet elegantly summarized what he believed to be the meaning of life. \u201cThe question \u2018Why\u2019 in the human sphere is easy to answer: to create satisfaction for ourselves and for other people,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n As for his theory of happiness<\/a>, Einstein noted on hotel stationery to a courier in 1922: \u201cA calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.\u201d<\/p>\n Einstein was one of the most accomplished, gifted, and astute thinkers not only of his time but throughout history. It\u2019s also clear, though, that he was equally adept when it came to the human condition.\n<\/p>\n According to Albert Einstein, the key to successful learning is complete immersion in creative and intellectual endeavors. Albert Einstein’s official 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics photograph. (Public domain)<\/p>\n Einstein revealed these thoughts in a poignant letter to his son, Hans Albert, in 1915. Photo: Joanna Kosinska<\/a> via Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n Sources: Einstein on Why We Are Alive<\/a>; Albert Einstein on the Secret to Learning<\/a>; Albert Einstein Tells His Son That the Key to Learning & Happiness Is Losing Yourself in Creativity (or \u201cFinding Flow\u201d)<\/a> John Coltrane\u2019s \u2018Circle of Tones\u2019 Illustration Beautifully Visualizes the Connections Between Mathematics and Music<\/a><\/p>\n Researchers Discover Previously Unknown Music Mozart Composed as a Teenager<\/a><\/p>\n
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