Eden's thoughts..

"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self"

Not that i am one to judge Einstein, but to attain liberation within the self is not as simple as first presumed..Liberation and value may not come (if at all) until you are "older and wiser" (to put it nicely) and you have surely experienced life in a its earnest and tribulations?

So then to say you can gain a clear perspective of the value of life, or oneself, doesn't that mean you have to have lived (a full life) first?

To attain liberation and value of self, do you not need to live first??

For example i am 22 years of age, and at this point of my life i have learnt to differentiate between good and bad, how to love, the value of money, the importance of friends, colleagues, teachers and family and so on etc etc.

Doesn't this define the value of life?

I think it does, however that does not mean that i (or whomever) will ever appreciate or understand it.