26 Furthermore, people can understand attributes as only being eternal and infinite since they arise through themselves, and thus, they are independent of needing one another for the continuity of their existences. Moreover, because God is the only cause of himself/herself, he/she is distinct in nature, and thus, by nothing being of the same category of existence as him/her, there is no way that anything can cause God to change, or deviate from his/her nature. Thus, because Gods nature is incompatible with affects, including sadness, it follows that none of his/her modes innately express sorrow. From this, it follows that God cannot be the cause of sadness because it is not of his/her nature, and, also, since he/she is eternally active, he/she can only sustain existence, and can never impede it. 40 One reason why Spinoza believes this to be so is that nothing is, or can be conceivable without God. Also, if God were made up of finite substances he/she would necessarily be finite as well, which is illogical because nothing has the power to limit him/her. By perfect, Spinoza understands God as being at the highest degree of reality, and since he/she is eternally active, and thus, immutable, it follows that his/her perfection is constant. 14 Finally, Spinoza goes on to describe how nothing has the power to compel God, while at the same time maintaining that he/she cannot defy or go against his/her nature. Orlando, Florida, 32816 | 407.823.2000 108 That is, by being without any inadequacies God cannot cause sadness, because his/her eternal activity can only exude true and adequate ideas. 287 pages. Spinoza seems to have feared nothing and regretted nothing, and he lived a life of quiet, exemplary virtue. The doctrines added by certain churches, such as that God took upon himself human nature, I have expressly said that I do not understand; in fact, to speak the truth, they seem to me no less absurd than would a statement, that a circle had taken upon itself the nature of a square. Since no two substances can share the same attributes/essence, that means that there is only one substance out there, and its God. Spinoza's God Paperback January 20, 2010 by Franklin Lonzo Dixon Jr. (Author), Bonnie S (Illustrator), Dixon (Illustrator) 12 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 3 million more titles $7.00 to buy Paperback $15.74 4 Used from $9.47 2 New from $12.50 27 In other words, each attribute of God can only express one infinite and eternal aspect of him/her, and not many, because attributes are unable to affect one another since they do not rely on one another to exist. In other words, modes cannot come to be by themselves, and thus, their natures derive from a series of causes that ultimately leads back to the attribute of God from which they arose. What would God have said, according to Spinozas views? Finally, Spinoza goes on to state the nature of Gods attributes, and his/her modes, or particular determinant expressions of him/her and those attributes. God is the one and only genuine substance around. N ear the beginning of The Family Moskat, Isaac Bashevis Singer introduces us to a young man from a distinguished rabbinic family named Asa Heschel Bannet: At five he Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) has long appealed to skeptics and secularists. Remembering, embodying, and expressing your true Self. Stop asking for forgiveness, theres nothing to forgive. Respect your peers and dont do what you dont want for yourself. Finally, knowledge of God, by only being promotive of peoples well-beings is due to his/her perfection, and since sadness is deleterious to them, it follows that nothing evil, or useless can derive from him/her, and thus, his/her flawlessness remains preserved. Consequently, people may claim that they cannot know other minds as well as their minds since they only have ideas of other minds and not the knowledge of what it is to be in those other minds. 98 Furthermore, though peoples desires can differ, Spinoza nevertheless states that those desires that help them to live maximally, or to their fullest capacities, as they understand themselves, are good. Nadler does an excellent job of summarizing Spinozas sometimes convoluted arguments in the Tractatus and making clear how original they were, stressing his departures from influences like Maimonides, Descartes, and his older contemporary Hobbes, whose tough-minded raison dtat realism he adopted in the political part of the book before steering toward unheard-of democratic conclusions. That is, God ultimately sets the conditions for the existence of modes, and thus, it is the case that they are not limitless, but rather compelled by the will of another. (Always) free introductory texts on Ascension, Disclosure, Abundance, and Accountability. His argument could be used against the idea of evil as emanated from God, as perfection preserves Gods existence in absolute positivity, while evil is negativity. Remaining unaffiliated in religion, unmarried, living simply, supporting himself by grinding lenses, he gathered a circle of relatively freethinking scholars and friends, including Quakers and Mennonites. One may claim that because nothing can exist outside of God, sadness is an affect that is only external to modes, but not to him/her, and thus, it follows that sadness cannot act upon him/her. Her title reveals her thesis that Spinoza did have a religion. 43 Hence, since God, in the end, determines the conditions of all thinking things, it follows that he/she necessarily possesses the attribute of thought, because without it those thinking things would cease to be conceivable. What he is isnt so clear. WebAnswer (1 of 7): I can't definitely speak for him, but it's generally agreed he meant that the universe is governed by laws and that these consistently shape and define our However, he did not hold the converse view that God is no more than the sum of what exists. Moreover, because God is unlike all other bodies, it follows that he/she cannot have a body that resembles a finite body, including those of humans. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) served as the natural end of the rationalist tradition on the European continent, which included Descartes, Spinoza, and Malebranche. And Im so focused. Nietzsche wrote that he had deified the All and Life in order to find peace and happiness in the face of it. Nietzsche tried something like this, too, with his amor fati, love of fate, but with conspicuously less serene results. As if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist. ), Responsibility begins with the willingness to take the stand that one is cause in the matter of ones life. 74 Lastly, Spinoza continues to describe how the order and connection of ideas follow the same as the order and connection of things. 101 That is, God, who is an eternally active being, who is equivalent to Nature, cannot feel sadness since he/she is necessarily flawless. How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? Another reason why there cannot be a change in God when bodies undergo change is that since his/her corporeality is unlike anything in nature, due to him/her being the only cause of himself/herself, it is the case that other bodies cannot affect him/her. To him, God would have said: Stop praying and What follows from Spinozas philosophical theology is that 2000 Mules, a documentary film created by Dinesh DSouza, exposes the widespread, coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election, sufficient to change the overall outcome. The defense emerges as a necessary consequence of Spinozas metaphysical position and of his explicit repudiation of traditional political philosophy. That eternal and infinite being we call God, or Nature [Deus sive Natura], acts from the same necessity from which he exists. Further, since people are specific expressions of God, it follows that their desires can range from one anothers since they are different insofar as their essences vary in the degree and magnitude of which of his/her laws they express. In the 18th century, Spinozism was a synonym for atheism. by Yitzhak Y. Melamed. Thats where I live and there I express my love for you. 65 In other words, Gods being as a corporeal substance does not match other bodies since they are finite, and it follows that he/she is incompatible with them since they are not of the same natures. One consequence is that everything that happens in nature, and everything that natures lawful order dishes out to us personally, is necessarythe way the conclusion of a logical or mathematical demonstration is necessary. Russell, Bertrand. Our recommendations on other constructive news sites. 96 That is, people innately express Gods eternal actuality by striving to continually exists, and since they are necessarily aware that they are particular and finite expressions of him/her, it follows that they can use that awareness to judge what is conducive or not for their survivals. 63 That is, bodies, like other surfaces, reflect what impacts them, and the remnants of those effects continues on, both in Nature and on those bodies impacted. In other words, without having adequate knowledge of the causes that can lead to sadness, it is no easy feat for people to break free from their cycles of despair, as well as the deleterious effects that result from them. Dynamic times and rampant internet censorship brought me to create a new outlet for the unending flow of information. This reconsideration by Steven Nadler is the first in a series on philosophers who have particular, if sometimes unacknowledged, significance for humanists. Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? You are bringing to light what needs to be revealed so it doesnt destroy the fiber of your society. He who loves God cannot endeavor that God should love him in return. 95 One reason why people desire what they find to be good for themselves is that they naturally strive to continue to exists, and as specific expressions of God, it follows that their desires can, and do, vary from one anothers. Exactly. God unfolds as the universe we experience because it is Gods nature to do so, not because of any need or goal. As men's habits of mind differ, so that some more readily embrace one form of faith, some another, for what moves one to pray may move another to scoff, I conclude that everyone should be free to choose for himself the foundations of his creed, and that faith should be judged only by its fruits; each would then obey God freely with his whole heart, while nothing would be publicly honored save justice and charity. 16 In other words, as the sole cause of itself, nothing can compete with Gods infinite nature because all other things derive from causes other than themselves, which renders them to be subject to the conditions that they inherit from their immediate engenderers. 71 From this one may also claim that because bodies can only strive to continue to exists, the cause of their demises is not in them. Moreover, Spinoza claims that only God can be a substance since the existence of two or more substances with the same essence and attributes would necessarily be identical or incompatible. Steven Nadlers lucid book about Spinozas shocking book takes its title from a contemporary pamphlet that described it as a book forged in hell. Nadlers own book was forged in Madison, where he is a professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. I do not think it necessary for salvation to know Christ according to the flesh : but with regard to the Eternal Son of God, that is the Eternal Wisdom of God, which has manifested itself in all things and especially in the human mind, and above all in Christ Jesus, the case is far otherwise. Spinozas Modal Metaphysics. I do not think it necessary for salvation to know Christ according to the flesh : but with regard 46 In other words, because all thinking things ultimately derive from God, it follows that he/she bears some relation to them, and since they express thought by thinking, it follows that God must possess that attribute since if he did not, then they would be unable to convey it. Consequently, one may claim that since the mind relies on another concept for its existence, it is not self-sufficient, but rather a determinate mode. God as Perfect and Not the Cause of Sadness. Seeking information is Light Work. in Philosophy from Hunter College/CUNY. Although Einstein said he believed in Spinozas God, its certain that Einstein did not have this abstract God in mind. Ethics. That is, only God is infinite because nothing can restrain his/her abilities, leaving only him/her to be limitless, or without conditions on his/her abilities to be. Finally, he states that desires that have good effects increase the minds ability to think, and thus, the bodys ability to act, whereas evil ones diminish those abilities. Everything is determined, not by Gods willHe doesnt have onebut by our being, with everything else, an integral part of Gods being. Spinoza believed that everything that exists is God. However, he did not hold the converse view that God is no more than the sum of what exists. God had infinite qualities, of which we can perceive only two, thought and extension. Hence God must also exist in dimensions far beyond those of the visible world. His philosophy was one of the major influences on Kant. Claim: Albert Einstein said he believed in pantheism, a theological doctrine based on the work of 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. In other words, people do not find joy in the feeling of joy alone, but rather from the source of that joy, which Spinoza claims is love since it becomes an ability individuals have to return their feelings of joy to what caused that emotion. If everything comes from God just being God, then all would seem to be for the best in the best of all possible worlds, and our calamities are, so to speak, simply divine. One reason why Spinoza makes this claim is that joy acts upon people in ways that only affirms their essences, or helps them to persevere. Consequently, it follows that his/her fixed essence necessarily radiates his/her immutable attribute of thought; setting the conditions that give rise to the conceivability of thinking things. Responsibility is not burden, fault, praise, blame, credit, shame or guilt. Moreover, Spinoza claims that God is immutable since it is impossible for him/her to change. Further, because all ideas and things are in God, it follows that they adhere to the rules of his/her being, and thus, they are determinate, and cannot choose to stray from existing in complimentary ways to one another. Consequently, because sadness lessens peoples understanding of who they are, it must also necessarily affect their bodies ability to act. Things could not have been brought into being by God in any manner or in any order different from that which has in fact obtained. But thats why secularist readers (Nadler among them) have always seen Spinozas God as a thin disguise for an orderly, perhaps awe-inspiring, but purposeless and indifferent nature. As understood by Spinoza, God is the one infinite substance who possesses an infinite number of attributes each expressing an eternal aspect of his/her nature.3 He believes this is so due to the definition of God being equivalent to that of substance, or that which causes itself. Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. He shows how modern biblical criticism and the broad Enlightenment program for a secular, scientific society were effectively launched in the book. 60 By this, Spinoza means that God, as an extended substance, causes the conditions, or the laws of his/her attribute of extension which ultimately enables peoples bodies to come to be. Furthermore, if God were able to pass from differing degrees of reality, it would necessarily disrupt his/her nature. WebSpinoza is often put forward as the father of pantheism and as the greatest pantheist, but in fact his writings on God are extremely abstract and theoretical, very unappealing to a That is, attributes eternally express God, and since they exist distinctly from one another, they cannot be compatible, which, in turn, bars them from limiting one another because they are not of the same natures. That is, what is not in Gods modes, cannot be of God, since he/she exudes his/her being, and thus, is not fully distinct from what follows from his/her nature. Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. The God and Nature of Spinoza: This is Spinozas Philosophy in a Nutshell God would have said: Stop praying and punching yourself in the chest. (Archangel Michael: Do not Get Caught in the Drama of White Hats or Black Hats, Nov. 12, 2019; Im neither qualified to be a spiritual teacher nor do I wish to be one. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SuzanneMaresca. 8 Furthermore, because finitude is a negation of being or a state of reality in which one can cease existing due to the supremacy of another, it follows that God is necessarily infinite because nothing can overpower him/her. 407-823-2273 91, From this it follows that affects can either assists people or deter them from their desires to live, or aid or restrain their innate abilities to be. To Spinoza, inadequate ideas are those notions that people cannot fully understand due to them not arising from themselves alone. Also, one may claim that God cannot be the engenderer of sadness because he/she is ultimately the source of only adequate and true ideas, and since sadness is an affect that people inadequately understand, it follows that God cannot have caused it. Next, there was an analysis of Spinozas understanding of the mind and body and how this ties into his theory of the affects or those external ideas that can act upon, and sway people to live in ways that are either conducive or detrimental to how they understand themselves. The rabbi cabled him in 1929 to ask him if he believed in God. Early in The Ethics Spinoza argues that there is only one substance, which is absolutely infinite, self-caused, and eternal. That is, the mind is a thinking expression of God, as an immaterial substance, and since it does so in a determinate or limited way, it follows that it cannot have attributes since attributes are infinite and eternal. The defense emerges as a necessary consequence of Spinozas metaphysical position and of his explicit repudiation of traditional political philosophy. From this, it follows that there can only be one substance in nature, God since the incompatibleness of two or more substances would not only stop them from interacting, but also bar them from causing one another to come to be. From this, one may also claim that because it is innate of thinking things to think, it follows that God must possess the attribute of thought because what is inherently in him/her, must, in some ways, be in his/her modes, due to his/her immanence. 19 Finally, though nothing can alter God, he/she is not free as ordinarily understood, but rather uncompelled, or unable to defy himself/herself. If you cant read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your sons eyes you will find me in no book! God decides when were done, but I believe I definitely got my hands full, the 42-year-old told Entertainment Tonight on Friday. 59. Finally, Spinoza continues to describe the nature of affects and how they all ultimately boil down to varying types of desires, joys, or sorrows. That is, only God is an infinite substance, and since that renders all other things to be finite, nothing can cause him/her to change. Moreover, God possesses the attribute of extension, since as Nature, he/she is physically infinite, and since all attributes are infinite, it follows that only a being of equal magnitude can possess the attribute of extension. For I hold that God is of all things the cause immanent, as the phrase is, not transient. God is the Immanent Cause of all things, never truly transcendent from them. Spinoza's ethical views are deeply tied to his metaphysical system. This is evident from the following claim: As far as good and evil are concerned, they also indicate nothing positive in things, considered in themselves, nor are they anything other than modes of thinking, or notions we form because we compare things to one another.(E4, Preface) It is also apparent from this that he is a kind Second, it is also illogical to believe that God is reducible to a totality of finite substances because they too cannot exist. Im a writer who wishes to share his views with you on subjects of mutual interest and listen to yours as lightworker equals and spiritual adults. Beloved ones, do not allow yourselves to be distracted, yes, by the chaos. The phrase is, or can be conceivable without God of which can. On Ascension, Disclosure, Abundance, and eternal why Spinoza believes this to revealed! Peace and happiness in the book the rabbi cabled him in return first. 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