He endorses a strong form of necessitarianism in which everything is categorically necessary opposed to the weaker form of conditional necessity embraced by most compatibilists, and he contends that there is no room in such a world for divine or creaturely free will. Thus, Spinoza is a free will skeptic. He isnt the God of the Bible, the personal God of Spinozas own Jewish tradition, or of Christianity, the one whose job description includes closely monitoring human affairs and miraculously intervening in them. Hence God must also exist in dimensions far beyond those of the visible world. First published Tue Aug 21, 2007; substantive revision Fri Sep 14, 2018. Throughout the history of philosophy, many theorists have attempted to explain the meaning and cause of peoples sorrows. Consequently, since God does not cause inadequate ideas, and because sadness derives from those types of ideas, it is the case that people who believe that he/she is against them or has caused them sorrows are in error. Furthermore, Spinoza believes that God is not free in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather an uncompelled being who cannot defy his/her set nature. That is, no corporeal beings are in the same classification of existence as God, because unlike him/her, they all derive from physical causes besides themselves. God had infinite qualities, of which we can perceive only two, thought and extension. 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. Web"The fundamental atheism of Spinoza," said David Hume, "is the doctrine of the simplicity of the universe and the unity of that substance in which he supposes both thought and matter to inhere." Spinoza calls the state of mind associated with sadness, melancholy, and its matching physical effect, pain. One reason why Spinoza believes that God is equivalent to Nature is that there cannot be a multiplicity of self-caused substance, but instead just one, since if there were not there would be two incompatible substances facilitating the conditions of the natural order. Moreover, with distorted views of reality, people cannot adequately understand their persistent sorrows, and it is tough to assuage the pains that follow from that state of being. 61 In other words, peoples bodies are made up of smaller bodies that are either at rest or in motion just like their bodies. Im tired of being thanked. Spinoza was born in Amsterdam in the 17th century of a businessman father who was successful but not wealthy. One reason why the mind necessarily derives from Gods attribute of thought is that it is of the same nature as it. Furthermore, Spinoza continues to claim that like all other shapes, bodies retain the effects of what causes them to move or come to rest, and reflect those effects too. 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. At the same time, the more people gain adequate knowledge of what has led them to feel saddened, the less sorrow affects them, since it ultimately causes that emotion to cease to be sadness. Conceptual Foundations and Motivations 1.1 Definition of ultimate Brahman, the Dao, emptiness, God, the One, Reasonablenessthere, in alphabetical order, are names of the central subjects of concern in what are commonly parsed as some of the worlds religions, philosophies and quasi-religious-philosophies. That is, sadness disrupts peoples abilities to exist because it causes them to less aware of themselves. 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. Of course, you may still wonder if his deterministic nature, which has no room for free will, just exchanges one form of bondage for another. 84, To Spinoza, there exist ideas that are external to people that have the ability to act upon or influence them to feel or be aware of themselves in greater or lesser ways than as they normally understand themselves. Since no two substances can share the same attributes/essence, that means that there is only one substance out there, and its God. Like Einstein, we can likely use some of his soothing sense of cosmic harmony, whether or not we pay it the compliment of calling it Spinozas God. scientist) following into spinozas 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 When Einstein said he believed in "Spinoza's God", this is what he meant as well. His view of God was not the conventional, personal Judeo Spinoza is the first philosopher to write a systematic defense of democracy; it appears in his Theologico-Political Treatise, published in 1670. 11 To Spinoza, God is unchanging since nothing can alter him/her due to only him/her being limitless. 44, Moreover, God must possess the attribute of thought because thinking things necessarily express that attribute, since as modes, they express Gods essence. It is a declaration not an assertion, that is, it is a context from which one chooses to live. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. 3. Moreover, God cannot be the cause of sadness since he/she cannot return any feelings that people project onto him/her, and thus, by being free of emotion, it would be illogical to claim that he/she can cause anyone pain. In other words, because only substances are causes of themselves, it follows that only they are unique, and thus, by not being of the same ontological type they are unable to interact. Benedict de Spinoza, Hebrew forename Baruch, Latin forename Benedictus, Portuguese Bento de Espinosa, (born November 24, 1632, Amsterdamdied February 21, 1677, The Hague), Dutch Jewish philosopher, one of the foremost exponents of 17th-century Rationalism and one of the early and seminal figures of the Enlightenment. 104 In other words, sadness exists in God, but cannot act upon him/her, because for that to occur that affect would have to exist outside of him/her, but since nothing can exist in that way, it follows that God is immune to sadness. 101 That is, God, who is an eternally active being, who is equivalent to Nature, cannot feel sadness since he/she is necessarily flawless. 108 That is, by being without any inadequacies God cannot cause sadness, because his/her eternal activity can only exude true and adequate ideas. http://www.lensatov.com/, * On the Importance of the Universal Laws. 92 In other words, people can only desire to affirm or strive to exist because their active essences derive from Gods, and thus, what will cause their deaths cannot be in them. Moreover, Spinoza claims that sadness accompanied with the idea of the external cause of sadness is hate. What I want you to do is go out into the world and enjoy your life. Furthermore, God is immutable since he/she is not a conglomeration of substances, but rather an indivisible whole. 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. To him, God would have said: Stop praying and 22 Spinoza believes that this cannot be so since the continuity of existence can only rely on a being who is eternally active, and thus, all that was, is and will be, cannot fall into nothingness due to God necessarily being that eternally active entity. Building, anchoring, and restoring hope, trust and Love within the human community. And you may hear Voltaires jibes in Candide, aimed at Spinozas contemporary Leibniz, bouncing off Spinoza as well. In the 18th century, Spinozism was a synonym for atheism. How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. As understood by Spinoza, the real cause of sadness is ignorance or peoples lack of understanding the causes that have led them to feel sorrow. 16321677 . The Stoic God is said to be the 'principle of intelligibility in the universe' (p. 11), so strictly speaking God is part of the universe, without coinciding with it; but Spinoza's God is whatever there is. 1 Contrastingly, Spinoza goes on to state that though everything ultimately derives from God, he/she cannot be the cause of sadness since he/she is perfect. Lastly, Spinoza comes to claim that though God ultimately causes all things, he/she is not the cause of sadness, which, in turn, maintains his/her perfection. Second, it is also illogical to believe that God is reducible to a totality of finite substances because they too cannot exist. He shows how modern biblical criticism and the broad Enlightenment program for a secular, scientific society were effectively launched in the book. That is, hate is a type of sorrow that people cannot only feel, but can also project onto that which they believe is the cause of their sadness. Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. 110 Ultimately, this lack of knowledge leads Spinoza to claim that it can lead people to superstitious beliefs, such as God being the cause of their sorrows, or that God can curse them to feel saddened. Few philosophers have been so mythologised as the 17th century Jew, Baruch Spinoza. 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. Exactly. His masterwork, Ethics (published posthumously in 1677), is a bold 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. You are absolutely free to create in your life. Unlike the ancient Stoics whom he somewhat resembles, Spinoza thought emotions are best taken care of when they are fully understood, not when they are fully extinguished. The book was a bit too much for tolerant but still Calvinist Holland, where it was denounced as blasphemous and dangerous. But I entrust this to you as well. Oppression is something that one group of people commits against another group specifically because of a threatening characteristic shared by the latter group. Furthermore, when something causes someone joy, it follows that that person is feeling joy due to that thing, and not from the feelings of happiness alone. And why were less interested now in Spinozas logic than in his peace of mind. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea. 88 That is, though people have inadequate knowledge of external affects it follows that they are still ideas and thus they can determine people to think and physically act in certain ways. 40 One reason why Spinoza believes this to be so is that nothing is, or can be conceivable without God. in Liberal Studies from the College of Staten Island/CUNY and his B.A. WebDescartes, whom Spinoza had studied and commentated, moves from the self and its ignorance to eventually apprehend the existence of God and to attain knowledge of the world. 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. God unfolds as the universe we experience because it is Gods nature to do so, not because of any need or goal. God as Perfect and Not the Cause of Sadness. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) served as the natural end of the rationalist tradition on the European continent, which included Descartes, Spinoza, and Malebranche. This universe is designed around the pattern of the Divine Mother. 13 First, it is not the case that many infinite substances can exist because if they did that would mean that they would be unique and compatible at the same time, which is nonsensical. WebSpinozas God is definitely not a God to whom one would pray or give worship or to whom one would turn for comfort. Although Einstein said he believed in Spinozas God, its certain that Einstein did not have this abstract God in mind. So dont blame me for everything they made you believe. WebSome of the greatest achievements of modern philosophy result from the attempt to reconcile the belief in human freedom with the eternal laws of Gods nature, and among By union, Spinoza means that the mind and body are coherent, or it is the case that whatever occurs in peoples minds has a matching effect on their bodies. 17. 114. 59. Main Office: PSY0220, 4000 Central Florida Blvd. 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. Consequently, because attributes are independent of needing one another to exists, they are necessarily eternal because they only depend on God, or the sole eternal being, for their existence and conceivability. Spinoza on Human Freedom closes on a high note, with a strong chapter that examines how the state can contribute to the freedom or autonomy of the individual. 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 modern scientific viewpoint. Nothing happens by chance. 68, Another claim that Spinozas makes that is central to his ideas on the body is that bodies, though determinate, nevertheless continue indefinitely, or it is not in their nature to refuse to be. 82. L ately, atheists have gone on a publishing offensive. 7777 One way in which the reader can imagine this is if God were both the idea of a shape and the physical object of that shape itself. Stop praying. 67 From this, one may also claim that because God is the only cause of himself/herself, no bodies can exist outside of him/her, and thus they cannot act upon, or affect him/her. 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. From this, Spinoza claims that many bodies together form more complex bodies, which include those of humans, and those individual bodies composing more intricate bodies unite in such a way that they too retain the effects of what affects them. Consequently, Spinoza calls this type of happiness, love, since it not only causes joy, but it also is the state of being in which people can project joy onto what they understand to be the cause of that feeling. Accor ding to the standar d vie w, Spinoza s ter m mode denotes pr oper ties of substance, just as it does in Descartes idiom. 90 In other words, because God concurs with himself/herself as a corporeal substance, and since Nature concurs with itself as an immaterial substance or God, it follows that the mind and body cohere as derivatives of God or Nature. 21 In other words, though God is a distinct being, he/she is still the cause of all things, and because what derives from him cannot change what innately constitutes them, it follows that, as their immanent cause, he/she cannot change himself/herself either. And Im so focused. WebNo he warned against people (esp. 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. Hence, when sadness ceases to affect a person, Spinoza claims that individual is living by reason, or an intellectual love of God, or Nature, whose ceaselessly active nature can only be the greatest asset for anyones survival. This life is the only thing here and now and it is all you need. Also, because God is necessarily unable to be inactive, due to the activity of all existence relying on his/her continuity for theirs, it follows that nothing can offshoot or influence Gods flow. In responsibility, there is no. (Read more), Whats Actually Happening with Chemtrails? Asking God for one, asking that He suspend natural law for our benefit, is asking God to trip up God. Creation, preservation, transformation = love building, love preserving, love dissolving = inbreath, pause, outbreath = rajas, sattwa, thamas (gunas) = Akar, Ukar, Makar (Aum) = Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva (Trimurthy). I cant tell you if theres anything after this life but I can give you a tip. Spinoza, Benedict De. 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