"All things... are in God, and all things that happen,
happen only through the laws of God's infinite nature and follow from the
necessity of his essence." 1P15-6
"Blessedness consists in love of God" 4P42D
Because all things are in God, and God exist as us, through
us, it is no surprise that through the sophistication and refining of ones
intellect one can eventually find release from being acted upon by external
causes, affects, and attain blessedness. Understanding that we exist in God,
and that God expresses as us through us, man can come to see that "men,
like other things, act from the necessity of nature" 5P10D. Having a thorough understanding of
oneself, the affects, and right ordering of the affects to the order of the
intellect, man can attain blessedness. Blessedness is the contemplation of the
mind upon itself, with the knowing of God as its cause. But because God exist
as us, and through us, this knowing of God as its cause, is actually the
"love the mind has... [as] part of the infinite love by which God loves
himself" 5P36D. In this way, self-love becomes the holiest form of
worship, as it is ultimately the most intimate and personal love of God.
This is why Spinoza says in 4P37 "The good which
everyone who seeks virtue wants for himself, he also desires for other men; and
this desire is greater as his knowledge of God is greater", because as
ones knowledge of God is greater, the more clear it is that God, modes, and existence
are one. This oneness is God. It is blessedness where one realizes that working
against the nature of other men, is actually working against the nature of him
or herself, and as we know, working against our own nature is only caused by
inadequate ideas.
Through existence the mind has adequate knowledge of God,
and it is through Gods infinite and eternal attribute of mind that man can
access God's eternal and infinite intellect. This is why Spinoza calls our mind
an "eternal mode of thinking" 5P40S. This is blessedness, this knowing
of God as our cause, and of God as us through us. Love for God is "love
toward a thing immutable and eternal, which we really fully possess" 5P20.
Knowing oneself deeply, and having a greater understanding of the world around
oneself, is ultimately having a greater understanding of God. It is reason and
reason alone that becomes mans greatest ally in coming to know God, yet knowing
God is also knowing oneself. This is why self-love is mans holiest form of
worship.
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ReplyDeleteI don't understand how you you make the jump from blessedness to worship. blessedness can make something holy, but not all holy things are worthy of worship.
ReplyDeleteThe claims that I think you want to make is that self love is the greatest good, and i think that is what Spinoza seems to be claiming. However, the highest form of good and something that should be worshiped are not concepts that can be used interchangeably. For example, it would be absurd to claim that one worships morality by understanding it.
It seems that worship is an action while love is an affection. Love does not entail worship, and vice versa. They are in fact independent of each other, even though they are often found together.
Self Love is the Love of God, that is why it is the highest form of worship. Spinoza is not speaking of any love that is perishable or changing. He is talking about an Absolute Love for the highest good, this is not the same as loving a partner or a parent because those are feelings that are driven by passions and are easily changed.
ReplyDeleteI believe Alex is just saying that learning to have this Self Love is an act of worship not that Self Love is an object to be worshiped. That would be a indicative of a relative idea and not the absolute.
Furthermore, you can not worship morality by simply understanding it but having an understanding of and a relationship with the absolute truth that morality attempts to display is the same as understanding God(the only absolute truth). This is a relationship with God. This is how we come to love the self.
I agree with Alex's view. It's a shame people do not realize this. It does sound narcissistic, the whole idea of self love as a way to become closer to understanding god. Taking a step back I reason that people need something to believe in and aren't going to look inward at themselves.
ReplyDeleteWorship of, love of, knowledge of god through reason is the most compelling argument for the existence of god.
I think you might be right, but I am as of yet unconvinced.
ReplyDeleteMy concern would be: what makes self-love, as opposed to a universal love for all things, or a love for god in itself, any different from an excessive pleasure? After all, we know that pleasure is excessive insofar as it brings joy to one component of a complex body at the expense of the whole. This is why the pleasures of the human body may be understood as excessive despite being species of joy. One part of the whole is placed above the rest. Isn’t self-love just this; valuing ourselves, as single instances of all of creation, above the whole? Unless you’d argue that self-love is a kind of universal love, or the love of god simply expressed through one part of creation, a part that, being created by god, takes part in his essence. But if you take this route, why do you make explicit mention of self-love. It seems in this case self-love is the mechanism only, rather than the goal.
I’m definitely not hostile to the idea, just unconvinced.