ETHICS...EXCERPT

ETHICS including IMPROVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING, by Benedict de Spinoza (Prometheus Books, Amherst NY: 1677, 1989), p. 240-241: “Prop. LXXIII. The man who is guided by reason, is more free in a State, where he lives under a general system of law, than in solitude, where he is independent.... “Note.-- These and similar observations which we have made on man's true freedom, may be referred to strength, that is, to courage and nobility of character... I do not think it is worth while to prove separately all the properties of strength; much less need I show, that he that is strong hates no man, is angry with no man, envies no man, is indignant with no man, despises no man, and least of all things is proud. These propositions, and all that relate to the true way of life and religion, are easily proved from... namely, that hatred should be overcome with love, and that every man should desire for others the good which he seeks for himself....that the strong man has first ever in his thoughts, that all things follow from the necessity of the divine nature; so that whatsoever he deems to be hurtful and evil, and whatsoever, accordingly, seems to him impious, horrible, unjust, and base, assumes that appearance owing to his own disordered, fragmentary, and confused view of the universe. Wherefore, he strives before all things to conceive things as they really are, and to remove the hindrances to true knowledge such as are hatred, anger, envy, derision, and similar emotions... Thus he endeavors, to do good and to go on his way rejoicing....”