SPINOZA...EXCERPT

ETHICS including IMPROVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING, by Benedict de Spinoza (Prometheus Books, Amherst NY: 1677, 1989), p. 209 “Prop.XXVIII. The mind's highest good is the knowledge of God, and the mind's highest virtue is to know God. “Proof.--The mind is not capable of understanding anything higher than God, that is..., than a Being absolutely infinite, and without which... nothing can either be or be conceived; therefore..., the mind's highest utility or … good is the knowledge of God. Again, the mind is active only in so far as it understands, and only to the same extent can it be said to act virtuously. The mind's absolute virtue is therefore to understand. Now, as we have already shown, the highest that the mind can understand is God; therefore the highest virtue of the mind is to understand or to know God. Q.E.D.”