God is Not a Cosmic Sugar Daddy

Baruch Espinosa, or Benedict Spinoza, is considered one of the three great rationalists of philosophical history. He is difficult to categorize because he dabbled in all sorts of philosophical ideas. However, if you had to put a label on him, rationalist would be the most accurate description of his influential metaphysic, epistemology, and ethic. This is because he felt that the purest way to obtain information was not empirically. Instead, he advocated reason and intuition.

Early in his philosophical career, Spinoza voiced his doubts regarding the immortality of the soul, as well as the existence (or nonexistence!) of angels. These thoughts were considered offensive and heretical. Spinoza was ostracized without any sympathy and then quickly excommunicated by Jewish leaders. In fact, Jewish leaders went so far as to say that he was essentially unclean. They advised all people against helping him, communicating with him, or even being near him.

In today's modern world the idea seems a little zany, almost implausible. Casting someone out because they simply expressed and investigated a doubt? But when it comes to God, even today, people are easily offended by what others' beliefs may be regarding the bible, its rules, and the "holy spirit."

The most ironic part about Spinoza being cast out for his doubts regarding his religion is that he understood God at a much deeper level than most people ever will. His epistemology, methodology, and even his ethic honor God in the most brilliant way ever possible. God is everything - God is earth, extension, and thought. God is the be-all. The biblical chapter of Exodus alludes to this very idea when Moses asks who God is. And what is God's answer? Simply "I am." This is the true essence of God and is what Spinoza repeatedly tries to get across to his readers.

It is important to understand that Spinoza's epistemology is fundamentally mathematical. Of course, one must ask, "What does geometry have to do with ethics?" Geometry, in all its parts, is tightly weaved. It is all logically connected, and everything that is unnecessary has been eliminated.

Spinoza's method is to reduce all of ethics/thought on God, etc. to the smallest number of parts possible. Anything that is not absolutely necessary must be eliminated.

He says that we must look at nature/the world, and God (as God is the world, for Spinoza) in this same fashion. Everything is necessary. He is essentially saying that the entire universe is a causal chain and that every single event, no matter how minute it may seem to us, happens necessarily. Everything that takes place is always connected with the previous event, and that event with an even earlier event.

Says Spinoza, "But a thing is called necessary, or rather compelled, which is determined by another to exist and to produce an effect in a certain and determinate manner."

For example, let's say that Susie tripped on her way to class. This could be considered an unimportant, random (and unpleasant) occurrence of her day easily forgotten. But what caused the trip? Perhaps it was the fact that she wasn't paying attention due to being focused on something else. That focus could have been related to a

problem she is having with a friend. And the problem with the friend is a result of poor communication about another friend. And that other friend wouldn't have existed if it weren't for her parents. And her parents wouldn't have existed if it weren't for their parents. So Susie tripped on a rock because of her friend's friend's grandparents. Sounds silly, but makes sense - everything is connected in some way! Consider the butterfly effect.

Of course, Spinoza would take this course of events all the way to the beginning of nature's existence. And so, if we kept going and going ad nauseam, we would eventually end up at the very beginning of this causal chain. And for Spinoza, God is nature and all that is. God is God and God is not a being nor a person. God does not have wishes, desires. God does not get angry and God is not looking to be pleased.

It is imperative to understand that God does not cause things to happen. All too often, human beings seek out a purpose, or a telos, for everything that takes place on earth. But "nature has no end set before it, and that all final causes are nothing but human fictions. In other words, humans make up stories and fabricate ideas, just to satisfy a longing for a purpose for everything.

But because God is the ultimate cause of all things and because God is all that is, it would be out of God's characteristics for God to have a telos.

Those who adopt the doctrine of a telos/purpose in everything (and most do), take away from the perfection that is God, according to Spinoza.

"For if God acts for the sake of an end, he necessarily wants something which he lacks," argues Spinoza. How can any "good Christian" in their right mind be

willing to take away from the perfection of God? Sadly, they do not realize that they do it. And even sadder, they believe Spinoza to be some sort of poster-boy (if he was a girl I'd say poster-girl), for anti-Christianity. How foolish! Spinoza makes God out to be much more important, much bigger, much more perfect. And the greatest part is that he does so with pure thought - reason, logic, and intuition.

It is far too easy to make your God a "God of the Gaps." When we do not understand something, instead of investigating the thought/doubt/event, we become lazy and just say, "God did it!" But how demeaning to our intellectual integrity is that? Even back in the 1600s, Spinoza's time, he recognized that people "take refuge in the will of God, i.e., the sanctuary of ignorance." Go Spinoza!

The ideas and philosophies that Spinoza suggests are definitely hard to comprehend, especially if you are a practicing fundamentalist or simply haven't studied theology/philosophy in depth. Everyone owes it to him or her self, especially if they consider themselves Christian/Jewish/etc., to think critically and be wary of default cookie-cutter ideas like "God's will."

Spinoza understands God at a much deeper level than most people ever will. His epistemology, methodology, and even his ethic honor God in the most brilliant way possible. God is a not a cosmic sugar-daddy, not the cause of pain, not the cause of wonderful things. God is simply everything - God is earth, extension, and thought. God is the be-all.