“Will and intellect are one and the same thing” ~ Baruch Spinoza.
I believe this quote can say many things about human nature. In my interpretation, I would say that if “intellect” is free then one’s “will” is equally as free because to have a strong understanding pure of tainted knowledge is to set yourself free to control your fate (a.k.a. free will).
When I first learned about the philosophies of Spinoza, my entire perspective of the world changed. Spinoza is a material monist and in a sense this means that many things within the physical and metaphysical worlds. Things that seem separate are in fact the same such as the example above with will and intellect which to the naïve may seem completely different. Back in the days of Spinoza, the Jewish rabbis believed strongly in a separation between the secular and the sacred. Spinoza said no; there is no separation.
In doing so, he was excommunicated for his many other philosophies such as eternal life is not mentioned in the Old Testament. I think, his books were banned at the time, but they offered him many jobs at universities befitting a scholar. He would not accept them because he didn’t want them to limit what he was allowed to write and think about. He worked a low class job that eventually led to his death, but his story is admirable because not many people would be willing to abandon a better life for the pursuit of knowledge.
For this, he is one of my favorite historical persons. Without him, people would have taken longer to stop believing that demons possessed the minds of the mentally ill. Instead, we know that it’s something within the person because they are one with their brain and thus their disorder. Thank you, Spinoza.
