His God is the
Substance with infinite attributes of which thought and extension are
the two revealed to man, and he goes further, for he maintains that they
are one and the same thing viewed in different ways, inside and outside
of the same reality. The conception of God, strictly speaking, is not
incomprehensible, but it is not CIRCUM-prehensible; if it were it could
not be the true conception of Him.
Spinoza declares that "the human mind possesses an adequate knowledge of
the eternal and infinite essence of God" {36}--not of God in His
completeness, but it is adequate. The demonstration of this proposition
is at first sight unsatisfactory, because we look for one which shall
enable us to form an image of God like that which we can form of a
triangle. But we cannot have "a knowledge of God as distinct as that
which we have of common notions, because we cannot imagine God as we can
bodies." "To your question," says Spinoza to Boxel, "whether I have as
clear an idea of God as I have of a triangle? I answer, Yes. But if
you ask me whether I have as clear an image of God as I have of a
triangle I shall say, No; for we cannot imagine God, but we can in a
measure understand Him.
Pages:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41