Biography

Benedict De Spinoza was born in Amsterdam in 1632. He lived to the age of 42. Spinoza's father was a successful merchant, which enabled him to give Spinoza the best education.

In the Jewish community, it was assumed that Spinoza would become a leader of the community, and that he would possibly become a rabbi. As Spinoza showed brilliance in his learning skills, he became dissatisfied with the conventional and orthodox methods of teachings.

Around the age of 16, Spinoza became aware of the advanced thoughts and ideas of Descartes, Bacon, and other scholars who he studied fervently. Of course, the ideas and thoughts of these scholars were outside the beliefs and teachings of the Jewish community.

At the age of 21, Spinoza was excommunicated from the Jewish community because he could no longer follow or accept the Jewish customs and rigid beliefs. After studying Descartes and others, he began to develop his own philosophy. Spinoza began to see the possibilities for man as a being with a mind that has clear and distinct ideas. Spinoza believed that freedom comes from the understanding and the love of God, and that this love would free us from all emotions, which are passions that can lead to our ruin.

What has challenged the so called educators, even to this day, is that Spinoza proved that everything revolves around two of God's attributes, " THOUGHT AND EXTENSION," which are only two of an infinite number of attributes that express God's essence. The attribute of extension follows all the laws that govern and flow from HIS nature. Subsequently, Spinoza proves that there is no such thing as free will, and that everything that exists and happens can be explained by understanding the laws and the causes of things.

Spinoza lived his philosophy, and whoever had the honor to meet Spinoza came away with the understanding that he lived his life with a love of God and a love of human nature, and that he was a man who lived by the highest principles.