They sat silently for a long time. Then Sophie spoke2, trying to get Alberto's mind off what had happened.
"Descartes must have been an odd kind of person. Did he become famous?"
Alberto breathed deeply for a couple of seconds before answering: "He had a great deal of significance. Perhaps most of all for another great philosopher, Ba-ruch Spinoza, who lived from 1632 to 1677."
"Are you going to tell me about him?"
"That was my intention. And we're not going to be stopped by military provocations3."
"I'm all ears."
"Spinoza belonged to the Jewish community of Amsterdam, but he was excommunicated for heresy4. Few philosophers in more recent times have been so blasphemed and so persecuted5 for their ideas as this man. It happened because he criticized the established religion. He believed that Christianity and Judaism were only kept alive by rigid7 dogma and outer ritual. He was the first to apply what we call a historico-critical interpretation8 of the Bible."
"Explanation, please."
"He denied that the Bible was inspired by God down to the last letter. When we read the Bible, he said, we must continually bear in mind the period it was written in. A 'critical' reading, such as the one he proposed, revealed a number of inconsistencies in the texts. But beneath the surface of the Scriptures9 in the New Testament10 is Jesus, who could well be called God's mouthpiece. The teachings of Jesus therefore represented a liberation from the orthodoxy of Judaism. Jesus preached a 'religion of reason' which valued love higher than all else. Spinoza interpreted this as meaning both love of God and love of humanity. Nevertheless, Christianity had also become set in its own rigid dogmas and outer rituals."
"I don't suppose these ideas were easy to swallow, either for the church or the synagogue."
"When things got really tough, Spinoza was even deserted11 by his own family. They tried to disinherit him on the grounds of his heresy. Paradoxically enough, few have spoken out more powerfully in the cause of free speech and religious tolerance12 than Spinoza. The opposition13 he was met with on all sides led him to pursue a quiet and secluded14 life devoted15 entirely16 to philosophy. He earned a meager17 living by polishing lenses, some of which have come into my possession."
"Very impressive!"
"There is almost something symbolic18 in the fact that he lived by polishing lenses. A philosopher must help people to see life in a new perspective. One of the pillars of Spinoza's philosophy was indeed to see things from the perspective of eternity19."
"The perspective of eternity?"
"Yes, Sophie. Do you think you can imagine your own life in a cosmic context? You'll have to try and imagine yourself and your life here and now ..."
"Hm ... that's not so easy."
"Remind yourself that you are only living a minuscule20 part of all nature's life. You are part of an enormous whole."
"I think I see what you mean ..."
"Can you manage to feel it as well? Can you perceive all of nature at one time--the whole universe, in fact-- at a single glance?"
"I doubt it. Maybe I need some lenses."
"I don't mean only the infinity21 of space. I mean the eternity of time as well. Once upon a time, thirty thousand years ago there lived a little boy in the Rhine valley. He was a tiny part of nature, a tiny ripple22 on an endless sea. You too, Sophie, you too are living a tiny part of nature's life. There is no difference between you and that boy."
"Except that I'm alive now."
"Yes, but that is precisely23 what I wanted you to try and imagine. Who will you be in thirty thousand years?"
"Was that the heresy?"
"Not entirely ... Spinoza didn't only say that everything is nature. He identified nature with God. He said God is all, and all is in God."
"So he was a pantheist."
"That's true. To Spinoza, God did not create the world in order to stand outside it. No, God is the world. Sometimes Spinoza expresses it differently. He maintains that the world is in God. In this, he is quoting St. Paul's speech to the Athenians on the Areopagos hill: 'In him we live and move and have our being.' But let us pursue Spinoza's own reasoning. His most important book was his Ethics24 Geometrically Demonstrated."
"Ethics--geometrically demonstrated?"
"It may sound a bit strange to us. In philosophy, ethics means the study of moral conduct for living a good life. This is also what we mean when we speak of the ethics of Socrates or Aristotle, for example. It is only in our own time that ethics has more or less become reduced to a set of rules for living without treading on other people's toes."
"Because thinking of yourself is supposed to be egoism?"
"Something like that, yes. When Spinoza uses the word ethics, he means both the art of living and moral conduct."
"But even so ... the art of living demonstrated geometrically?"
"The geometrical method refers to the terminology25 he used for his formulations. You may recall how Descartes wished to use mathematical method for philosophical26 reflection. By this he meant a form of philosophic27 reflection that was constructed from strictly28 logical conclusions. Spinoza was part of the same rationalistic tradition. He wanted his ethics to show that human life is subject to the universal laws of nature. We must therefore free ourselves from our feelings and our passions. Only then will we find contentment and be happy, he believed."
"Surely we are not ruled exclusively by the laws of nature?"
"Well, Spinoza is not an easy philosopher to grasp. Let's take him bit by bit. You remember that Descartes believed that reality consisted of two completely separate substances, namely thought and extension."
"How could I have forgotten it?"
"The word 'substance' can be interpreted as 'that which something consists of,' or that which something basically is or can be reduced to. Descartes operated then with two of these substances. Everything was either thought or extension.
"However, Spinoza rejected this split. He believed that there was only one substance. Everything that exists can be reduced to one single reality which he simply called Substance. At times he calls it God or nature. Thus Spinoza does not have the dualistic view of reality that Descartes had. We say he is a monist. That is, he reduces nature and the condition of all things to one single substance."
"They could hardly have disagreed more."
"Ah, but the difference between Descartes and Spinoza is not as deep-seated as many have often claimed. Descartes also pointed29 out that only God exists independently. It's only when Spinoza identifies God with nature--or God and creation--that he distances himself a good way from both Descartes and from the Jewish and Christian6 doctrines30."
"So then nature is God, and that's that."
"But when Spinoza uses the word 'nature,' he doesn't only mean extended nature. By Substance, God, or nature, he means everything that exists, including all things spiritual."
"You mean both thought and extension."
"You said it! According to Spinoza, we humans recognize two of God's qualities or manifestations31. Spinoza called these qualities God's attributes, and these two attributes are identical with Descartes's 'thought' and 'extension.' God--or nature--manifests itself either as thought or as extension. It may well be that God has infinitely32 more attributes than 'thought' and 'extension,' but these are the only two that are known to man."
"Fair enough, but what a complicated way of saying it."
"Yes, one almost needs a hammer and chisel33 to get through Spinoza's language. The reward is that in the end you dig out a thought as crystal clear as a diamond."
"I can hardly wait!"
"Everything in nature, then, is either thought or extension. The various phenomena34 we come across in everyday life, such as a flower or a poem by Wordsworth, are different modes of the attribute of thought or extension. A 'mode' is the particular manner which Substance, God, or nature assumes. A flower is a mode of the attribute of extension, and a poem about the same flower is a mode of the attribute of thought. But both are basically the expression of Substance, God, or nature."
"You could have fooled me!"
"But it's not as complicated as he makes it sound. Beneath his stringent35 formulation lies a wonderful realization36 that is actually so simple that everyday language cannot accommodate it."
"I think I prefer everyday language, if it's all the same to you."
"Right. Then I'd better begin with you yourself. When you get a pain in your stomach, what is it that has a pain?"
"Like you just said. It's me."
"Fair enough. And when you later recollect37 that you once had a pain in your stomach, what is it that thinks?"
"That's me, too."
"So you are a single person that has a stomachache one minute and is in a thoughtful mood the next. Spinoza maintained that all material things and things that happen around us are an expression of God or nature. So it follows that all thoughts that we think are also God's or nature's thoughts. For everything is One. There is only one God, one nature, or one Substance."
"But listen, when I think something, I'm the one who's doing the thinking. When I move, I'm doing the moving. Why do you have to mix God into it?"
"I like your involvement. But who are you? You are Sophie Amundsen, but you are also the expression of something infinitely bigger. You can, if you wish, say that you are thinking or that you are moving, but could you not also say that it is nature that is thinking your thoughts, or that it is nature that is moving through you? It's really just a question of which lenses you choose to look through."
"Are you saying I cannot decide for myself?"
"Yes and no. You may have the right to move your thumb any way you choose. But your thumb can only move according to its nature. It cannot jump off your hand and dance about the room. In the same way you also have your place in the structure of existence, my dear. You are Sophie, but you are also a finger of God's body."
"So God decides everything I do?"
"Or nature, or the laws of nature. Spinoza believed that God--or the laws of nature--is the inner cause of everything that happens. He is not an outer cause, since God speaks through the laws of nature and only through them."
"I'm not sure I can see the difference."
"God is not a puppeteer who pulls all the strings38, controlling everything that happens. A real puppet master controls the puppets from outside and is therefore the 'outer cause' of the puppet's movements. But that is not the way God controls the world. God controls the world through natural laws. So God--or nature--is the 'inner cause' of everything that happens. This means that everything in the material world happens through necessity. Spinoza had a determinist view of the material, or natural, world."
"I think you said something like that before."
"You're probably thinking of the Stoics39. They also claimed that everything happens out of necessity. That was why it was important to meet every situation with 'stoicism.' Man should not get carried away by his feelings. Briefly40, that was also Spinoza's ethics."
"I see what you mean, but I still don't like the idea that I don't decide for myself."
"Okay, let's go back in time to the Stone Age boy who lived thirty thousand years ago. When he grew up, he cast spears after wild animals, loved a woman who became the mother of his children, and quite certainly worshipped the tribal41 gods. Do you really think he decided42 all that for himself?"
"I don't know."
"Or think of a lion in Africa. Do you think it makes up its mind to be a beast of prey43? Is that why it attacks a limping antelope44? Could it instead have made up its mind to be a vegetarian45?"
"No, a lion obeys its nature."
"You mean, the laws of nature. So do you, Sophie, because you are also part of nature. You could of course protest, with the support of Descartes, that a lion is an animal and not a free human being with free mental faculties46. But think of a newborn baby that screams and yells. If it doesn't get milk it sucks its thumb. Does that baby have a free will?"
"I guess not."
"When does the child get its free will, then? At the age of two, she runs around and points at everything in sight. At the age of three she nags47 her mother, and at the age of four she suddenly gets afraid of the dark. Where's the freedom, Sophie?"
"I don't know."
"When she is fifteen, she sits in front of a mirror experimenting with makeup48. Is this the moment when she makes her own personal decisions and does what she likes?"
"I see what you're getting at."
"She is Sophie Amundsen, certainly. But she also lives according to the laws of nature. The point is that she doesn't realize it because there are so many complex reasons for everything she does."
"I don't think I want to hear any more."
"But you must just answer a last question. Two equally old trees are growing in a large garden. One of the trees grows in a sunny spot and has plenty of good soil and water. The other tree grows in poor soil in a dark spot. Which of the trees do you think is bigger? And which of them bears more fruit?"
"Obviously the tree with the best conditions for growing."
"According to Spinoza, this tree is free. It has its full freedom to develop its inherent abilities. But if it is an apple tree it will not have the ability to bear pears or plums. The same applies to us humans. We can be hindered in our development and our personal growth by political conditions, for instance. Outer circumstances can constrain49 us. Only when we are free to develop our innate50 abilities can we live as free beings. But we are just as much determined51 by inner potential and outer opportunities as the Stone Age boy on the Rhine, the lion in Africa, or the apple tree in the garden."
"Okay, I give in, almost."
"Spinoza emphasizes that there is only one being which is totally and utterly52 'its own cause' and can act with complete freedom. Only God or nature is the expression of such a free and 'nonaccidental' process. Man can strive for freedom in order to live without outer con-straint, but he will never achieve 'free will.' We do not control everything that happens in our body--which is a mode of the attribute of extension. Neither do we 'choose' our thinking. Man therefore does not have a 'free soul'; it is more or less imprisoned53 in a mechanical body."
"That is rather hard to understand."
"Spinoza said that it was our passions--such as ambition and lust--which prevent us from achieving true happiness and harmony, but that if we recognize that everything happens from necessity, we can achieve an intuitive understanding of nature as a whole. We can come to realize with crystal clarity that everything is related, even that everything is One. The goal is to comprehend everything that exists in an all-embracing perception. Only then will we achieve true happiness and contentment. This was what Spinoza called seeing everything 'sub specie aeternitatis.' "
"Which means what?"
"To see everything from the perspective of eternity. Wasn't that where we started?"
"It'll have to be where we end, too. I must get going."
Alberto got up and fetched a large fruit dish from the book shelves. He set it on the coffee table.
"Won't you at least have a piece of fruit before you go?"
Sophie helped herself to a banana. Alberto took a green apple.
She broke off the top of the banana and began to peel it.
"There's something written here," she said suddenly.
"Where?"
"Here--inside the banana peel. It looks as if it was written with an ink brush."
Sophie leaned over and showed Alberto the banana. He read aloud:
Here I am again, Hilde. I'm everywhere. Happy birthday!
"Very funny," said Sophie.
"He gets more crafty54 all the time."
"But it's impossible ... isn't it? Do you know if they grow bananas in Lebanon?"
Alberto shook his head.
"I'm certainly not going to eat that."
"Leave it then. Someone who writes birthday greetings to his daughter on the inside of an unpeeled banana must be mentally disturbed. But he must also be quite ingenious."
"Yes, both."
"So shall we establish here and now that Hilde has an ingenious father? In other words, he's not so stupid."
"That's what I've been telling you. And it could just as well be him that made you call me Hilde last time I came here. Maybe he's the one putting all the words in our mouths."
"Nothing can be ruled out. But we should doubt everything."
"For all we know, our entire life could be a dream."
"But let's not jump to conclusions. There could be a simpler explanation."
"Well whatever, I have to hurry home. My mom is waiting for me."
Alberto saw her to the door. As she left, he said:
"We'll meet again, dear Hilde."
Then the door closed behind her.
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1
puppeteer
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| n.操纵木偶的人，操纵傀儡 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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provocations
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| n.挑衅( provocation的名词复数 )；激怒；刺激；愤怒的原因 | |
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heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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tolerance
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| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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minuscule
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| adj.非常小的；极不重要的 | |
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infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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terminology
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| n.术语；专有名词 | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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chisel
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| n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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stringent
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| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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strings
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| n.弦 | |
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stoics
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| 禁欲主义者，恬淡寡欲的人，不以苦乐为意的人( stoic的名词复数 ) | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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tribal
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| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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antelope
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| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
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vegetarian
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| n.素食者；adj.素食的 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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47
nags
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| n.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的名词复数 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的第三人称单数 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
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makeup
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| n.组织；性格；化装品 | |
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constrain
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| vt.限制，约束；克制，抑制 | |
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50
innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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51
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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