Spinoza, being a man of his time, took the existence of "god" for granted; however, he got himself in trouble first with spiritual and then secular authorities for defining god so broadly as to almost render it meaningless. As close to atheism as a 17th centurian can come.
Toward the end of Damasio's Spinoza, he delves into the topic of spirituality in general. I was left with the sense that Damasio doesn't necessarily accept any of the voodoo that spirituality is supposedly "about", gods and angels and such, but sees the feeling of "spiritual" as a real human feeling, equivalent, say, to love.
I haven't sorted out what, if anything, this means for who we are - who I am, for that matter. Maybe nothing. But I'm really looking forward to knocking it around when everyone gets there.
In the mean time, pay special attention to Chapter Three, because he refers back to it in his conclusion.
If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything. Daniel Dennett, 1984
Toward the end of Damasio's Spinoza, he delves into the topic of spirituality in general. I was left with the sense that Damasio doesn't necessarily accept any of the voodoo that spirituality is supposedly "about", gods and angels and such, but sees the feeling of "spiritual" as a real human feeling, equivalent, say, to love.
I haven't sorted out what, if anything, this means for who we are - who I am, for that matter. Maybe nothing. But I'm really looking forward to knocking it around when everyone gets there.
In the mean time, pay special attention to Chapter Three, because he refers back to it in his conclusion.
If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything. Daniel Dennett, 1984
