God Is Everywhere: Spinoza, Nietzsche, and the Immanent Affirmation of Life
Raphael ’s Nietzsche & Spinoza, Fresco. AI art “I am utterly amazed, utterly enchanted! I have a precursor, and what a precursor! I hardly knew Spinoza: that I should have turned to him just now, was inspired by ‘instinct.’ Not only is his overall tendency like mine—to make knowledge the most powerful affect—but in five main points of doctrine I recognize myself; this most unusual and loneliest thinker is closest to me precisely in these matters: he denies the freedom of the will, teleology, the moral world order, the unegoistic, and evil. Even though the divergences are admittedly tremendous, they are due more to the difference in time, culture, and science. In summa: my lonesomeness, which, as on very high mountains, often made it hard for me to breathe and made my blood rush out, is now at least a twosomeness.” ¹ Introduction When Nietzsche discovered his kinship with Spinoza, it was not merely a passing remark or a casual nod to influence. His exclamation signals the reco...
