Spinoza on blessedness for human beings: Possible for a few,but not for the whole human species

Abstract

Steven Nadler has written an insightful paper on ‘Spinoza and Maimonides on Human Perfection and the Love of God’, in which he analyses the differences and similarities between Spinoza and Maimonides related to the suggested themes, and he argues that becoming blessed is possible. Nadler does not, however, say much about whether blessedness is possible for a few or the whole human species. I argue, though, that pursuing blessedness is hard work and that only a few, if any, seem to engage or are being enabled to engage in the pursuit of becoming blessed, that is, in striving for the highest possible good, namely, the intellectual love of God or Nature. I begin by showing what humans’ typical potentials and limitations are with respect to achieving perfection, according to Spinoza. I also show that that we cannot achieve perfection: at least not in the same sense as God or Nature. In the second part I show what we as human beings have to do in order to engage ourselves in the pursuit of becoming blessed. In the final part I discuss some current conditions for education which does not in-themselves make it possible to become blessed in education, and put forward some ideas of what can be done in education in order for those concerned to strive to become blessed.

Introduction

We human beings can become blessed, according to Baruch Spinoza, when we cultivate our capacity to use ‘our intellect, or reason’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E4, Appendix, IV), but such a pursuit is, for him, hard work, due to our limitations and due to the fact that we ‘rarely live from the dictate of reason’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p54s). Would the above-mentioned suggest that that the philosophy of Spinoza is not inclusive and egalitarian and that it is not possible for the whole human species to become blessed? Steven Nadler (2024) argues in his paper that the philosophy of Spinoza is inclusive and egalitarian (in contrast with the philosophy of Moses Maimonides) and that on Spinoza’s view it is possible to acquire blessedness, at least in principle, although with great difficulty. Nevertheless, even though the philosophy of Spinoza is or seems to be inclusive and egalitarian, I argue that it is not possible for the whole human species to achieve a permanent state of blessedness. I also argue that education in present times does not make it possible for human beings to become blessed in the sense suggested by Spinoza. It basically strives to render those concerned efficacious on the work-market, and contributes to make them more or less loyal to narratives, traditions and practices of the nation-state, or to reverberate the words of Spinoza, it prepares the upcoming generation for an ordinary life ‘dominated by the pursuit of transitory goods like honor, sensual pleasure, and wealth’ (Soyarslan, 2014: 236; see also Spinoza, 1988a: 7–8). Still, even though education as it stands basically restricts the possibility for those concerned to engage in cultivating their capacity to use their reason and become blessed, it can do much more. I show what education can do for those concerned to cultivate their capacity to use their reason and strive to become blessed, in relation to work by Spinoza (1988c), in particular his work Ethics.

Part I

The only being that is perfect is God or Nature, according to Spinoza, since God or Nature is the only being that ‘is in itself and is conceived through itself, i.e. that whose concept does not require the concept of another thing, from which it must be formed’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E1d3). We as human beings, however, are not and cannot be in ourselves, nor be conceived through ourselves, and this is because the concept of a human being requires God or Nature from which we are formed. Nevertheless, even though Spinoza thinks that we are dependent upon God or Nature, he thinks that we can become liberated and active, and this we can become when we understand what we can and cannot do.

God or Nature is also, for Spinoza, a ‘being absolutely infinite, i.e. a substance consisting of an infinity of attributes, of which each one expresses an eternal and infinite essence’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E1d6), and he continues: ‘By attribute I understand what the intellect perceives of a substance as constituting its essence’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E1d4). We as human beings are, however, not absolutely infinite, we are only finite beings who can conceive of others, ourselves and our circumstances only through the attributes of thinking and extension of which each consists of an infinite number of modes. Hence, we can only come to know and understand things through these two attributes. God or Nature, on the other hand, which consists of an infinite number of attributes, knows everything (see Spinoza, 1988b: 68, 130, 1988c: E1d6). We as finite beings, can, thus, just come to know or understand a limited number of modes, whether of extension or thinking. This does not, however, suggest that we should give up on trying to understand whatever it is that we conceive through our mind. On the contrary, Spinoza believes that we are free in principle to engage in such an activity, and that we therefore should strive to increase our knowledge and understanding, as far as possible, and a reason for this is that such an endeavor also opens the door to joy and love. Hence, even though we obviously are not and cannot be the cause of everything and our power is limited, we are not, for Spinoza, merely the subject of what happens inside or outside of ourselves. He thinks that we can and ought to strive to become blessed, by cultivating our capacity to use our reason within its limits in order to render ourselves active, instead of just becoming passive, which we become if we give in to the circumstances of which we are or become a part without using our reason, or if we just follow our inclinations haphazardly. ¹

We can become active by becoming the adequate cause of our own actions, when the effect – our action – ‘can be clearly, and distinctly perceived through it’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E3d1). That is, we act and are active when the causes of our actions are solely within our minds, without any reference to an object outside or inside us. If, on the other hand, we just react to circumstances or our inclinations, then we are acted upon and passive. We are then only a partial cause of what we do, and that which we do follows from inadequate ideas, and not adequate ones. By becoming active, we become virtuous, and this we do when we live according to our reason and not when we become the slave of our passions or the circumstances of which we are or become a part of. Spinoza says:

[T]rue virtue is nothing but living according to the guidance of reason, and so lack of power consists only in this, that a man allows himself to be guided by things outside him, and to be determined by them to do what the common constitution of external things demands, not what his own nature, considered in itself, demands. (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p37s1)

It is, however, hard work to become virtuous, since it requires that we strive to act upon adequate, and not inadequate ideas, which in turn suggests not merely that we can distinguish clear from non-clear ideas, but also that we come to know what causes our actions or reactions both inside and outside of us (more on this below). It also requires, that we have a clear understanding of our emotions and which to act upon. By striving to conceive of things adequately, we engage in moving beyond a mere reaction to what Spinoza thinks is the lowest kind of knowledge, namely, from our judgments about singular things experienced through our senses and represented in confused ways, or from our memory or imagination fueled by our fantasies or fears; when engaging in the lowest kind of knowledge, we distort our beliefs and mistakenly takes such beliefs to be the right ones. However, when we instead cultivate the use of our reason and move beyond deformed beliefs, we can come to adequately conceive of things, and when we do this, we instantiate modes of natura naturata, but not of natura naturans, which implies an infinite intellect, that of God or Nature, according to Spinoza (1988b: VIII, IX, 1988c: E1p29s). By instantiating natura naturata, we engage in an infinite pursuit of becoming other, and this we do when we engage in the power of thinking. Hence, by engaging in the activity of thinking instead of giving in to whatever it is that affects ourselves and brings ourselves down, we can make ourselves active rather than passive, which for Spinoza relieves the strength of our character, our virtue.

Part II

How then can such an endeavor take place, that is, that we as human beings strive to come to know adequate ideas, which we can conceive through our minds? In Ethics, Spinoza says that he now passes – after having written about substance:

to explaining those things which must necessarily follow from the essence of God, or the infinite and eternal being – not, indeed, all of them, for we [that is, Spinoza] have demonstrated [E1p16] that infinitely many things must follow from it in infinitely many modes, but only those that can lead us, by the hand, as it were, to the knowledge of the human Mind, and its highest blessedness. (Spinoza, 1988c: E2, preface, italics in original)

This he does, by giving an account of what he calls adequate and inadequate ideas. The former consists of clear and logically ordered ideas, and the latter consists of unclear and/or illogical ideas. It is, for Spinoza, through logically ordered and clear ideas that we can come to know some of God or Nature, which for him, has to do with mental ideas as well as with those ideas that has to do with our bodies, passions and emotions. All those ideas, if they are clear and logically ordered, are true and adequate, and if they are not, then they are false and inadequate, or as Spinoza says:

Our Mind does certain things [acts] and undergoes other things, viz. insofar as it has adequate ideas, it necessarily does certain things, and insofar as it has inadequate ideas, it necessarily undergoes other things. (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p1, italics in original)

How, then, do we know when we act upon adequate and not inadequate ideas? One reason is that it can be found out whether the ideas are clear and logical, or not. If ideas are clear and logical then we have come to understand that much, and if they are not clear and illogical then we have come to know that as well. Another reason is to find out whether we merely act upon our memories, imaginations, fantasies, emotions, passions or fears whether our own or those of others, which instantiates the lowest kind of knowledge for Spinoza, or whether we strive to find out common notions among our experiences as well as a clear understanding of causes and effects, which is a higher kind of knowledge. When we do so, we do not just act upon a specific fantasy or fear, we also try to understand why we have them, what is common among our experiences, how we respond to them, and how we also can and possible also should respond to them; we, then, also try to form clear and distinct ideas about what causes certain effects, and what effects follows from certain causes. We, therefore, do not just react to specific emotions or passions; we try instead to detach us from the effects these have on us, and engage in strengthening our conatus, that is, the power to use our reason to understand them.

So, ideas have to be logical and clear and we have to find out whether what we do is caused by logical, clear and common notions or just imaginations or fantasies, etc. Is that enough? Not, for Spinoza. Logical and clear ideas also have to be accompanied by joy, or in the words of Spinoza: ‘Joy accompanied by the idea of an external cause’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p30s), and when this happens, we can strive to persevere as moral beings. That is, we experience joy when the Mind passes to a greater perfection’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p11s, italics in original), and we experience sadness when the mind ‘passes to a lesser perfection’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p11s, italics in original). We should, therefore and according to Spinoza strive to have logical and clear ideas accompanied by joy, and love, instead of acting upon inadequate ideas accompanied by anger, hatred or envy. We should, thus, strive to come to love God or Nature, as well as ourselves through the use of our reason (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p18s). Such love, is, however, not just for our own advantage; it is a love possible for all, and which people therefore can enjoy (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p37ad). If, then, a person strives to become perfect, and is aided by joy and love, he or she is ‘moved to help his fellow man only by necessity, without any other cause. And therefore, he finds himself all the more obliged to help the most godless, since he sees that they have the greater misery and need’ (Spinoza, 1988b: Chapter XIII), or as Spinoza says in Chapter III in his Ethics:

If someone has done something which he imagines affects others with Joy, he will be affected with Joy accompanied by the idea of himself as cause, or he will regard himself with Joy. If, on the other hand, he has done something which he imagines affects others with Sadness, he will regard himself with Sadness. (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p30, italics in original)

Hence, the love of God or Nature, and thereby of ourselves, bestows on us happiness and the outmost freedom (Spinoza, 1988c: E3, preface). It, also, increases our conatus, that is, our power to persevere in our being, and strengthen our desire to aid the other and to join him or her in friendship (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p59s). Otherwise, we would lack in power, and become the victims of our passions, in particular the negative ones, and the circumstances of which we are or become a part of. How, then, can we as human beings come to strengthen our conatus in the above-mentioned ways?

We can, as seen, and as a part of God or Nature, only understand ourselves and others through the attributes, of extension and thinking, as far as possible, and not just through one of them, or reduce one of them to the other. ² That is, we cannot completely identify that which happens in our bodies with what happens in our minds or the other way around, nor can we become completely free from God or Nature. We therefore always follow and obey ‘the common order of Nature . . .’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p4), or as Spinoza says in the appendix to Chapter four of his Ethics: ‘human power is very limited and infinitely surpassed by the power of external causes. [And he continues:] So we do not have an absolute power to adapt things outside us to our use’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E4XXXII, Appendix). What we can do, nonetheless, is to try to get a clearer understanding as far possible of logically consistent ideas, of real causes and effects and how these relate to each other in reasonable ways as well as of our ideas of our emotions and passions. Logical and clear ideas are, for Spinoza, also on the same footing as with ideas of other natural phenomena such the body, emotions and passions. We, therefore, have to engage ourselves with not just ideas of our actions or reactions, but also with our ideas of our body, etc., and by doing so, we can come to understand that we are not just subject to our emotions and passions or our ideas of them; we can also come to understand that we cannot get rid of our emotions and passions and lose ourselves from them completely; we can, however, understand how we respond and can respond to them virtuously. To become truly powerful is, then, for Spinoza, to rise not just from the lowest to the second kind of knowledge, namely, to the use of reason, but in particular to the highest kind of knowledge – intuition of which Spinoza says the following: ‘And this kind of knowing proceeds from an adequate idea of the formal essence of certain attributes of God to the adequate knowledge of the [NS: formal] essence of things’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E2p40). And when we achieve such knowledge, our mind enjoys the divine love or blessedness; blessedness is, though, not the reward of virtue; it is instead ‘virtue itself [and Spinoza continues]; nor do we enjoy it because we restrain our lusts; on the contrary, because we enjoy it, we are able to restrain them’ (E5p42d, italics in original). However, Spinoza also says, in his Political Treatise, that even though we strive to become virtuous: ‘it’s not in anyone’s power to always use reason and be at the highest peak of human freedom’ (Spinoza, 2016a: PT2.8). This does not, however, suggest that we should give up on trying to be guided by our reason and pursue the highest kind of knowledge – intuition. On the contrary, it is, for him, something we continuously should strive to do as far as possible, since it consists of the greatest happiness (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p49Iva). He continues in his Ethics:

[W]e shall bear calmly those things which happen to us contrary to what the principle of our advantage demands, if we are conscious that we have done our duty, that the power we have could not have extended itself to the point where we could have avoided those things, and that we are a part of the whole of nature, whose order we follow. If we understand this clearly and distinctly, that part of us which is defined by understanding, i.e., the better part of us, will be entirely satisfied with this, and will strive to persevere in that satisfaction. (Spinoza, 1988c: E4XXXII, Appendix)

Instead, then, of being ignorant, ³ driven here and there by internal or external causes, we should strive to become active and wise, and this we do when we engage in becoming ‘conscious of [ourselves] and of God, and of things, [and the one who does so or strives to do so] he never ceases to be, but always possesses true peace of mind’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p42s). By striving to achieve the highest kind of knowledge, we can restore ourselves as parts of nature, that is, of God, which means that we strive to conceive of our limitations as human beings, and how we can become active beings, instead of becoming reactive, thereby becoming slaves of our slavishness. To become active is to engage in relieving ourselves from degenerating as human beings, and when this happens, we can become liberated from the bondage of the influence of our negative passions; such passions lead us more or less to sadness, sorrow, envy, hatred, fear, self-confidence, despair, inappropriate hope and wishful thinking. The misuse of our reason and that we merely act upon our negative passions leads us into dark waters, restricts our freedom, and diminishes us. We should instead focus on cultivating our capacity to use our reason, joy and on love of God or Nature, which, when we do so, express the very essence of our nature, according to Spinoza.

If we do not cultivate or are being enabled to cultivate the use of our reason, it can mean that we are or become informed by inadequate ideas accompanied by fear, as seen, and when this happens our fear can cause and maintain not just superstition, but also conflicts and hatred among people. Apart from such effects, fear can also fuel beliefs in dysfunctional utopias, and it can feed anger and hatred against any opponent or critic of one’s beliefs. However, instead of getting occupied by fear and have it led us in our lives, we should, instead come to understand our fear and its effects, and give room for adequate ideas aided by joy and love, and when we do this, we are the adequate cause of our actions. If we, on the other hand, are led by inadequate ideas accompanied by for example fear and hatred, then we are acted upon, and hence passive like leaves in the wind, or in the words of Spinoza: human beings are then ‘driven about in many ways by external causes, and that, like waves on the sea, driven by contrary winds, we toss about, not knowing our outcome and fate’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p59s). In order then not to be tossed around like waves or leaves in the wind, we should take our responsibility to cultivate our capacity to use our reason in order to understand our place in nature, the relation between mind, body, emotions and passions, and how we should regulate our passions so that we can act and live actively and not passively, and by doing so we pursue or at least strive to pursue the highest good as far as possible, that is, we strive to come to love God or Nature. It is, however, a pursuit which cannot be reachable in terms of a final end. The highest good is therefore not a state which we can reach and rest in forever. This is due, inter alia, to the idea that we are ‘necessarily always subject to passions, that [we follow and obey] the common order of Nature, and accommodates [ourselves] to it as much as the nature of things requires’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p4c). It is therefore not possible for each and every one to come to linger in a permanent state of blessedness. However, even though we as human beings cannot avoid the ‘common order of Nature’, we should, as seen, not throw ourselves into dark waters. We should instead engage in becoming active, rather than passive, and in doing so, we strive to know and understand how we are affected by our emotions and passions, circumstances and the emotions and passions of others, and how we can respond responsibly to all of that which affects us. That is, and in the words of Spinoza ‘Insofar as the Mind understands all things as necessary, it has greater power over the affects, or is less acted upon by them’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p6, italics in original). Hence, since we cannot get rid of our emotions and passions, we should instead engage in understanding them and try to gain control over them. Spinoza thereby reminds us that we can have some but not complete control over what happens inside or outside of us, and by getting at least some control, we as human beings can become less troubled by internal and external causes.

So far, we have seen that it is possible in principle to strive to become blessed, and that we can do this by cultivating our capacity to use our reason and gain at least some control over our passions. In order then to engage in the pursuit of becoming blessed, we have to gain insight into the limitations of our knowledge and understanding, act upon adequate ideas, and become less troubled by our emotions and passions. The more we do this and gain insight into what he calls the third and highest kind of knowledge, namely, intuition, which goes beyond both our sense-impressions, even knowledge based on adequate ideas, or in the words of Spinoza, ‘the more we understand God’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p25d), which, for him, is the highest good possible, then we can conceive ‘the greatest virtue of the Mind’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p25d), and reach ‘[t]he greatest satisfaction of Mind’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p27, italics in original), namely, blessedness, at least momentarily. In order to get there or at least try to get there, we have to break negative patters through the power of our mind, and find new more positive ones. We also have to detach ourselves from the external objects that affects ourselves, at least those who affects ourselves with sadness, anger or hate, and bring about logical and clear ideas. By detaching ourselves from internal and external affects, we can also create a gap between that which affects ourselves, the emotions we have, and the ideas we have in relation to that which affects oneself. We can then open the door to gaining some control over internal and external affections. Yet another way of striving for blessedness or peace of mind, is by not being to occupied with only a few objects or subjects, which might hinder ourselves to engage in the characteristic power of the mind, namely, thinking. We should instead become engaged in several objects or subjects, according to Spinoza (1988c: E5p9), and cultivate the power of thinking in relation to the various objects and subjects. Such an engagement can also help us focus on that which are the good things the other person does. It can also bring about an awareness of the value of making it possible to cultivate ourselves, and for helping the other to cultivate him or her. When engaging in such an endeavor, we should not merely focus on harmful or negative aspects of an object or a person, which might just breed envy, resentment, anger and hatred; we should instead strive to engage ourselves in acknowledging and encouraging the good things people do, their virtues rather than their misgivings or faults, at least as far as possible. We should also engage in cultivating ourselves in all possible ways, in particular the use of our reason; there are, however, situations where it is difficult, if not impossible to do any of the above. What then can we do ourselves, if possible? Spinoza says:

The best thing, then, that we can do, so long as we do not have perfect knowledge of our affects, is to conceive a correct principle of living, or sure maxims of life, to commit them to memory, and to apply them constantly to the particular cases frequently encountered in life. (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p10s)

One such maxim is, for Spinoza to conquer hate with love, or nobility, and not replace hate with hate, which only leads us away from pursuing happiness and brings about sadness, and a way of going about doing this is, according to him, ‘to think about and meditate frequently on the common wrongs of men, and how they may be warded off best by Nobility’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p10s). And when we actively use our reason to think about such examples, we can flourish as human beings. When we do this, we can better understand others and ourselves, as well as our emotions and passions, and by doing so, we can rejoice in the pursuit of happiness, which consists of the love of God or Nature. Is this possible for each and every one? If it would be, it would not be ‘as difficult as they are rare’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E5p42s25), as Spinoza argues. This is, as seen, because we as human beings are imperfect rational beings and that we therefore cannot always use our reason and ‘be at the highest peak of human freedom’ in each and every situation; we can, therefore, only strive to become blessed, not achieve blessedness, in which we can remain permanently. ⁴ That is, the whole human species cannot achieve an enduring state of blessedness; nor can individuals achieve such a state. None, of this, however, should refrain us from striving to cultivate our capacity to use our reason and become blessed as far as possible, according to Spinoza.

Part III

We have seen that we as imperfect beings can strive to become blessed; one can even say that we are condemned to strive to become so due to our freedom. We have also seen that we cannot come to remain in a state of blessedness. Nevertheless, even though we cannot persist in a state of blessedness, we can engage in a pursuit of perfecting ourselves, and this we can do by being active in learning more about ourselves, others and specific circumstances in education in an on-going process through the attributes of thinking and extension, and when we do this, we have to deal with our mind, body and emotions on equal terms. That is, we cannot only deal with either our mind, body, emotions or passions, we have to deal with all of them in education, and elsewhere in society continuously. We cannot, however, become completely active, nor become completely passive. We will rather oscillate between becoming active and becoming passive; we will be drawn back from time to time, and at times even without our own control. In order, then, to be in control, we have to act upon adequate and not inadequate ideas, as seen, which has to do with our mind, body as well as with our passions and emotions. Such ideas, however, also have to be aided by joy, and love of God or Nature. And when it comes to our body, Spinoza says:

By affect I understand affections of the Body by which the Body’s power of acting is increased or diminished, aided or restrained, and at the same time the ideas of these affections. (Spinoza, 1988c: E3d3)

Since our body is conditioned by external conditions, its power of acting can be restrained or diminished. We can, for example, improve the power of our body by training, healthy food and by contact with people whom one loves and who loves oneself. The power of the mind can also be increased or diminished, both in relation to our passions and emotions, the affections of the body and external conditions. If, then, we just attend to some or do not attend to any of the conditions of our mind, body, emotions and passions, or we are not enabled to do so, then we cannot be said to become active in a richer sense in education, or elsewhere in society. Education should, therefore, strive to make it possible for those concerned to become active, rather than passive, and this it can do by making it possible for those concerned to engage with ideas and conditions for the mind, body, emotions and passions, and what supports or restrains any of these. When doing so, it can make it possible for those concerned to become the adequate cause of their own actions, hence, virtuous. It should, moreover, make it possible for them to acknowledge and encourage the good things human beings do, without ignoring the bad actions; education should also acknowledge such actions among people, and view them in relation to how people could have done differently, in particular how people can strive to come to understand and respond to both the good things and the bad actions; while doing so, education can strengthen their conatus as well as affirming joy and happiness. Education should, therefore, not merely or only make them react to specific circumstances, or their own inclinations. It can and should do much more.

When, then, education is effective in making it possible for human beings to become active, it should make it possible for them to take their responsibility to take control of themselves, as far as possible, and they can do so by cultivating their ‘power of thinking’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p11). When those concerned do this, they cultivate their virtue and become conscious of their appetites (by which Spinoza means the ends for the sake of which we do something; see Spinoza, 1988c: E4d7). ⁵ When this happens, they express their power – their essence; this is, however, not something that comes about easily, or without hard work, and it has to be supported by the circumstances of which one is or become a part such as education, as well as in work-places, and other institutions and organizations of various sorts; otherwise, such power can be restrained, even diminished. Spinoza says:

I say that we act when something happens, in us or outside us, of which we are the adequate cause, i.e. (by D1), when something in us or outside us follows from our nature, which can be clearly and distinctly understood through it alone. On the other hand, I say that we are acted on when something happens in us, or something follows from our nature, of which we are only a partial cause. (Spinoza, 1988c: E3d2)

It is not clear, however, if each and every one can come to know with certainty that they are the adequate cause of themselves in each and every situation, and that they therefore can judge without being mistaken that they are active in such situations. This is because we as human beings cannot distinctively and undoubtedly judge that we are the adequate cause of ourselves in each and every situation; it can be the case that we are just a partial cause of our actions, even though we believe that we are the adequate cause of our actions. We cannot, therefore, avoid the possibility of error, that is, that we have been or are mistaken in our efforts in striving to become active. If we, then, cannot know with certainty that we are the adequate cause of our actions in each and every situation, could joy, then, ‘accompanied by the idea of an external cause’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p30s), be that which rescues us from ignorance, and makes us know more thoroughly when we are on the right path? It is, for Spinoza, however, not merely the bodily experiences of joy that shows us whether we are on the right way or not, or joy in relation to perishable things. It is rather joy in relation to our minds, in particular the joy we can experience when we understand how things really are, or as Spinoza says in his Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, the joy we can experience through the true love we have of an eternal and infinite being, namely, God or Nature, that we know that we are on the right path, and this can happen when we unite with the whole of Nature or God (Spinoza, 1988a: 11), or as Spinoza says in his Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being, it is through our mind that we can unite with and thus enjoy God or Nature (Spinoza, 1988b: 104). If we, on the other hand, come to experience love of an external object or subject without our love of God or Nature, then we will not necessarily experience joy through our mind, but in our body, which is not an enduring experience, and will as such most likely cause disappointment or sadness. True love is neither connected with an image in our memory or with a hope of what will come in the future, since affections connected to such things will bring about elements of doubt, despair, and possibly also fear. The result will be pain, the opposite of joy (Spinoza, 1988c: E3ps2). It is, moreover, not related to our fantasies, imaginations or worries. Neither is true love a question of possession. That is, it is not the case that true love can come about when we believe that we can possess a thing or a subject; possession only brings about envy, jealousy and rivalry as well as hate and aggression, which when it happens will only lead the object loved or believed to be possessed to return with hatred (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p45p). Nor is true love about praising oneself or the need to have others praise oneself for one’s misconceptions and deceptive hopes; such a love merely reveals one’s vanity, which, when it is fueled by the strength of our negative passions, only opens the door to dark waters and makes us to believe that the object of one’s love, would love oneself in return, without anything else to sustain such a belief other than one’s vain hope (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p34). True love, for Spinoza, has nothing to do with any of the above, it has, as seen, instead to do with our mind, (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p36p), and that we through our reason strive to become at the highest peak of our virtue, at least in principle. Spinoza says in Part V of his Ethics, that our salvation, or blessedness, consists in our constant and eternal love of God, which for him is true love (Spinoza, 1988c, E5p36s). Such an eternal love, which is guided by reason, is in principle possible for all those concerned, according to Spinoza (1988c: E4p37); in this sense, the philosophy of Spinoza is inclusive and egalitarian, even though not each and every one will become blessed or be enabled to become so. However, and in the words of Spinoza:

[T]he more we strive to live according to the guidance of reason, the more we strive to depend less on Hope, to free ourselves from Fear, to conquer fortune as much as we can, and to direct our actions by the certain counsel of reason. (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p47s)

Education should therefore make it possible for those concerned to ‘strive to live according to the guidance of reason’. It should also make it possible for them to understand what they can and cannot do, partly because we as human beings ‘are naturally inclined to Hate and Envy’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E3p55s). In order, then, to combat such natural inclinations, education should make it possible for those concerned to understand what we as human beings can do within the limitations of our reason, that we are free in principle to engage in using our reason, and that we ought to be free as far as possible in education and society at large to use our reason. When engaging in such endeavor, those concerned should be enabled to come to conceive of different modes within the limits of the attributes of thinking and extension; those concerned should also be enabled to come to understand what hinders, restricts, and perhaps even diminishes freedom. Education should also make it possible for those concerned to come to understand that human beings are a part of God or Nature as well as of complex webs of relations within specific circumstances such as education, work-places etc. within nation-states. Education should also make different notions as clear as possible, and how these are logically connected to each other throughout the various subjects in education. It should also make it possible for those concerned to understand how such hopefully clear and logical notions relate to their ways of understanding things in their lives both in and outside of education. When doing so education make it possible for those concerned to move from the lowest to the highest kind of knowledge, that is, from merely engaging with, inter alia, their memories, imaginations and fears, to the second kind of knowledge, and this it does by making it possible for those concerned to focus on, inter alia what is common among their experiences, without losing sight for differences, and finally to the highest kind of knowledge – intuition. Spinoza argues that it is through our intuition we understand that ‘infinitely many things must follow from [God or Nature] in infinitely many modes’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E2, preface, italics in original). It is, however, not necessarily the case that education contributes or makes it possible for each and every one to achieve the highest kind of knowledge, nor that each and every one in education or society at large strives to make it possible at all times. Further, apart from making notions as clear as possible and inquiring into the extent to which concepts are logically consistent, education should also and as seen enable for those concerned to relate themselves to the idea that ‘the thinking substance and the extended substance are one and the same substance, which is now comprehended under this attribute [that of thinking], now under that [that of extension]’, so that: ‘a mode of extension and the idea of that mode are one and the same thing, but expressed in two ways’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E2p7s), instead of reducing one to the other.

Apart from all the above, education should also make it possible for those concerned to engage in understanding their emotions and passions so that they can understand and regulate them. A reason for this is, according to Spinoza, that those concerned should learn to combat the tendency to be governed more or less by emotions and passions, which if they let themselves be steered by their emotions and passions can lead them to rush ‘headlong toward everything, and [become] easily corrupted either by greed or by extravagant living’ (Spinoza, 2016b: 299). If education does not make it possible to understand emotions it may even be the case that we are leaved with confusion, mistaken beliefs and possible also with distorted views of the essence of things, which when it happens leads us into sadness and reactive behavior. It is, however, not just about correcting our ideas about our emotions and understanding them better, education should also make it possible for those concerned to experience joy and true love – in the sense in which Spinoza argues. When, then, education opens the door for joy and true love, the activities in it should not merely be about transmitting and using knowledge, transferring norms and values and adhering to them in a specific society, nor just about critically assessing knowledge, norms and values; it is also about joy and true love. If, however, education does not make any of the above happen or it happens only rarely or irregularly, then the power of those concerned to become active is restricted. When this happens, it may then even be the case that those concerned will fuel their envy, jealousy, even hatred toward each other, instead of increasing their power, that is, their conatus, and enable for others to do the same. It may, then, even be the case that those concerned do not experience, nor affirm joy and true love, at least not the joy and true love that comes through the mind, but only through bodily experiences, if at all.

To what extent then, can those concerned enable themselves to become active rather than passive through education? Education can make it possible for those concerned to become active, if it also opens the door to understanding and responding to conditions under which those concerned act or try to act in education, and that those concerned take their responsibility to render themselves active as far as possible in relation to the conditions and the complex web of relations more or less given in education within and across nation-states. One of these conditions are that education over time has become a legal right for most if not all people around the world, at least in principle. Such a right does not, however, mean or suggest that those concerned will become active; they also have to take their responsibility to become so; the application of the legal right to education also opens the door to a manifold of ways in which the right can be practiced and for whom throughout the world. Another condition is that education has become similar in its design over time. Nowadays, many if not most countries, design education in terms of pre-schools, compulsory schools, independent schools and higher education; pre-schools can be voluntarily, as well as independent schools and higher education, but not compulsory schools, which per definition are not voluntary. Even though the design of education has become similar throughout the world, it does not necessarily make it possible for those concerned to become active; it basically just means that more people are enabled to become educated within the parameters discussed above. Moreover, the design of education in present times has become conditioned by the nation-state, in which it is not uncommon that the upcoming generation is supposed to become efficacious on the work-market; here some of the challenges has to do with, inter alia, preparing people for agriculture, industrial production, knowledge production, or any other kind of character of work, which includes, for example, artificial intelligence. The content of education also varies throughout the world when it comes to languages, histories, traditions, practices and narratives that takes place in specific nation-states. Such variations, do not, however, and in-themselves necessarily enable for those concerned to become active; it may just mean or suggest that those concerned are enabled to submit to the circumstances of which they become or have become a part of, without necessarily being enabled to become liberated from that which affects them in their circumstances; and the philosophy of Spinoza requires that those concerned strive to achieve not just the second kind, but also the highest kind of knowledge and that they are enabled to do so, which in turn, implies that they become the adequate cause of their own action, and not just or merely the partial cause of their own action, which they become when they are acted on in relation to their circumstances and/or inclinations. Further, there is, also, no agreement, in education policy, throughout the world that those concerned should be enabled to become active in education or society at large, at least not in the sense in which Spinoza argues; this is particularly evident in totalitarian states that citizens are not enabled and take their responsibility to think for themselves, in the position of the other and that it happens constantly.

If, then, none of the above-mentioned conditions necessarily makes it possible for those concerned to become active, it means that they do not come to affirm joy and true love in education to any large extent. If then those concerned are not enabled to affirm joy and true love, then they can come to feed and sustain hatred among people. When this happens, that is, when people ‘rarely live from the dictate of reason’, nor strive to achieve the highest kind of knowledge, there is no surprise that people have little or no experience of becoming blessed in education and thereby little or no experience of affirming joy and true love in such circumstances. There is, then, perhaps no surprise then that people do not come to recognize differences, and that they instead become prepared for what Spinoza calls the ordinary life, which, for him, is ‘empty and futile’ (Spinoza, 1988a: 7). However, even though it is or seems to be hard, perhaps even impossible, for each and every one to become blessed, Spinoza believes that blessedness ‘can be found’ (Spinoza, 1988c, E5p42s), and that it therefore is possible to experience joy in and true love of life, that is, in education and society at large, although not without hard work.

Conclusion

A challenge for education and society at large, is, then, to make it possible for those concerned to become ‘free and enjoy the life of the blessed’ (Spinoza, 1988c: E4p54s), or at least strive to make it possible for those concerned to enjoy the life of the blessed as far as possible. However, since people rarely act in accordance with and are motivated by the dictate of reason, according to Spinoza, just a few, if any, become blessed, or strive to cultivate their capacity to use their reason and become blessed. If this is correct, then perhaps the most important challenge for education is how it can make it possible for those concerned to strive to become blessed, which it can, if it makes it possible for them to do so, and that those concerned take their responsibility to come to know and love God or Nature. However, it seems that education does not necessarily make it possible for each and every one to cultivate their capacity to use their reason and make themselves blessed, nor that each and every one strive to do so in education. Hence, it seems to be an immense challenge, perhaps even the most important one, for education to enable for as many as possible to strive to cultivate their use of reason and become blessed, and that those concerned takes their responsibility to do so, instead of just becoming passive and prepared for an ordinary life in a society or societies.