Spinoza was the supreme rationalist. He saw an endless stream of causality in the world. For him there is no such entity as will or will power. Nothing happens capriciously. Everything is caused by something prior, and the more we devote ourselves to the understanding of this causative network, the more free we become.". . "I'm sure he would have said that you are subject to passions that are driven by inadequate ideas rather than by the ideas that flow from a true quest for understanding the nature of reality.". . "He states explicitly that a passion ceases to be a passion as soon as we form a more clear and distinct idea of it--that is, the causative nexus underlying the passion." p.269. Irvin D. Yalom
About This Quote

Spinoza saw the world as a place of cause and effect. Everything that occurs in the world is caused by something prior. He believed that our ideas about these prior causes can be more complete and accurate than our ideas about our own consciousness and actions. Because we only know the effects of our actions and not the causes, we can never be sure that we are performing our actions in accordance with reality or that we are making the right choices for ourselves, but we must strive to make such judgments anyway because of Spinoza's belief in free will. It is wise to try to get a better understanding of all the possible causes of your actions and reactions to reality so that you can make better choices in response to your environment.

Source: The Spinoza Problem

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