They knew that when Einstein lectured at many US universities, the students' recurrent question was:
"Do you believe in God?"
And he always replied:
"I believe in the God of Spinoza."
The one who had not read Spinoza stayed in the same ...
Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the three great rationalists of the philosophy of the seventeenth century, along with the French Descartes. Here something about him.
This is the God or Nature of Spinoza:
God would have said:
"Stop being praying and beating your chest! What I want you to do is to go out into the world to enjoy your life.
I want you to enjoy, to sing, to have fun and to enjoy everything that I have done for you.
Stop going to those dark, dark and cold temples that you built and that you say are my home.
My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That's where I live and express my love for you.
Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you that there was nothing wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing.
Sex is a gift that I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So do not blame me for everything you've been led to believe.
Cease to be reading supposed sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can not read me in a dawn, in a landscape, in the eyes of your friends, in the eyes of your child ...
You will not find me in any book!
Trust me and stop asking me. Are you going to tell me how to do my job?
Stop being so afraid of me. I do not judge you, nor you critic, nor annoy me, nor punishment. I am pure love.
Stop asking me for forgiveness, there is nothing to forgive. If I did ... I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies ... free will How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How can I punish you for being who you are, if I am the one who made you? Do you think that I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly, for the rest of eternity?
What kind of God can do that?
Forget about any kind of commandments, any kind of laws; those are tricks to manipulate you, to control you, that only create guilt in you.
Respect your fellow men and do not do what you do not want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention to your life, that your state of alert is your guide.
Beloved, this life is not a test, not a step, not a step in the way, not a trial, not a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing that is here and now and all you need.
I have made you absolutely free, there are no prizes or punishments, there are no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.
You are absolutely free to create a heaven or hell in your life.
I could not tell you if there is anything after this life, but I can give you some advice. Live as if there were not. As if this were your only opportunity to enjoy, to love, to exist.
So, if there is nothing, then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is, be sure that I will not ask you if you were good or bad, I'll ask you Did you like it? ... Did you have fun? What did you most enjoy? You learned?...
Stop believing in me; To believe is to suppose, to guess, to imagine. I do not want you to believe me, I want you to feel me in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you take care of your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.
Stop praising me, what kind of egomaniac God do you think I am?
I'm bored to praise me, I'm tired of being thankful. Are you grateful? Demonstrate it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Do you feel looked, overwhelmed? ... Express your joy! That's the way to praise me.
Stop complicating things and repeat as a parrot what you have learned about me.
The only thing certain is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.
What do you need more miracles for? Why so many explanations?
Do not look for me outside, you will not find me. Look for me inside ... there I am, beating at you. "
Spinoza
