What Happens When God is Nature?

[Purple Rabbit]

Spinoza, that famous dutch guy (1632 - 1677) from jewish origin that set(s) the tone for many atheist, formulated it as "deo sive natura", meaning god aka nature. To some this may sound as a recognition of the existence of a god with all the fancy attributes of gods that have come to grow on us, but for the close reader it was the annihilation of god as a sentient agent governing the universe. For if you say that god IS the universe, it means that god is not a personal god, not an agent governing the universe, not a prime mover. With Spinoza god is just another name for nature. If you fail to see the difference between the god of Spinoza and the traditional abrahamitic god after several rereads, than consult your nearest shrink for a mental reboot. You may be hung up in old school theistic delusions and smuggling in god properties that are not attached to nature.

BTW, precisely this confusion is what has led many to misqoute Einstein who was a great admirer of Spinoza, did not believe in a personal god but was in great awe of nature and sometimes called it god.

"Why call it god?"

Well wasn't that a clever relabeling trick of Spinoza that provided a bridge from a society heavily dominated by old school beliefs to a society that could laugh away it's old school sillyness in a puff?