Spinoza argued there is no super natural realm.
God cannot be outside of nature since he is infinite, but he must be "coextensive" with nature.
Spinoza proposed that solved the most notoriously unsolved problem that was left by Descartes, namely the problem of how mind and matter interact with each other.
Spinoza said the problem doesn't really arise in his system because everything is a different aspect of the one reality, God or Nature.
In Spinoza both the mind and matter were brought together in that the two are part of one reality.
Not only does Nature or God contain everything, but also God or Nature should be understood as possessing an infinity of attributes.
This conclusion by Spinoza is a bit puzzling.
He contended that only two attributes are intelligible to us and that other attributes require faith.
For Spinoza, thought and extension are comprehendible. Therefore, every wrinkle in the fabric of substance, such as tables, chairs, family, trees and animals are temporary contours of the One. Spinoza contended that these entities have a physical aspect and a mental aspect and constitute the One, which is viewed from two different directions.
Spinoza utilized Euclidian geometry to develop his understanding of free will. He maintained that while we maintain a common sense notion of free will, to propose that in reality there is an uncaused cause is impossible or an illusion. We simply do not know the causes. Consequently, while common sense assumes the existence of free will this is due to the "unknowability" of the cause.
He further argued there is certainty or bondage and this means that we are induced to act by causes such as passive emotions such as hatred and anger on the one hand, and by active emotions such as the understanding of our circumstances. He advanced that we strive to be controlled by the avoidance of passive emotions and positively by an understanding of our circumstances.
At this point Spinoza reflected the Freudian concept that we should strive to discover the motives of our actions and that such a discovery of these motives will result in a kind of knowledge, which leads to liberation.
In addition, Spinoza was also someone Stoic in his approach by contending that the world is in reality not actually interested in us and that we should therefore diminish its power and efforts to influence and control us. By the exercise of the mind and by gaining understanding of the world, Spinoza argued we find greater freedom in the midst of the control.
