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Philosophical Haiku

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)

by Terence Green

Peering through life’s lens
God in nature is deduced:
The joy of being.

Baruch Spinoza was born in Amsterdam into a Jewish family that had fled persecution in Spain. He went into the family merchant business with his brother and was a respected member of the local synagogue – until, that is, he published ideas about God that were contrary to traditional Jewish teaching, ideas he refused to recant. For these heresies, he was cursed, excommunicated, and shunned.

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