| E5: PROP. 11. In proportion as a mental image is referred to more objects, so is it more frequent, or more often vivid, and occupies the mind more. |
| Proof.--In proportion as a mental image or an emotion is referred to more objects, so are there more causes whereby it can be aroused and fostered, all of which (by hypothesis) the mind contemplates simultaneously in association with the given emotion; therefore the emotion is more frequent, or is more often in full vigour, and (E5P8) occupies the mind more. Q.E.D. |
| Referenced in: E5P12,- E5P16,- E5P20N |
| E5: PROP. 12. The mental images of things are more easily associated with the images referred to things which we clearly and distinctly understand, than with others. |
| Proof.--Things, which we clearly and distinctly understand, are either the common properties of things or deductions therefrom (see definition of Reason, E2P40N2), and are consequently (by the last Prop. E5P11) more often aroused in us. Wherefore it may more readily happen, that we should contemplate other things in conjunction with these than in conjunction with something, else, and consequently (E2P18) that the images of the said things should be more often associated with the images of these than with the images of something else. Q.E.D. |
| Referenced in: E5P20N |
| E5: PROP. 13. A mental image is more often vivid, in proportion as it is associated with a greater number of other images. |
| Proof.--In proportion as an image is associated with a greater number of other images, so (E2P18) are there more causes whereby it can be aroused. Q.E.D. |
| Referenced in: E5P20N |
| E5: PROP. 14. The mind can bring it about, that all bodily modifications or images of things may be referred to the idea of God. |
| Proof.--There is no modification of the body, whereof the mind may not form some clear and distinct conception (E5P4); wherefore it can bring it about, that they should all be referred to the idea of God (E1P15). Q.E.D. |
| Referenced in: E5P15,- E5P16,- E5P20N,- E5P39 |
| E5: PROP. 15. He who clearly and distinctly understands himself and his emotions loves God, and so much the more in proportion as he more understands himself and his emotions. |
| Proof.--He who clearly and distinctly understands himself and his emotions feels pleasure (E3P53), and this pleasure is (by the last Prop. E5P14) accompanied by the idea of God; therefore (Def. of the Emotions, E3DOE6) such an one loves God, and (for the same reason) so much the more in proportion as he more understands himself and his emotions Q.E.D. |
| Referenced in: E5P16,- E5P20N,- E5P39 |
| E5: PROP. 16. This love towards God must hold the chief place in the mind. |
| Proof.--For this love is associated with all the modifications of the body (E5P14) and is fostered by them all (E5P15); therefore (E5P11), it must hold the chief place in the mind. Q.E.D. |
| Referenced in: E5P20N,- E5P39 |
| E5: PROP. 17. God is without passions, neither is he affected by any emotion of pleasure or pain. |
| Proof.--All ideas,
in so far as they are referred to God, are true
(E2P32), that is
(E2D4)
adequate;
and therefore (by the general Def.
of the Emotions E3DOE)
God is without passions.
Again, God cannot pass either to a greater or to a lesser perfection (E1P20C2); therefore (by Def. of the Emotions, E3DOE2 and E3DOE3) he is not affected by any emotion of pleasure or pain. |
| Referenced in: E5P17C |
| E5: PROP. 17, Corollary.--Strictly speaking, God does not love or hate anyone. |
| For God (by the foregoing Prop. E5P17) is not affected by any emotion of pleasure or pain, consequently (Def. of the Emotions, E3DOE6 and E3DOE7) he does not love or hate anyone. |
| Referenced in: E5P19 |
| E5: PROP. 18. No one can hate God. |
| Proof.--The idea of God which is in us is adequate and perfect (E2P46 and E2P47); wherefore, in so far as we contemplate God, we are active (E3P3); consequently (E3P59) there can be no pain accompanied by the idea of God, in other words (Def. of the Emotions, E3DOE7), no one can hate God. Q.E.D. |
| Referenced in: E5P20 |
| E5: PROP. 18, Corollary, Note. --It may be objected that, as we understand God as the cause of all things, we by that very fact regard God as the cause of pain. But I make answer, that, in so far as we understand the causes of pain, it to that extent (E5P3) ceases to be a passion, that is, it ceases to be pain (E3P59); therefore, in so far as we understand God to be the cause of pain, we to that extent feel pleasure. |
| E5: PROP. 19. He, who loves God, cannot endeavour that God should love him in return. |
| Proof.--For, if a man should so endeavour, he would desire (E5P17C) that God, whom he loves, should not be God, and consequently he would desire to feel pain (E3P19); which is absurd (E3P28). Therefore, he who loves God, etc. Q.E.D. |
| E5: PROP. 20. This love towards God cannot be stained by the emotion of envy or jealousy: contrariwise, it is the more fostered, in proportion as we conceive a greater number of men to be joined to God by the same bond of love. |
| Proof.--This love towards God is the highest good which we can seek for under the guidance of reason (E4P28), it is common to all men (E4P36), and we desire that all should rejoice therein (E4P37); therefore (Def. of the Emotions. E3DOE23), it cannot be stained by the emotion of envy, nor by the emotion of jealousy (E5P18 see definition of jealousy E3P35N); but, contrariwise [by E3P31], it must needs be the more fostered, in proportion as we conceive a greater number of men to rejoice therein. Q.E.D. |
| E5: PROP. 20, Note.
--We can in the same way show, that there is no
emotion directly
contrary to this love,
whereby this love can be destroyed; therefore we
may conclude, that this love
towards God is the most constant of all the
emotions,
and that, in so far as it is referred to the body, it cannot be
destroyed, unless the body be destroyed also. As to its nature, in so far
as it is referred to the
mind only, we shall presently inquire.
I have now gone through all the remedies against the emotions, or all that the mind, considered in itself alone, can do against them. Whence it appears that the mind's power over the emotions consists:-- 1. In the actual knowledge of the
emotions
(E5P4CN). it therefore follows, that that mind is most passive, whose greatest part is made up of inadequate ideas, so that it may be characterized more readily by its passive states than by its activities: on the other hand, that mind is most active, whose greatest part is made up of adequate ideas, so that, although it may contain as many inadequate ideas as the former mind, it may yet be more easily characterized by ideas attributable to human virtue, than by ideas which tell of human infirmity. Again, it must be observed, that spiritual unhealthiness and misfortunes can generally be traced to excessive love for something which is subject to many variations, and which we can never become masters of. For no one is solicitous or anxious about anything, unless he loves it; neither do wrongs, suspicions, enmities, etc. arise, except in regard to things whereof no one can be really master. We may thus readily conceive the power which clear and distinct knowledge, and especially that third kind of knowledge (E2P47N), founded on the actual knowledge of God, possesses over the emotions: if it does not absolutely destroy them, in so far as they are passions (E5P3 and E5P4CN); at any rate, it causes them to occupy a very small part of the mind (E5P14). Further, it begets a love towards a thing immutable and eternal (E5P15), whereof we may really enter into possession (E2P45); neither can it be defiled with those faults which are inherent in ordinary love; but it may grow from strength to strength [by E5P15], and may engross the greater part of the mind [by E5P16], and deeply penetrate it. And now I have finished with all that concerns this present life: for, as I said in the beginning of this note, I have briefly described all the remedies against the emotions. And this everyone may readily have seen for himself, if he has attended to what is advanced in the present note, and also to the definitions of the mind and its emotions, and, lastly, to Propositions E3P1 and E3P3. It is now, therefore, time to pass on to those matters, which appertain to the duration of the mind, without relation to the body. |
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