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John Dunn
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John Dunn original writing
Crushing of difference and humanness
Spinoza’s self-caused God, or Substance, is incompatible with the freedom of the will. Not surprisingly, both Sarpi and Spinoza feared democracy. ‘Just keep the masses cheaply fed’, insisted Sarpi, whose words probably applied to ideas, as well as food. The politicised seculariser of Kabbalah, who saw the unity or monism of all things, also espoused the unity and oneness of leadership. Spinoza’s intolerance, which resulted from his monism, was wholly compatible with a crushing of difference and humanness into a 1 = 1 sameness. In a Spinozist world, the sovereign alone would have the right to determine not only the state’s laws but also religious law:
It is the duty of the sovereign alone to decide what is necessary for the welfare of the entire people and the security of the state, and to command what it judges to be thus necessary, it follows that it is also the duty of the sovereign alone to decide what form piety towards one’s neighbour should take, that is in what way every man is required to obey God. From this we clearly understand in what way the sovereign is the interpreter of religion.
If Kabbalism, Spinozism and Freemasonry were the key components of the dehumanising process, then the ‘Republick of Merchants’, in which all opposition is viewed with hostility as a state within a state, was the desired outcome. Thus were the goals of the secularised Tikkun and the rise of the ‘Republick of Merchants’ inseparably linked.
© John Dunn.
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From the archive:
'Demolishing the house of being'
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Influenced by Giovanni Gentile
The work of Giovanni Gentile continues to feed into the development of my own writing, and, no doubt, will do so too into my next published book.
John Dunn
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Just a thought:
Without metaphor the intellect is ineffectual and the will is nothing, or worse, open to manipulation. It is for this reason that the ‘Scriptures also bend to your capacity’, says Beatrice in Paradise IV, ‘attributing hands and feet to God, symbolically’. God has no feet and hands, but the anthropomorphic trope means something else. It means the power of God or the majesty of God. In other words, the language of representation in the Bible authorises Dante's own use of metaphor. John Dunn (Renaissance: Counter-Renaissance)
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The Oxford to Cambridge Arc 4
Further additions to the project, starting with the Newport Pagnell to Bedford leg of Ogilby's Oxford to Cambridge route.
John Dunn
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Motorcycle England
YouTube Channel
In search of the historical, quirky and unusual features of the English countryside as seen from the saddle.
Join me as I follow maps, park up and take a look around. CLICK HERE
“Seeking out historical places of interest has given me wonderful motorcycling opportunities over the years… roads and little lanes, through a variety of landscapes that bear the scars, marks and imprints of those that have trodden, worked and fought on the land before us.”
“Any excursion, whether it be by motorcycle, car, bicycle or on foot, is always better for having an object, or goal in mind. I could take no pleasure in riding around just for the sake of it. There has to be a mission.”
“I ride my motorcycle to seek out things ancient, quirky and monumental, taking in the views, and ‘reading’ the landscape,its geology and history, as I do so.”
Original commentary to all videos researched, written and read by John Dunn.
© John Dunn.
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