Je leest wel vaker over de overeenkomst die er zou zijn (of lijken) tussen Spinoza en vormen van Oosterse filosofie. Filosofe Marietta McCarty heeft het blog Life Saving Philosophy op Psychology Today. Eergisteren beschreef ze daarop de gelijkenis die ze ervaart tussen Spinoza en Lao Tzu. Het intrigeert me wel, maar ik ben er nog niet aan toe om zelf zo’n Oosterse expeditie te maken. Intussen vind ik het wel aardig om deze korte typering hier door te geven.
One of the most fascinating likenesses for me is that between Lao Tzu from long ago China and Baruch Spinoza from 17th century Amsterdam. At first glance their views of reality could not be more different. Lao Tzu's intuitive approach, sprinkled by mysticism, defies rational analysis: "The Tao that can be understood is not the real Tao" (Tao Te Ching). Spinoza serves as the philosophical model for deductive reasoning, his Ethics reading much like a geometry text with its axioms and proofs, yet his conclusion matches Lao Tzu's belief in one underlying source from which everything springs. Spinoza deduces that nature is but one substance with an infinite variety of manifestations: "Matter is everywhere the same," he claims, differing only in appearance. Lao Tzu senses that "Each separate thing in the universe returns to the common source." My excitement at the realization of the philosophers' similarities came only after much study of them separately: they took completely different paths and arrived at the same vision! Both paint a picture of reality that speaks to an abiding unity, a common ground that gives rise to everything. It is no surprise, then, that likeness permeates the world. But what a surprise to uncover this sameness, over and over, under and above! [Hier]
