Two Versions of Spinoza's Ethics Start a Classic Wisdom Book Series

Benedict Spinoza: Ethics, 292 pages, $20.00

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EPub EBook, $8.00 available on lulu.com, BarnesandNoble, Nook, Kobe and other distributors:

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Moonrise Press has started a new book series of reprints of classic texts in English translation, entitled Classic Wisdom. The first volume in this series is Benedict Spinoza's Ethics. This is a reprint of a 19th century translation of "Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata" by Benedict de Spinoza (Baruch Spinoza, 1632-1677) first published in 1677. The  translation by William Hale White (1831-1913), published in 1883, was prepared for publication by Dr. Maja Trochimczyk.  The book is available in paperback and EPub ebook formats.

The book consists of five parts: I. Of God; II. Of The Nature and Origin of the Mind, III. Of The Origin and Nature of the Affects; IV. Of Human Bondage, or of the Strength of the Affects; And V. Of the Power of the Intellect, or Of Human Liberty.

Born in a Jewish-Portuguese family in Amsterdam in 1621, at 23, Spinoza was expelled from the Jewish community and is buried in a Christian Nieuwe Kerk, The Hague (he died at 44, in 1677). He was neither Jewish nor Christian in his views, and, from today’s perspective may be called one of the early Classics of Awakened Wisdom, aware of the intrinsic unity of the Universe with God, the Source of all.

A WORD OF THE PUBLISHER

The more things change, the more they stay the same. After taking a philosophy class way back in college and not caring one way or another for Spinoza whose geometric way of presenting his philosophical, religious, ethical, ontological and epistemological views did not appeal to me at all, I finally discovered his immensely significant, timeless wisdom and decided to share it by reprinting the Ethics in an 19th-century English translation by William Hale White, in convenient paperback and EBook formats. This is the first in our new reprint series, Classic Wisdom.

This wisdom is evident starting right in the first Part, on God: “PROP. XI. — God or substance consisting of infinite attributes, each one of which expresses eternal and infinite essence necessarily exists. PROP. XV. — Whatever is, is in God, and nothing can either be or be conceived without God.”

Thus, God by virtue of being infinite, cannot be outside of this world (transcendental), God has to be and is immanent, God is in everything that exists. Everything that exists is in God, i.e., Divine. This, of course, is a path straight to the modern understanding of the united Universe, permeated by the creative energy of its Source, the One Divine Being that is all in all. This of course, is not compatible with the dogmas and teachings of any temple or church that separate the One into Many, or cut-off the Divine Spirit from matter. What an amazing revolution, hidden in plain sight! To obfuscate things, Spinoza’s theories have been called “Philosophical Monism,” “Pantheistic” or “Rationalist” and engendering ideas that gave the birth to  Enlightenment.

Born in a Sephardic Jewish-Portuguese community in Amsterdam in 1621 (his ancestors excepted the Inquisition), he was expelled from the Jewish community at 23 years old, and is buried in the courtyard of a Christian Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague (he died at 44 years old in 1677). He was neither Jewish nor Christian in his views, and, from today’s perspective may be called one of the early Classics of Awakened Wisdom: the awakening is to the intrinsic unity of all that exist with God, the immortality of the human spirit, and the primacy of Love over all, Divine Light and Love guiding humans along their individual paths towards awakening, increased awareness and wisdom.

Philosophers love Spinoza for the elegance of his writings and the depth of his logical analysis of theorems and dogmas that he, time after time, proves absurd.  The book consists of five parts: I. Of God; II. Of The Nature and Origin of the Mind, III. Of The Origin and Nature of the Affects; IV. Of Human Bondage, or of the Strength of the Affects; and V. Of the Power of the Intellect, or Of Human Liberty.

Just like the ancient Gnostics, Pythagoras, Plotinus, Hermes Trismegistos ( many who wrote under his name), Giordano Bruno, and, to skip half a millennium, modern deep ecologists (Arne Dekke Eide Næss, and James Lovelock of the Gaia hypothesis), Spinoza found and shared the unified understanding of nature, humanity and divinity that dispels darkness, sorrows and doubts, while crowning the human being with the unperishable Divine Light that exists within. As he said: “The affect of Joy and its offspring increases the perfection of the mind and therefore is good; the affect of Sorrow and its offspring decreases the perfection of the mind and therefore is not good.” Thus, to seek Joy and intellectual Love that unites the seeker with the Divine is the ultimate goal of human life.

This idea reminds casual readers of the recently popular “The Secret” teaching millions about the power of  positive thinking, based on a premise that the “Universe” gives the individual an exact response to what that person thinks or feels like – the haters will be hated back and hurt, the lovers will be loved, the fearful –  scared, and  the joyous will have a lot more to en joy. Who knows how it really works, but there are many things worth doing less than reading Spinoza.

For convenience of those who did not grow up studying Latin, we added Arab numerals to the Propositions and other numbered lists. We also added more paragraph breaks to make the text easier to follow on the page. The  index, due to changed pagination, had to be redone, only the main entries were preserved, and additional items added. Finally, the title was changed to plural, Ethics, not Ethic as White had it, following the original.

Spinoza’s wisdom will reach you if you are patient and read this volume with a discerning mind.

Enjoy!

~ Maja Trochimczyk

Benedict Spinoza, Ethics: An Outline, edited by Maja Trochimczyk

156 pages, $12, paperback

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EPub EBook, $4.00,  available from lulu.com, BarnesandNoble, Nook, Kobe and other distributors
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This is an abridged reprint in gender-neutral language of a 19th century translation of "Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata" by Benedict de Spinoza (Baruch Spinoza, 1632-1677) first published in 1677. The 1883 translation by William Hale White (1831-1913), was rendered gender-neutral by Dr. Maja Trochimczyk. This second volume of Moonrise Press's Classic Wisdom Book Series, consists of five parts: I. Of God; II. Of the Nature and Origin of the Mind, III. Of the Origin and Nature of the Affects; IV. Of Human Bondage, or of the Strength of the Affects. And V. Of The Power of the Intellect, or Of Human Liberty.

The Editor writes about the purpose of the shortened version as follows:

"For convenience of those who did not grow up studying Latin, we added Arab numerals to the Propositions and other numbered lists. We also added more paragraph breaks to make the text easier to follow on the page. The  index, due to changed pagination, had to be redone, only the main entries were preserved, and additional items added. Finally, the title was changed to plural, Ethics, not Ethic as White had it, following the original. Spinoza’s wisdom will reach you if you are patient and read this volume with a discerning mind. In this abbreviated version, we took out most of the scholastic arguments about the nature and attributes of God, substances, and the like. Instead, we kept all the conclusions and lessons about ethical living, affection, and virtues, because of their practical applications."

"For practical use as a guide to ethical life, the demonstrations and arguments why the Propositions are true are not needed. But it is important to easily number and find them, as well as to be able to read it and apply to a personal life, whether the reader is a man or a woman. In accordance with the principles of gender-neutral language that does not discriminate against women, the use of “man/men” was replaced with “human being,” “person” and “people” throughout. Similarly, since God in Spinoza’s concept is not a male, the pronouns He and His have been replaced throughout by God and God’s respectively. This infinite, eternal Being that is immanent in the Universe is the same Being as that known in Awakened circles as Father-Mother-God, or Source, or the One. The use of just the word “God” is more convenient in this case."

Announcing the Publication of "Into Light: Poems and Incantations" by Maja Trochimczyk

This pocket-book-size collection written by Maja Trochimczyk over the past twenty years includes 29 poems and 11 "incantations" that focus on the intertwined spiritual concepts of Light and Love. The poems, initially created within the Catholic mystical tradition of contemplation and adoration of the Divine presence, gradually evolved to encompass a broader scope of spiritual insights, without losing the main focus: reaching out in Love to the One Light, the Source of All. The simple and repetitive meditations and incantations are meant to inspire, uplift, and fill the heart with Light and Love.

At this time, the book is available in paperback and EPUB electronic book formats from lulu.com:

Paperback, pocket-book size, ISBN 978-0-9963981-8-3, 80 pages (xii + 68 pages),  price - $10.00: http://www.lulu.com/shop/maja-trochimczyk/into-light-poems-and-incantations/paperback/product-22804936.html 

EPUB ebook, ISBN 978-0-9963981-9-0,  price - $8.00: http://www.lulu.com/shop/maja-trochimczyk/into-light-poems-and-incantations/ebook/product-22804966.html .

Table of Contents

POEMS ∻ 1

A Passage ∻ 2

A Walk in the Canyon ∻ 3

No More ∻ 5

Timelessness ∻ 6

Awakenings ∻ 7

The Bluest ∻ 9

A Subliminal Song ∻ 10

The Gift of Patience ∻ 11

A Promise ∻ 13

The Feast ∻ 14

Of Bliss ∻ 15

Seeing Madonnas … ∻ 16

Rosa Mystica ∻ 17

The Cornerstone of the Soul ∻ 20

How to Cross the Great White ∻ 21

After the Crossing ∻ 23

The Vanishing Point ∻ 24

See How we Dance? ∻ 25

From the Mountains ∻ 27

Convergence ∻ 28

Gloria ∻30

A Perfect Universe ∻ 31

Cosmos ∻ 32

Elijah’s End ∻ 34

In a Magnolia Courtyard ∻ 36

On Squaring the Circle ∻ 37

Repeat After Me ∻ 39

A Rainbow Vision ∻ 41

Meditation on Light ∻ 43

INCANTATIONS ∻ 45

Morning Greetings ∻ 46

Our Mother ∻ 47

Breathing Affirmations ∻ 48

On Being a Tree ∻ 50

Being the Sun ∻ 51

Crown Jewels ∻ 52

The Seven Suns ∻ 53

The Divine Path ∻ 60

The Stream ∻ 62

The Shield of Light ∻ 64

The Shield of Love ∻ 65

∻

Introduction

After writing and editing a variety of books on music, dance, and poetry, and publishing poetry in various journals, I decided it is time to do something completely altruistic, without any shadows within, with a clear direction upwards, to the light. I pulled together my “enlightened” poems from the past 20 years and created “incantations” – personal meditations and prayers, designed for quiet reading alone to uplift the soul in the morning, or provide a respite in a busy day.

My fascination with the twin themes of “light” and “love” dates back to my “conversion” period in Poland, when I read the Bible from cover to cover and started collecting all references to these mirrored themes that I could find. I thought of writing a mini-treatise on the topic of Divine Light to celebrate my baptism in 1987 at the age of 30. But somehow, I got too busy with other things and my treatise is now coming to life in an entirely different form.

On my spiritual path, marked by a late start and guided by many unusual visions and revelations (suitably so for a complete sceptic who would not believe in anything, unless personally experienced) I owe a debt of gratitude to many who have led me on the path of Light. First, my Godmother, Sister Elia of the Franciscan Sisters in Warsaw, taught me rigorous “rules of conduct” as a perfect daughter, mother, student, and mystic – especially the Ten Commandments and the Two Commandments of Love.  

Along the way, while making a discovery of a complete new continent of spiritual and religious writings, I read with great interest The Cloud of Unknowing, the writings and biographies of Blessed Hadewijch; Rumi; St. John of the Cross; Father Teilhard de Chardin; two twin souls, Discalced Carmelites Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity (to be Canonized in October 2016); and Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus from Lisieux, and many others, including poets Czeslaw Miłosz and Emily Dickinson. One of the most influential books was Guidelines for Mystical Prayer by English Carmelite, Ruth Burrows. 

In the 2010s in California, I found insight and love in the poetry and friendship of the “Spiritual Quartet” – four women who have taken birds as their totem images while pursuing their own paths into Light, sometimes parallel, sometimes inter-woven. Lois P. Jones (“the Phoenix”), Susan Rogers (“the Hummingbird”) and Ambika Talwar (“the Peacock”) have been faithful companions and guides on my own way into the Awakening. I’m “the Dove” of love, they decided, and so be it. 

The poems and incantations in this volume do not express any particular spirituality or religion, except my own mystical focus on the unknown Source of us all, the Light that draws us near, the Love that keeps us connected and dwells in our hearts. 

Baptized at 30 into the Catholic Church, after a long search for the right path, I’m an usher in my local parish. But I also seek enlightenment where it can be found, so I attend “light-giving” sessions at the Sukyo Mahikari Spiritual Development Centers (with Susan Rogers as my guide) and spiritual healing sessions given by inspired healers, filled with Divine light and grace, Kimberly Meredith and Ambika Talwar. 

Some of my “incantations” feature fragments of Catholic prayers, such as the Shield of St. Patrick, or words borrowed from Kimberly Meredith, or Messages by Archangel Michael channeled by Ronna that I found on YouTube. I also paraphrase ideas and inspirations from the Convoluted Universe books by hypnotherapist Dolores Cannon, The Law of One, the Spiritual Development Course by the Abbotts (Australia), and the Emerald Tablets of Thoth. If there are any others, whose ideas I may have adopted as mine without proper acknowledgement, Love and Light to you all!

There are so many parallels and synchronicities in the mystical traditions. While reading the Prayer to Fukushima Waters, for healing of the environmental damage, written by Dr. Masaru Emoto, you might recognize the sections of the Catholic Mass: “Water, we are sorry” (Mea Culpa), “Water, please forgive us” (Kyrie Eleison), “Water, we thank you” (Eucharist), “Water, we love you” (Communion).  At least, that’s what it seems to me, but I’m a Catholic, converted from scientific atheistic worldview. The “Divine indwelling” described by the Carmelites parallels the discovery of the Adamantine Particles of God, the Spark of Divine Light, or the loving connection to the Source deep within our hearts, contemplated in meditation.

Finding the way to becoming a Child of Light has been the greatest adventure of my life. I leave my reflections to my readers, with the hope that they, too, shall follow their own paths into the Light!

Maja Trochimczyk

On Squaring the Circle

It is a simple square that contains a circle –

four ideas, four words –

— sorry — forgive — thank — love —

No need for explanations,

long winding roads of words

Leading into the arid desert

of heartless intellect, auras

of geometric shapes floating above

your head – a scattered halo

of squares, sharp-edged cubes

prickly triangles, and hexahedrons.

No, not that. Instead let us find

the cornerstone of simplicity –

Sorry – to erase the past

Forgive – to open the path into the future

Thank – to suffuse the way, each moment 

with the velvet softness of gratitude

Love – to find a pearl unlike any other

a jewel of lustrous shine – incomparable, 

dazzling, smooth, pulsating sphere

A dot on the horizon grows

as you, step by step, come closer

until you enter into the shining

palace without rooms

where inside is outside,

the circumference is in the point,

the point in the circumference,

where movement is stillness

and stillness dances within –

traveling to a myriad of planets,

suns, galaxies, with the unheard of

velocity, being everywhere at once

Love everyone — Respect everything

So that’s how you square a circle