the concept of Nature. These concepts must then however be conceived of in a different manner than usual. Nature is the inherent energy which is active in everything which exists (natura naturans), not the mere sum of all existence (natura naturata). “I have an opinion about God and Nature,” says Spinoza, “which is different from that commonly held by modern Christians. I hold that God is the internal, not the external, cause of all things. That is, I hold, with St. Paul, that all things live and move in God.” Another divergence from the ordinary concept of God is contained in the fact that Spinoza does not think that human attributes, such as understanding and will, can be ascribed to the Deity; for understanding presupposes given experiences which shall be understood, and will presupposes that there are ideals which are as yet unrealized, each of which would contradict the absolute perfection of God.
Spinoza calls the things which do not contain their cause within themselves Modi (phenomena, individual things). The Modus is caused by something other than itself, through which alone it can be understood. The real cause of the Modi is contained in Substance, of which they are the particular manifestations. Externally they stand in a causal relation to each other, but the total aggregate of the Modi, the total series of causes and effects given in experience (the total natura naturata), is a revelation of Substance, which constitutes the vital relation of the whole series of phenomena.
c. According to Spinoza real existence can only be ascribed to Substance. Phenomena are its particular Forms. Everything which exists (Substance and its Modi), therefore, comes into experience under two attributes (fundamental characters or fundamental forms): thought and extension (mind and matter). As an infinite
