On Miracles

Got through Chapter 6 of Tractatus Theologico-Politicus tonight. On Miracles. I found Spinoza to be essentially writing down my exact views, though in a bit more flowery language. Miracles are not interruptions of the natural order of things; on the contrary, they are only possible within the framework of natural laws. Nature is an extension of God's will, and so any projections of God's will must necessarily cooperate with the laws he has set down. Any interpretation of miracles as anything more is the hallmark of misunderstanding. I suppose this might explain why there haven't been the same frequency of miracles as it has been indicated existed a few thousand years ago. Spinoza seems to believe that Scripture was specifically written this way in order to capture the minds of the less educated, who would not be likely to use reason in their approach to religion. It is up to the educated man to reason out this principles, with Spinoza's help of course. I don't believe this approach is much different than Descartes'. In a future time I'll have time to compare the two. More likely, someone has already written a book on it.

Portuguese is going, but I find myself neglecting it in favor of reading. I've been on a push to finish my normal nonfiction book (The World is Flat by Friedman). I was making pitiful progress in it and decided I didn't want to kick it around for the next year. I also want to finish Murchie, if only to free up that second philosophy slot for another book. It's almost time to order a new set, too. I tried to start a habit of expanding my knowledge on the arts by reading a Wikipedia article per day, but I simply don't have the time to commit to that. Perhaps if I don't mind skipping a day here and there, it will become a more realistically achievable goal.