How to Improve Your Mind

Himself the victim of religious persecution and social discrimination, Baruch Spinoza stands today as a fearless pioneer in the unceasing battle for tolerance, freedom and democracy.This challenging work is the simplest statement of his noble philosophy, which has influenced so many celebrated philosophers, writers and creative minds. Here Spinoza realistically examines man's most painful predicament: his bondage to the driving passions of greed, lust, ambition, hatred and fearand points the only way to the conquest of these warring emotions: through the attainment of complete intellectual freedom. Not the least startling fact about the work is its composition when Spinoza was only 26just two years after his expulsion from the Jewish community of Amsterdam for criticizing the established religious order. As a young man's testament, it is an amazing expression of philosophic resignation for the mature mind, and of sage advice for the beginner. The boldness of his thought and the daring of his conclusions make Spinoza an ideal philosopher for our time of shifting values and spiritual unrest. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MIND provides the easiest introduction to one of the greatest thinkers of modern times.