Abstract
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) was a Dutch, Portuguese-born philosopher who focused on biblical criticism, the concepts of enlightenment and innovative concepts of self and the universe. Born into the Portuguese-Jewish community, he developed controversial ideas on Judaism and the nature of the Divine, leading to being excommunicated from the Jewish community at the age of 23.
This chapter aims to explore the notions of shame (SH) and faith development (FD) in the life of Spinoza by means of a psychobiographical approach. By analysing Spinoza’s life, the authors contribute to the expansion of the theories of shame and faith development and their potential positive effect when transformed into a source of growth, self-development and understanding. As in Spinoza’s tradition, it is assumed that an emotion experienced consciously and understood fully and in depth can contribute to the conscious awareness, recognition and acknowledgement of what is in the present.
This psychobiographical account presents new findings of shame and faith development in Spinoza’s life, thereby drawing on positive psychology constructs on the one hand and constituting a radical break with past ideas—as an essential and potential tool for envisaging a form of new and critical ideas beyond present directions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on the other hand. Conclusions are drawn about shame and faith development and its lessons and potential learnings for individuals living through the challenges of the 4IR.
The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.
Baruch Spinoza
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Notes
- 1.
Cherem is defined as one of the three forms of ecclesiastical excommunication and seen as its most severe form, used by rabbis or other officials of a synagogue or community, in sentencing wrongdoers, usually for an indefinite period of time (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2020).
- 2.
This discourse is not deepened here due to its relative irrelevance to faith development and shame issues. However, it might be important that the degradation of women in Spinoza’s mindset might be related to the early death of the mother, the patriarchic upbringing in the Jewish community and the frustrations with love relationships of Spinoza which might have caused him to feel shamed and unfaithful with regard to his involvement with women on a personal note. Please see Gullan-Whur (2000, 2002) for a detailed insight.
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Mayer, CH., Fouché, P.J.P. (2021). Lessons Learnt from Baruch Spinoza: Shame and Faith Development in the Light of Challenges in Contemporary Society. In: Mayer, CH., Vanderheiden, E., Wong, P.T.P. (eds) Shame 4.0. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59527-2_13
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