God / Nature
For Spinoza, God and Nature are the same thing. There is no creator standing apart from creation — the universe itself is the one infinite substance.
In depth
Spinoza's most radical move is identifying God with Nature (Deus sive Natura). This is not the personal God of theology but the totality of everything that exists, understood through its own laws. God is not a being who chooses to create; God is the necessary, self-caused reality that expresses itself in everything. Every law of physics, every thought, every grain of sand is a mode of this one substance.
Why it matters
This equation removes the gap between the sacred and the natural. If God is Nature, understanding the world scientifically is itself a form of knowing God. It also means there is no supernatural intervention — everything follows from the nature of reality itself.
Source references
- Ethics I.P14-P15