How to Improve Your Mind

The Enlightenment thinker asserts that mental tranquility is achieved through knowledge of God in this brief philosophical treatise.
Seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza was one of the most original and important thinkers of his time. His magnum opus, Ethics, influenced generations of great minds from Karl Marx to Ludwig Wittgenstein and George Santayana. In this earlier work, Spinoza articulates his view that life is best lived with the supreme happiness of knowing God’s infinite love. By extension, all earthly pursuits—including money, fame, and sex—are mere distractions from the greater joy of the soul’s quietude.
This edition of How to Improve Your Mind is translated by the philosopher and founder of the Philosophical Library, Dagobert D. Runes. Runes also provides exclusive commentary and biographical notes.