The best repentance is to
up and act for righteousness, and forget that you ever had
relations with sin.
Spinoza's philosophy has this sort of healthy-mindedness woven
into the heart of it, and this has been one secret of its
fascination. He whom Reason leads, according to Spinoza, is led
altogether by the influence over his mind of good. Knowledge of
evil is an "inadequate" knowledge, fit only for slavish minds.
So Spinoza categorically condemns repentance. When men make
mistakes, he says--
"One might perhaps expect gnawings of conscience and repentance
to help to bring them on the right path, and might thereupon
conclude (as every one does conclude) that these affections are
good things. Yet when we look at the matter closely, we shall
find that not only are they not good, but on the contrary
deleterious and evil passions. For it is manifest that we can
always get along better by reason and love of truth than by worry
of conscience and remorse. Harmful are these and evil, inasmuch
as they form a particular kind of sadness; and the disadvantages
of sadness," he continues, "I have already proved, and shown that
we should strive to keep it from our life.
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