Very interesting article. I as well have never heard of Baruch, but I have definitely heard of this theory before in my life. For myself the last two points of your article:
"Now if you believe that God is an old guy with a white beard in the Sky who created everything and waits to judge you at the end your life then this view of Spinoza’s may be a very difficult concept to grasp. But if you believe that “God” is a great Infinite Mystery that is Omnipresent ... everywhere, and within everything ... a mystical spirit that we are all a part of then this concept is not so strange."
ring true to me perfectly co-existing..... Not sure why a majority of people see these as separate because in my brain both are 100% true.... Religion is such a tricky subject to discuss sometimes, good job on the article, so far this one has been my fav to read on here.
Exactly correct .... when you come to this level of comprehension, how great this mystery really is then there is zero problem reconciling the concept of an old guy with a beard using Aramaic words and letters to create the Universe... this too is perfectly fine. Since Everything is God... this is why people like Albert Einstein, and Carl Sagan could use the word “god” when so many others could not. Their definition of God is infinite.