Spinoza turns and speaks gently, as a teacher to a young student, “Tell me, Jacob, do you believe that God is all powerful?” Jacob nods. “That God is perfect? Complete unto Himself.” Again Jacob agrees. “Then surely you would agree that, by definition, a perfect and complete being has no needs, no insufficiencies, no wants, no wishes. Is that not so?” Jacob thinks, hesitates, and then nods warily. Spinoza notes the beginnings of a smile on Franco’s lips. “Then,” Spinoza continues, “I submit that God has no wishes about how, or even if, we glorify Him. Allow me, then, Jacob, to love God in my
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