He had described God as so universally infused into everything around us that we can almost regard him as identical to Nature. It takes a very fine scalpel indeed to distinguish between that and the assertion that Nature is all that exists. Spinoza had already been excommunicated from his own Jewish community in Amsterdam before he had even published anything—a devastating punishment, as his friends and family were forbidden to talk to him or help him in any way. His works were later also banned by both the Protestant and the Catholic authorities.
