I’ve been fascinated by Spinoza ever since I first read Einstein’s famous quote. Spinoza does not disappoint. I’ve since read much by him and about him; Spinoza is enormously complex yet deceptively simple: Substance “stands below” everything there is. Thought [energy] and extension [matter] are how we perceive substance. Nature is infinite and eternal intellect. The repository of all that there is to know.

The central aspect of Spinozism is conatus. I’m surprised you didn’t touch on that, as it remains a mystery to me. Conatus exists in everything that exists. It is a striving, the opposite of entropy. Why do subatomic particles “strive” to be atoms, and atoms molecules. Why do stars “strive” to be galaxies and galaxies the universe. Why do cells “strive” to be plants, animals, and humans. Spinoza said that nature does not work toward a goal, but conatus is the essence of evolution, long before Darwin.

It seems to me that conatus attempts to answer the question of how things become what they are not yet, but will be. The question remains, Why?