Benedict De Spinoza's introduction is a commentary in which the author discusses the ideas of superstition, credulity, and misguided religious beliefs.
Superstition stems from fear. When people are afraid, all rational thinking and reasoning blurs into the background and they are overpowered by fear. For many people, with an overwhelming feeling of fear, comes the tendency to let their emotional impulses take over and to start pleading with God or the ultimate power to help them overcome this fear. In order for clear thinking to be prevalent, one needs to have a logical, rational, reasoning mind. Fear disturbs the mind. With a disturbed mind, one cannot have access to clarity or wisdom.
The author also focuses on credulity, the willingness to trust too readily. People who are in positions of power, like the clergy, politicians, and rulers, recognize the power of fear and are able to control people (who are willing to trust to readily) by imposing fear on them. Curtius says (lib. iv. chap. 10): "The mob has no ruler more potent than superstition." What he's saying is that the most powerful thing that motivates men is superstition, which comes from fear. Rulers have recognized this, and have used fear to keep control of their people. They have often used religion in context with controlling people through fear. For instance, in certain religions it is believed that if somebody does a wrong, they will burn in the fires of hell for eternity. Of course, there is no evidence of the truth of this. The fear of this eventuality, however, keeps people in line because they are afraid of the consequential sufferings of burning in hell. Out of this fear of consequence, they will obey their rulers and priests. Fear and superstition have been used very effectively to control the masses.
Another point made is that in many religions, the clergy or leaders of the church have made rituals more predominant than the real essence of the religion, which is to preach and practice love, joy, peace, temperance, and charity. But because over time leaders found that they have the ability to control the masses more effectively through superstition and fear of punishment, they have lost the essence of their religion and instead focus on rituals and practices so that they can remain in power and in control. Many religious leaders expect their followers to fall back on scriptures as a blind interpretation of what the faith is about and to take every word literally. In doing this, people get caught up in the literal translation of every word and lose the essence of the message. In order to truly understand the meaning of the scriptures, one must go beyond the words and experience the message by using a Divine mind.
He makes the point throughout the treatise that the masses are told to blindly accept what is given to them by their rulers and leaders without using their own powers of reasoning to determine and to understand whether or not they agree with what they are told. Towards the end of the introduction, the author touches on the rights of the individual. The author feels, as do I, that when people express their points of view there should not be restrictions preventing them from thinking how they want to think.
