It is not possible that we should remember that we existed before our body, for our body can bear no trace of such existence, neither can eternity be defined in terms of time, or have any relation to time. But, notwithstanding, we feel and know that we are eternal. For the mind feels those things that it conceives by understanding, no less than those things that it remembers.
More from Baruch Spinoza
The human mind cannot be absolutely destroyed with the body, but there remains of it something which is eternal.
Permalink to quote #79 The more we understand particular things, the more do we understand God.
Permalink to quote #81 God is without passions, neither is he affected by any emotion of pleasure or pain. ... Strictly speaking, God does not love or hate anyone.
Permalink to quote #78