Substance, Modification, Will to Power, Evolution

What Spinoza means by 'modification' is not completely clear, with 'individuation' one possibility.  But because Substance is the only dynamic principle in his doctrine, the modification of Substance can only be the self-modification of Substance.  On that basis, Self-Modification can be conceived as anticipating two 19th-century principles--Self-Overcoming, i. e. Will to Power, or Evolution.  Accordingly, the conatus of any Mode of Substance must likewise be Self-Overcoming, Will to Power, or Evolution, rather than mere persistence in its being, with Intuition a salient moment of development.  But this far-reaching potential of Spinoza's doctrine, easier to discern in hindsight, gets obscured by his reliance on more contemporary terminology, e. g. 'Thought', 'Extension', and, especially 'God', which is understandably prudent in the context of both Judaic and Christian hostility.