Persisting in Being and Exercising Strength

A significant lacuna in Spinoza's doctrine seems to be between the endeavor to persist in one's being, and the differentiation in one's being in terms of varying degrees of strength, which can become a factor in determining the endeavor, e. g. choosing the greater of two goods. One solution is to follow Nietzsche, and to redefine the object of the endeavor as the maximization of the exercise of strength.  The alternative is not a change of principle, merely an explication of a version of the vital principle that is standard prior to the 19th-century.  It seems consistent with his analyses of various structures, and it captures the connotation of the original as an active principle, i. e. being active consists in the exercise of strength.  It is also potentially grounded in his concept of God/Nature/Substance, insofar as that concept has the structure of Emanation.  For, Emanation connotes increase, and a Mode is an instance of that deity, so, increase, and not merely maintaining, is inherently part of the object of one's endeavor.  Thus, it is unclear why Spinoza might reject the explication.