The Rhythm of Parallelism

According to Parallelism, the rhythm of mental events and the rhythm of physical events is one and the same rhythm, considered from two different perspectives. The significant intra-experiential distinction, for Spinoza, is between active and passive rhythms, i. e. between ones internally generated and those with external sources. One fundamental premise of Parallelism is the simultaneity of the mental and physical sequences. However, Spinoza is likely unaware of more recent neurological theories that demonstrate time lapses between both afferential and efferential physiological processes. In other words, they show that while the two rhythms may be parallel, they are out of phase with one another, just as the rhythm of echoes can be parallel to, but not coincident with, that of their source. So, Parallelism misses the rhythmic interplay between Body and Mind, or, more properly, between the Extending and the Retaining that, for Spinoza, is the idea of that Extending.