"Prophetism is the act by which I receive a sign and by which I emit
signs. There is clearly a theory of the sign in Spinoza, which consists
in relating the sign to the most confused understanding and imagination
in the world, and in the world such as it is, according to Spinoza, the
idea of the sign does not exist. There are expressions, there are never
signs. When God reveals to Adam that the apple will act as a poison, he
reveals to him a composition of relations, he reveals to him a physical
truth and he doesn’t send him a sign at all. It’s only to the extent
that one comprehends nothing of the substance-mode relation that one
invokes signs. Spinoza says a thousand times that God makes no signs, he
gives expressions. He does not give a sign which would refer to a
signification or a signifier (a crazy notion for Spinoza), he expresses
himself, that is to say he reveals his relations. And revealing is
neither mystical nor symbolic. Revealing is giving something to
comprehend."
G. Deleuze
