Spinoza's Ethics: II.P1: God as Thinking Thing

Here Spinoza has shifted back out of the human focus in the definitions and axioms to God as a starting point in the propositions. His demonstration starts with singular thoughts which clearly exist. He relies on prior proofs to establish the nature of a singular thought as an expression of God. From here he moves to the attribute of God which is a conceptual grouping of perceived things that are expressions of God. His scholia are typically helpful, but this one is unusual. Spinoza basically relies on what is logical, but borders on an imagination - one of an infinite thinking being. 

A useful way to understand thinking thing is to use a term like consciousness or awareness which does not reference intentionality. God has feelings that have no reactivity because these "feelings" are devoid of the reactivity of inadequate ideas. God as thinking thing would be easier understood as God as feeling thing, but we tend to describe feelings around their affects. When the affect is removed, but the idea remains, that is the neutral state of feeling or thinking (which are the same) here.

Cogitatio attributum Dei est sive Deus est res cogitans.

Translated as,

Thinking is an attribute of God or God is a thinking thing.

Demonstratio: Singulares cogitationes sive hæc et illa cogitatio modi sunt qui Dei naturam certo et determinato modo exprimunt (per corollarium propositionis 25 partis I). Competit ergo Deo (per definitionem 5 partis I) attributum cujus conceptum singulares omnes cogitationes involvunt, per quod etiam concipiuntur. Est igitur cogitatio unum ex infinitis Dei attributis quod Dei æternam et infinitam essentiam exprimit (vide definitionem 6 partis I) sive Deus est res cogitans. Q.E.D.

Translated as,

Singular thoughts, whether this or that thought, are modes which express the nature of God in a certain and determinate mode (by IP25C). Thus, the attribute [of thinking] agrees with God (by ID5) whose concept involves all singular thoughts, through which [attribute] they are also conceived. Therefore thinking is one [attribute] from infinite attributes of God which expresses the eternal and infinite essence of God (see ID6) or God is a thinking thing.

Scholium: Patet etiam hæc propositio ex hoc quod nos possumus ens cogitans infinitum concipere. Nam quo plura ens cogitans potest cogitare, eo plus realitatis sive perfectionis idem continere concipimus; ergo ens quod infinita infinitis modis cogitare potest, est necessario virtute cogitandi infinitum. Cum itaque ad solam cogitationem attendendo Ens infinitum concipiamus, est necessario (per definitiones 4 et 6 partis I) cogitatio unum ex infinitis Dei attributis, ut volebamus.

Translated as,

This proposition is also evident from the fact that we are able to conceive an infinite thinking being. For the more things a thinking being is able to think, the more reality or perfection we conceive the same [being] to contain. Thus, a being which is able to think infinite things in infinite modes is necessarily infinite by the power of thinking. Thus to the degree that we might conceive an infinite Being by attending only to thought, thought is necessarily one [attribute] (by IP4 and IP6) from infinite attributes of God, as we meant.