This is closer to my impression. There is no notion of damnation or redemption in Spinoza, but it sets an exacting ethical standard of which most will fall short, one that includes being right about things. Being wrong, ignorant, superstitious, etc. is bad for you and ethically unacceptable.

I think the State has its own independent interests, along with finance and industry as irreducible elements of capital that often have conflicting and even contradictory interests. The Political Economy of capitalism consists in this tension between political sovereignty, money and production.

I think one can conduct an almost identical analysis of Kierkegaard's prolific writing period and his relationship with Regine, focusing on the journals.

Deleuze & Guattari's discussion of Kafka's Letters to Felice is notable for placing them so prominently in the overall 'writing machine' of his complete works. The desire for Felice, or rather its lack of consummation, is what gets the machine going and keeps it working.

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