Conatus was completed in early 1997 by commission of NOMUS and the Swedish Sonanza Ensemble. The title is a term by Baruch Spinoza, who used to be Räihälä's house philosopher - although he stresses that he doesn't take all his views literally. The word 'conatus' means for Spinoza the drive that makes a human do her choices, in eternal search of better things (Spinoza calls it simply 'joy'). The red line in Conatus is therefore the constant search for higher joy but, as in real life, it turns out that choosing new things often mean just changes and not making things better. The work had its first performance in 1998 Kallio-Kuninkala festival by the festival ensemble under the baton of Susanna Mälkki and since then it has been played also in Prague in the Czech Republic.