Cogito ergo sum is a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes usually translated into English as “I think, therefore I am“. The phrase originally appeared in French as je pense, donc je suis in his Discourse on the Method, so as to reach a wider audience than Latin would have allowed. It appeared in Latin in his later Principles of Philosophy. As Descartes explained, “We cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt.” A fuller form, dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (“I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am”), aptly captures Descartes’ intent.
This proposition became a fundamental element of Western philosophy, as it purported to form a secure foundation for knowledge in the face of radical doubt. While other knowledge could be a figment of imagination, deception, or mistake, Descartes asserted that the very act of doubting one’s own existence served—at minimum—as proof of the reality of one’s own mind; there must be a thinking entity—in this case the self—for there to be a thought.
Exodus 3:13-15 (American Standard translation)
“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. (Side note: “I am” = “I exist”)”
Descartes’ pronouncement is the beginning of a line of reasoning I want to focus on to think through some things that I think are fundamental to having a right perception of reality. In essence, a person cannot deny their own existence. To do so could be classified as a form of insanity. If you did not exist, you would not be able to realize, or think that you did not exist. If you doubt that you exist, then, as Descartes asserts, the fact that you doubt means that you are thinking, (albeit wrongly). The fact that you are thinking disproves your doubt, because if you did not exist, you could not think. All of this should be so obvious to any sane person that it should not even need to be said. The fact that it had to be said proves that there is something seriously flawed with man’s reasoning abilities.
I believe that there comes a point in time in every living human being’s mind when he is faced with the questions, “Why do I exist?” “What is the reason for it?” “What does it all mean?” We face this dilemma, and stuff the question into the back of our minds, and move on with “life”. The problem is that when this question is not answered, and we suppress it and ignore it, the life we get on with is not real life. It is a delusion. There is a reason for our existence, and it goes back before our individual existences began. The reason was birthed in the eternal mind.
What do I mean by “The Eternal Mind”? I will get to that in a minute. Mind is the origin of everything mankind has ever done. That is what separates us from the animals. Animals do not invent things. Animals act on instinct. I love animals. All of them are beautiful in their own ways, but they are different from human beings. That cannot be denied. If human beings are nothing more than highly evolved animals, why is it that we do not witness other species of animals evolving to the point where their minds are capable of being creative and inventing and building things? Sure, beavers build dams, and birds build nests. But this is instinctive. Birds always make the same kinds of nests, and beavers always build the same kinds of dams. It doesn’t change. Human beings have restless, creative minds. Why?
Why is it that all throughout man’s history art has existed? It might be argued that some art is for the purpose of communicating ideas, or history. I would not argue that point. But there is a lot of art, simply for the sake of art. If man is nothing more than a highly evolved primate, art for art’s sake serves no purpose. Why is it that all throughout man’s history music has existed? Music serves no purpose, other than bringing pleasure to our minds through our ears. But why does music bring us pleasure? Why does art bring us pleasure? Evolution cannot answer this question, because in order for us to simply survive and continue our species, there is no reason for it.
Behind every invention, every work of art, everything made by the hands of mankind, is a mind, a thought, or a series of thoughts, an idea. Let’s take a very simple example, the thumb tack. I could use much more complex examples, but for now, I will stick with the thumb tack for the sake of simplicity. (Pun intended.) According to Wikipedia, Edwin Moore invented the “push-pin” in 1900 and founded the Moore Push-Pin Company. Moore described the push-pin as a pin with a handle. Later, in 1904, in Lychen, German clockmaker Johann Kirsten invented flat-headed thumb tacks for use with drawings. I will assume this is accurate, although I have not researched it thoroughly.
Someone saw the need for a device to hold papers to a wall. This was a thought process. It culminated in the invention of the thumb tack. Let’s take a more complex example. I am typing this on a Latitude E5440 series Laptop Computer. Someone, or some group of people designed this laptop. A thought process involving planning, designing, and building went into bringing this laptop into existence. It does not take a genius to come to this conclusion. This laptop is not the result of someone throwing a bunch of computer parts in a box, and shaking up the box until a computer was formed. That is a ludicrous idea.
Take a moment to look at the complexity of life around you right now. Think of the complexity of nature. The complexity of the planet we live on. The ever changing weather patterns, the complexity of plant and animal life. The complexity of the Universe we live in, and what we know about it so far. It seems as if our knowledge barely scratches the surface. It staggers the mind. With the invention of the Hubble telescope, we now have the ability to take pictures into the far recesses of space. The images fill the imagination with awe and excitement? What are we looking at? What does it all mean? These questions have plagued the mind of one of the most brilliant men the world has ever known, Steven Hawking, the paralyzed long term survivor of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Hawking has pondered the wonders of Black Holes for decades, and the medical community has not been able to figure out how to cure this dreaded disease that holds him as a prisoner inside his own body. The universe needs to make sense for Hawking. It needs to make sense for each of us. A lot of theories abound that seek to explain these things. But there is something dreadfully illusive that we just can’t seem to put our fingers on to explain it all.
Think of the complexity of your own body. Medical science is continuously discovering new and amazing things about how our bodies work. Every time we think we have it all figured out, new data surfaces that proves to us that we have just scratched the surface. Many medical professionals agree that we are currently witnessing an onslaught of autoimmune diseases affecting millions of people, and the research into these issues has barely just began to make some headway into the treatment of these various diseases.
Think of the complexity of things on the microscopic level. Beyond our normal unaided visual abilities lies a world of micro-organisms that is hard to comprehend. It is like another world.
All of this appears very much as if it were planned and created, the result of thoughts originating in a mind. Complexity does not just originate from nothingness. Nothing cannot produce something. Random chaos does not produce order. Order is intentionally created.
Now, think for a moment about things that are not created as the result of a mind, or thought. A bag of garbage for example. It is waste. No one in a household started out meditating on the creation of a bag of trash in the kitchen trash can. It just happens, the result of a mindless process. We throw trash in the can until the bag is full, then we get rid of it. It is not a planned, thought out process. Think of a car that has been totaled. It has been transformed from being a useful method of transportation into a pile of worthless metal. No one gets into their car thinking, “Today I plan on wrecking my car and turning it into a pile of useless garbage”, but it happens nonetheless.
So these two extremes, creation and chance’ represent two different methods of interpreting reality as we know it. Data alone is not sufficient to explain reality. The reason is that because, as human beings encounter data and things we are constantly interpreting. Some methods of interpretation are more effective than others. As you are reading these words, you are interpreting my meaning. You may not necessarily be interpreting them correctly because you are not in my mind, but you are interpreting them in some manner. You may already be forming conclusions about where I am going with all this. You may be reaching conclusions prematurely.
So, let’s assume that, in the physical realm, some things happen by random chance, and some things are created purposefully. As we look at the beauty and complexity of what we refer to as “Nature”, does it seem more reasonable to assume the orderly, beautiful, and complex things that we encounter in this world are the result of random chance or accidents, or that some creative thought preceded them? Let me give you one small example of what I am talking about. Would you agree that flowers in bloom are beautiful? If so, why? If they are simply the result of random chance, an evolution of molecules, why do they evolve in a manner that makes them aesthetically pleasing to our eyes? It is not necessary. Why does the human eye take pleasure in the beauty of a sunrise or sunset? Why does the human ear take pleasure in music? It is just noise! Why does the human tongue take pleasure in the taste of well prepared food? Why does a man take pleasure in the beauty of a woman? If everything is the result of random chance and evolution, there is no logical reason for it. If a man is motivated by a biological instinct to simply keep his seed alive, what difference does it make what the woman that he breeds with looks like?
Why is it that when we think in terms of things mankind has invented and produced, to say that they are not the result of creative minds with thoughts seems preposterous, but when we think in terms of things in “nature”, we come to the exactly opposite conclusion? That does not make sense to me.
Try for a moment to put aside any ideas you might currently hold about a belief in God, or a disbelief in God. Forget all that for a moment if you can. Consider for a moment that since we are such complex beings, that we live in such a complex and beautiful world, doesn’t it seem as if this is the result of some thought process, some planning, some idea, or thought originating in a mind? Forget the word “belief” for a moment. Just consider what it means to create. Things are created as the result of a mind. It doesn’t make sense to me to think of things any other way.
Does the word “Creator” scare you? Why? It is perfectly normal to think of a “creator” or “maker” in reference to mechanical or technological things. Some group of people in an automobile manufacturing plant build, or made the car you drive. Some group of people made the house you live in. The automobile, and the house were created, they did not just happen.
Most people have a lot of preconceived ideas whenever “God” or “the Creator” is mentioned. Those preconceived ideas may be the result of unpleasant experiences that they have had in childhood. They may also be the result of suppressed anger. Why is it that some men who profess that they do not believe in God get so angry and defensive whenever that element is brought into the conversation? Why do they go to such lengths to express indignation and loathing towards people of faith? If God does not exist, what difference does it make if some people want to believe that, as long as that belief, whatever it might be, is not causing them to be harmful to others? Try to put all of that aside for a minute and just think about the possibility of our complex world being the result of some kind of thought out creative process originating in a mind. No other explanation makes any sense to me.
Complex inventions and works of art do not just happen as a result of random chance. Symphonies are not the result of a bunch of people with instruments just making random noises. They are skillfully planned and orchestrated. There is a mind behind them. Complex buildings and machines are not just the result of random materials colliding at the right time, and in the right pattern. They are the result of thoughts or ideas originating in minds, and then brought about as a result of the manipulation of material things to bring about the desired results. The beauty and complexity of our world, and the cosmos appears very much to me to be a creation, not a bag of garbage or a wrecked automobile
By “Eternal Mind”, I am suggesting that everything that exists, that we can know, originated, like any other thing that is designed and build with purpose, first, in the thought process of a mind.
When God revealed Himself to Moses, as we read in the passage from Exodus, He said that His name is “I am”. The eternally existing one who brought everything we have ever known, and everything we will ever know into existence. Do I understand that? No, to be honest, it boggles my mind. But it is the only explanation for reality as we know it that makes any sense, and is in line withreality. God is “The Eternal Mind”. He is the designing, creative force behind all of life, and all of the universe. When you understand this, a lot of other things seem to make more sense. It makes sense that mankind loves to create art and music, because God put it into the mind of man to do these things. Because beauty brings Him pleasure, it brings us pleasure. Because He is the creator, and we reflect His image, we invent, we create. That is what separates us from the animals.
You were created with a mind that is capable of thinking. Think on these things. Think on the alternative theories and ideas. Which one make the most sense? Which ones line up more with reality as we know it? Think about this: Why are you even capable of thinking in the first place? Maybe it is because a thinker made you.
Danny's Stump 