Cogito Ergo Sum

Why should anything exist? Since the beginning of time, man has always been preoccupied with the quest to assign meaning to the existence of the universe as we know it. We have searched endlessly for any kind of evidence that can confirm or characterize existence. We have fabricated myths that attempt to apply meaning to existence. We have approached the question scientifically, using mathematics and the laws that govern the physical universe to attempt to quantify the concept of existence. But nevertheless, we have always found that the more we discover, the more we discover the less we know. For all these ages of searching, what do we have to show? Are we really any closer to the answer than we were when we first began? Is it possible, perhaps, that all along, we have been asking the wrong questions? We yearn to know why there is existence, yet we have no definitive answer for what existence is in the first place.

Could it be that the physical universe is nothing but an idea, a construct of the mind?

Imagine yourself as a human being born into this world, but devoid of any form of sensory perception. With no knowledge, no memories, and no way of perceiving anything that is happening around you, you would have nothing but your thoughts and your emotions. But how could your mind function properly; what would your thoughts consist of, what would they be composed of, and what would your emotions be based on? How would you define your existence? Naturally, you would be unaware of even the concept of any form of physical existence; so what would there be? Perhaps your mind would fabricate a “physical” universe in order to put your thoughts and emotions into context.

Let us take a look at another example. In our dreams, our minds often create alternate universes that temporarily become our realities. So what is the difference between a dream and our waking reality? Well, we are certainly more lucid when we are awake, but then again, lucidity is relative. Dreams generally involve absurd and irrational themes, but they certainly make sense to us while we are still experiencing them, so is rationality relative as well? It seems inconceivable that something so concrete such as mathematics, which is the essence of logic and rationality, might be a humanly conceived notion; but what is the nature of mathematics that makes it so concrete, other than the mind’s own conceptualization of it?

Regardless of our efforts to define existence, it will always remain an enigma to man. So in world where we cannot even be sure of its existence, what can we hang on to so as to base our perceptions of reality on? It seems that the only definitive truth in the universe is, “I think, therefore I am.”

- Voice of Reason