P1:"I Think...." P2:"Do 'You' Really???"
Hello All!
All of us at some point of time feel the mortality or futility of our existence. Though these two words are quite different when taken literally, if we analyze the cause of them, they seem to converge at the same point. There are many times when occurrence of some thing we might not have expected or non-occurrence of an expected thing (which in turn falls in the first case as an occurrence) makes us feel some voidness, some hollowness in our existence. And in one of the similar situations, this horrifying thought struck my mind..."Do i really exist?" "Or am i deceived to believe that i exist"? And even more strangely, when i say that "i believe", is it 'me' who believes or again am i deceived to think that i believe?? It might sound a bit vague or awkward to understand until one faces the situation himself, but if we put some thought to this entire thing objectively, without any bias, i think (do 'i' really?) we might appreciate it enough to probe it further.
When faced with somewhat similar situation, Rene Descartes came up with "Cogito,Ergo Sum" which literally means "I think, therefore I am ". He said that he could exist as long as he thought. And he also claims that this is the only thing which is certain in this holy world. But again, what do we mean by 'I' here? Are we really what we think we are? Or even further, do we really think when we think we think? The entire issue becomes somewhat simple if we take the dreams into the consideration. In dreams, everything we "see", everything we "feel" is quite close to reality and when it is not so, we should not question the dream only, but also the way we define reality. And also, it is the fact that when we dream, we take it to be reality...the way we define it normally. Then what is it that differentiates the dreams from the reality? Is it simply the fact that we get back to the senses after short time of the dreams? If it is, then i think we need to question whether we are getting back to the senses or to a bigger dream which deceives us to believe that it's the reality? I mean, right now you are reading this post of mine...had u done so in your dream, would it have been different?
So, the question boils down to "What is this 'I' ?" Are we really there, controlling our thoughts and our daily work or are we simply a character of someone else's dream, driven by his thoughts and wishes? Will there be a time when we'll shrug off this so called life of ours and wake up to describe the entire sequence of events we are going thru right now as a part of a dream, having it's plot on a planet called earth? As it's shown in much famous movie, Matrix, before breaking out of the Matrix, Neo's life was not what he thought it was. It was a lie. Can something similar happen to us as well? The difference might be that in the case of Neo, it was controlled by artificially intelligent computers whereas in our case, it might be we, ourselves...who knows?
Hey, just when i am writing this, a thought struck me...forcing me to stop from writing any further..."When i am doubting myself,
who is doubting whom?"
Any comments???
Meanwhile, i am with this...I thought that i thought therefore i was. But, then i thought that had i not thought, would i not be? And hence i thought that i was therefore i thought. But again i thought that had i not thought, would i have thought that i was? Hence i thought that " 'i m' is not there, but 'i think' is..."
All of us at some point of time feel the mortality or futility of our existence. Though these two words are quite different when taken literally, if we analyze the cause of them, they seem to converge at the same point. There are many times when occurrence of some thing we might not have expected or non-occurrence of an expected thing (which in turn falls in the first case as an occurrence) makes us feel some voidness, some hollowness in our existence. And in one of the similar situations, this horrifying thought struck my mind..."Do i really exist?" "Or am i deceived to believe that i exist"? And even more strangely, when i say that "i believe", is it 'me' who believes or again am i deceived to think that i believe?? It might sound a bit vague or awkward to understand until one faces the situation himself, but if we put some thought to this entire thing objectively, without any bias, i think (do 'i' really?) we might appreciate it enough to probe it further.
When faced with somewhat similar situation, Rene Descartes came up with "Cogito,Ergo Sum" which literally means "I think, therefore I am ". He said that he could exist as long as he thought. And he also claims that this is the only thing which is certain in this holy world. But again, what do we mean by 'I' here? Are we really what we think we are? Or even further, do we really think when we think we think? The entire issue becomes somewhat simple if we take the dreams into the consideration. In dreams, everything we "see", everything we "feel" is quite close to reality and when it is not so, we should not question the dream only, but also the way we define reality. And also, it is the fact that when we dream, we take it to be reality...the way we define it normally. Then what is it that differentiates the dreams from the reality? Is it simply the fact that we get back to the senses after short time of the dreams? If it is, then i think we need to question whether we are getting back to the senses or to a bigger dream which deceives us to believe that it's the reality? I mean, right now you are reading this post of mine...had u done so in your dream, would it have been different?
So, the question boils down to "What is this 'I' ?" Are we really there, controlling our thoughts and our daily work or are we simply a character of someone else's dream, driven by his thoughts and wishes? Will there be a time when we'll shrug off this so called life of ours and wake up to describe the entire sequence of events we are going thru right now as a part of a dream, having it's plot on a planet called earth? As it's shown in much famous movie, Matrix, before breaking out of the Matrix, Neo's life was not what he thought it was. It was a lie. Can something similar happen to us as well? The difference might be that in the case of Neo, it was controlled by artificially intelligent computers whereas in our case, it might be we, ourselves...who knows?
Hey, just when i am writing this, a thought struck me...forcing me to stop from writing any further..."When i am doubting myself,
who is doubting whom?"
Any comments???
Meanwhile, i am with this...I thought that i thought therefore i was. But, then i thought that had i not thought, would i not be? And hence i thought that i was therefore i thought. But again i thought that had i not thought, would i have thought that i was? Hence i thought that " 'i m' is not there, but 'i think' is..."
posted by vaibhaV at 3:51 PM
1 Comments:
Its excellent, its like a self awakening thought which everyone must consider before we really start doubting our identity.
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