“Cogito, ergo sum” is a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes usually translated into English as, “I think, therefore I am”.
I can think, therefore I exist. A bit of philosophical proof, if you will, of existence. This is based on the fact that someone capable of any form of thought necessarily exists.
I am struck by many thoughts here. First, when I was a kid, I thought Rene’ Descartes was an explorer. Like Ponce de Leon or Ferdinand Magellan. I’m not sure where I got this. But I named one of our kitten Pounce de Leon. Since we didn’t have a horse, and everyone knows you can’t put Descartes before the horse.
The second thing that hit me was the Latin phrase. Cogito, ergo sum. Some of our Catholic Masses were in Latin when we were kids. We’d make up the Latin, later, on the playground. Nabisco, domino isco, rubyourbelly, rubyourbelly, sallyway, eggo waffle, sallyway.
I sure do have a lot of thoughts on things. Goofy as they may be. For this? I am glad. Proof that I exist, according to Descartes.
He was a bit of an explorer in his own right. We all are, actually.
Back to my childhood. I always thought the explorers were very cool. I loved to hear the stories about Marco Polo traveling the Silk Road. I tried to imagine a silk road, unfurling before him. I pictured red silk. Of course, in the summertime, we played the game of his name at the swimming pool. Marco. Polo. Marco. Polo. Looking back now, it was a pitiful game. It is no wonder our parents dropped us off at the pool and left us there to face those choppy waters alone.
But the explorers fascinated me, especially when I heard the stories closer to home. Those of Daniel Boone, or the greats, Lewis and Clark. We would pretend we were those brave souls as we sailed our ships through the neighborhood, or scampered down the trails through the forests, hoping to avoid the perils.
During those long-ago years, the world was “unknown” and so, mostly white men from Europe set out on boats for discovering the uncharted lands, claiming them for their very own. That would have been all fine and good. But the big problem was that the world was not “unknown” at all. There were thriving civilizations all across the globe, for tens of thousands of years. Of course, you know the rest. The white men came. The civilizations were destroyed, one way or another.
I recently finished reading a novel that took place in the Amazon. The author traveled there, I learned, to get the lay of the land for the book, to see the native people who resided in those deepest parts of the river. Again, there are established civilizations there, in that remote part of the world. And kudos to them. I mean, if you can coexist with the green anacondas and poison dart frogs, more power to you, my friend.
I can’t even stand to be in line behind a coupon-clipping-check-writer at the grocery store.
But it is all part of where we are, and what we do, in our daily lives. And just because we are different doesn’t make us any more, or less, than anyone else. You see, we are all humans here. Thinking, feeling humans. The animal world here too, thinking and feeling.
And as Descartes reminded us.
I am.
And you are.
We all are.
Our personal explorations may take us in a million different directions. From visiting faraway lands to finding new ways to bake a cake, or fixing a car. To planting a seed, or painting a landscape. Whatever it is that makes you seek, may you find it today.
Thinking. Being.
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“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.” – Jennifer Lee
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“Travel far enough, you meet yourself.” – David Mitchell
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“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” -Robert Frost
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“Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” – Jerry Seinfeld
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