To me this reading was a bit challenging to follow and grasp. I would imagine that has something to do with the structure of the writing and the ideas that are being conveyed. However a few things did stand out to me. When Descartes mentions the idea of “I decided to pretend that everything that had ever entered my mind was no more true than the illusions of my dreams” (15), I believe there is something to be said about this. We often view certain in truths in life as being definite and proven, however in many situation, truths are but a temporary belief in something that very well might end up being not true at all. For many years Americans held slavery was a truth, they were confident in it. However, now we know all too well, that there was no truth in slavery, it was but a fabrication to suppress a people. Therefore, treating our thoughts as dreams and not as truths, allows us to remove ourselves from the situation and not be mislead into temporary mistruths. Descartes goes on to discuss something even more profound, “I am thinking therefore I exist” (15), or “cogito ergo sum”. I have spent some time discussing this phrase in a philosophy class where we discussed it in the context of proving our very existence. Since we know we think, and one cannot think if they are not, we know we are. After further reading, Descartes mentions “Accordingly this me—this soul that makes me what I am—is entirely distinct from the body, is easier to know than the body, and would still be just what it is even if the body didn’t exist” (15). I understood this to mean, that regardless of the bodies existence through “cogito ergo sum”, we can prove the very existence of the soul, and to me once we have proven the soul extending that out as proof of the body, is a leap I am willing to take.