René Descartes’ “Discourse on the Method” takes us through a proof-like deconstruction of what it means to have independent thought and therefore exist as an entity. An interesting point he makes is about the presence or absence of a body not mattering in this situation since existing is tethered to a different plane. “…if I had merely stopped thinking altogether,” he writes on page 15, “even if everything else I had ever imagined had been true, I would have had no reason to believe I existed.” From this, Descartes then draws on the fact that doubt exists in his mind since he knows he is not a perfect being yet one must exist in order for him to know this. He defines something more perfect as being “superior,” which I personally find to be an incorrect assumption since there is no one scale to measure perfection, but for Descartes’ purposes this perfection is superior because the idea was “put into [him] by something that truly was more perfect than [he] was (pg 16).” This perfect being is God. It is interesting how Descartes takes a quality like faith, which we see as something almost beyond reason, and connects it to geometry. As Descartes puts it, “the idea of a triangle includes the equality of its three angles or two right angles” is just as evident as “the idea of a perfect being included existence (pg 17).” In his final paragraphs, Descartes discusses how reason even plays a role in our dreams, but dreams do not necessarily signify truth. I find that dreams may often bring more truth than being awake, but it is also true that the ability to reason is a trait that exists more readily in our thoughts during wakefulness. It is fascinating to see Descartes draw all these connections and, while I may not agree or even understand all of his reasoning, I do inevitably agree that our existence is proven by our thoughts.