I think, therefore...

In the almost immortal words of Descartes, it was “I think, therefore I am.” However, he might just as well have said any number of other things equally true, if not equally memorable and meaningful. What he said amounts only to I think I am, therefore I am, which is of course true because by the very act of thinking we have invented the word being and thus what meaning we ascribe to that word is what we sense, whether or not it is in accord with the concept we think we attempt to represent. This of course is a most serious consideration and not of much interest.

What is of far more interest is the fact that Descartes might just as well have said “I think, therefore I eat.” Or indeed he might have said—as someone I know said in effect, though the order of words is mine—“I think, therefore I'm tired.” The point of this was that when people are with friends or having fun, they forget they are tired, but when they are sitting around or not doing much they have the opportunity to think about being tired, and so they find they are.

He might have said any number of things included and not limited to the following:

I think, therefore I breathe.

I think, therefore I weep for all the folly in the world.

I think, therefore I climb a tree.

I think, therefore I write.

I think, therefore I see a purple hippopotomas swimming the backstroke toward my neighbor's house and playing a minuet on his viola.

Now none of this comes even close to being as memorable as what Descartes said, so I guess he knew what he was saying. If he had lived in these days, though, I suspect he would have said something more along the lines of “I think, therefore I guess” or “I think, therefore I doubt.”

It is amazing to think how it really all comes down to that in the end: to the act of thinking. Anything we do—or choose not to do—is the result of thinking. It is this rational thought that sets us apart from the rest of the animal world—not to mention the plant world—and thus why we alone can be so unsatisfied with our lot. If I were any other creature it would be impossible for me to say this:

I think, therefore I'm having a bad day.