"Je pense, donc je suis." — Rene Descartes
I think, therefore I am. I think that this phrase has gotten more press than many other philosophical "insights."
This phrase was the harbinger and hallmark of the "Enlightenment", ironic in that such introspection creates more darkness than light.
We look within, and we find nothing more than our own experiences, which when codified into thoughts become unwielding prejudices.
Our opinions take on the role of fact, and our thinking is always informed by a need to do wrong when we are exposed, preempted with the expectation to do right.
Descartes made his comments with a language that he did not create. He spoke forth to a world that he did not know or even conceive beyond his own limited means.
The arrogance and ignorance of such rationalism presupposes that man is the center and the measure of all things, yet nothing could be more damaging or disintegrating to the well-being of a person.
"Know ye that the LORD
he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we
ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." (Psalm 100: 3)
What do we think with, beyond an internal structure which informs so much power and capacity? We receive a great deal from outside of us — and the fact that we exist puts aside any notion of placing ourselves as the first condition for understanding anything else.