Descartes Meditation Third

DESCARTES is often called the founder of modern philosophy, and the statement contains a solid core of historical truth. But generalizations of this kind tend to suggest more than they really mean, and it seems best to begin with an attempt to characterize the philosophy of Descartes as a whole.

Descartes himself would no doubt have welcomed the title bestowed upon him by most historians of philosophy as signifying what he had intended from the start. He was, in fact, disposed to claim for his philosophy an absolute beginning, to see in his achievement, as Bertrand Russell has said in his History of Western Philosophy, a self-centred, and selfsufficient philosophical edifice, established on original foundations, and owing nothing to any other architect or builder.

Descartes' proof for the existence of God Third Meditation

I think, therefore I am.
I cannot be mistaken about the ideas that I have.
There can never be more objective reality in the effect (i.e., the idea) than there is formal reality in the cause (i.e., object of the idea).
I have an idea of perfection or infinite substance.
My idea of perfection is the most objectively real idea that I have.
The only possible formal cause of that idea is infinite substance.

Therefore, God must exist.

Explication of premises:

Premises 1 and 2 are incorrigible. That is, they cannot be doubted. Premise number 3 rests upon the principle of sufficient reason. It points out that any cause must have at least as much reality as any effect that it has. If it did not, then the cause would not be sufficient to produce the effect. Another way of saying this is that it is impossible to derive the more perfect from the less perfect. Premise number 4 is Descartes' fourth innate idea. If one denies that one has an idea of perfection, then I can give it to them, though this is misleading. The idea is already there, for it is innate. My pointing it out to someone simply makes the idea discursive. Once perfection is pointed out to someone, then they cannot deny having the idea. Premise number 5 is not quite as easy. The substance doctrine tells us that if there is anything, then that thing has to be either a substance or an attribute of a substance. Attributes are constantly changing and are relative to a perceiver while substances remain numerically one. Given this, my idea of a substance has more objective reality than my idea of an attribute because a substance has more formal reality than an attribute. Likewise, my idea of an infinite substance has more objective reality than my idea of a finite substance, and these are the only possible things that can cause an idea to emerge in my mind. Therefore, my idea of infinite substance must be the most objectively real idea that I have. Premise 6 says that this idea could only have come from God. Since I cannot derive the more perfect from the less perfect, then the idea had to have come from God because everything else in the world is imperfect. So, the idea had to have come from God. If one says that she got the idea from her grandmother, then where did she get if from? We can repeat the question until we find that the ultimate source must be God. Therefore, God exists.

Meditation intoduction and basics - Meditation is frequently confused with various forms of concentration. Meditation is a very effective technique for improving your creativity and problem solving capacity. Meditation is one of the proven alternative therapies. Learn more about it.

How to use meditation? - Meditation is sometimes described as "listening to the silence between thoughts". Our effort in meditation is directed towards consciously increasing the periods of such silence.

What are the benefits of meditation?- One of many benefits of meditation is that it opens your mind to new ideas. When the bowl is full, trying to pour more water into it just causes an overflow. The same happens with our mind. When it is full of thoughts, there is no room for new ideas.

Simple meditation techniques - meditation is an exercise, aiming to prevent thoughts in a natural way, by deeply relaxing the physical body and then trying to keep the mind completely "blank" with no thoughts whatsoever. Learn various meditation techniques.

Tips to guided meditation - Before meditation you may wish to define clearly what do you want to learn, what do you want to ask your Higher Self. During the meditation, do not expect an answer (although it is likely that it will come when your mind will be pure) - this is also a thought!

Holosync and meditation - One of the great beauties of Holosync is how easy it is to use: Some people call it instant meditation, but it's much more than that.

Descartes Meditation: DESCARTES is often called the founder of modern philosophy, and the statement contains a solid core of historical truth.