And as to the grounds
on which I was formerly persuaded of the truth of sensible
objects, I had not much trouble in replying to them. For
since nature seemed to cause me to lean towards many things
from which reason repelled me, I did not believe that I should
trust much to the teachings of nature. And although the ideas
which I receive by the senses do not depend on my will, I did
not think that one should for that reason conclude that they
proceeded from things different from myself, since possibly
some faculty might be discovered in me?though hitherto unknown
to me?which produced them.
But now that I begin to know myself better, and to
discover more clearly the author of my being, I do not in
truth think that I should rashly admit all the matters which
the senses seem to teach us, but, on the other hand, I do not
think that I should doubt them all universally.
And first of all, because I know that all things which I
apprehend clearly and distinctly can be created by God as I
apprehend them, it suffices that I am able to apprehend one
thing apart from another clearly and distinctly in order to be
certain that the one is different from the other, since they
may be made to exist in separation at least by the omnipotence
of God; and it does not signify by what power this separation
is made in order to compel me to judge them to be different:
and, therefore, just because I know certainly that I exist,
and that meanwhile I do not remark that any other thing
necessarily pertains to my nature or essence, excepting that I
am a thinking thing, I rightly conclude that my essence
consists solely in the fact that I am a thinking thin [or a
substance whose whole essence or nature is to think].
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