"I think therefore I am" ... or am I?

“I think therefore I am” quipped Descartes all those hundreds of years ago, and is now condemned to being quoted (and misquoted) again and again in arguments/debates/theses pertaining to the question of existence and reality and many other similar fancy hoity-toity topics where one of the conceited philosopher wannabes finds an opening, especially when someone wants to sound enigmatic and knowledgeable.

But paradoxically the more I think, the less I am, or rather, the less I seem to be. I know, it seems really confusing and contradictory, especially when one refers to the opening quote, but think about it, I mean really think.

The more one thinks about one’s existence, the origin of the universe and other such nonsensical stuff about which our knowledge is little enough for us to feel confident enough in our ignorance so as to engage others in debate; even if the other is just a contrary splinter-self, separated from the main self like in those multiple/split personality disorder cases, who likes to contradict everything the other self, or selves if the subject is a far-gone case, say or believe just for the heck of it, or because they conflict with its own set of beliefs; the more the number of possible reasons and explanations one can offer for the existence of the universe, ranging from the tired old argument of a supreme being who in his complete belief in our capability to survive our own destructive nature created an entire universe for us to occupy steadily over a span of time and is always watching over us (and its more moderate versions) and the deistic version where some chappie created this little universe (but not especially for us only) and now is snoozing away (or observing from a distance) to equally crazy beliefs like our universe being but a simulation program or even a sim-game being run by some higher dimensional beings on their super-duper-computers, like the popular game SimCity only this’ll be more like Sim-Universe and will involve more awesome hardware and possibly higher dimensions, or that we’re all just figments of imagination in the dreams of some higher dimensional being and so on and so forth. Do note that each reason raises a yet more important question: “What caused/led-to/created the random event/being/super-duper computer which created this universe/simulation of a universe which we reside in?" 

So, ranging from the ‘we-are-real-beings-in-every-sense-and-in-every-dimension’ to the ‘we’re-just-figments-of-something’s-imagination’ or the even more unthinkable ‘we’re-just-virtual-characters’, albeit virtual characters with higher thinking capabilities (which one could blame on more advanced coding and algorithms), each explanation is just passing the buck as we still don't know the universe started, sure it was created lets say, but who created the creators or if it was just the result of a random event, what triggered it?And so the questions go on and on. Still, assume that one of these explanations has the potential to solve this cosmic riddle, now what proof do we have that our point of view is correct? Each explanation has an almost equal amount of concrete evidence in favour as well as against it: none...  make that almost none, for the sake of accuracy.

So depending on which view seems more convincing to you, you could be more or less real than you were at the beginning of the long-winded-fatuous thought processes that brought you to this point. Or if you found multiple arguments equally convincing you could very possibly existing in multiple levels of realism at the same time, a thought which, if pursued further, could very well shred to pieces what little sanity you lay claim to faster than food disappears down the gullet of dear little Daisy, my dog; though bitch is the grammatically correct term yet cannot be used due to social taboos and stuff, an issue I may write on at length later.

Digressions apart, another thought that one must consider is the fact that most terms we use are but relative. Time is relative to whatever reference a person/specie is using for their convenience, the ease of climbing up a staircase is relative not just to age but fitness as well (a fact proven by a few septuagenarians I know whose ability to climb multiple flights of stairs would put most of my college mates to shame), the obviousness of the fatuous nature of most debates, particularly philosophical ones, is relative, the relativity of an object/occurrence is relative and thus even reality is but relative. Compared to a comic book character or a simulated character in a game we’re probably pretty real, compared to some higher dimensional being with a different sense of perspective we may be nothing more than stick figures.

Thus in the end the only conclusion one can safely draw is that reality just is. The entire idea of debating the concept of reality and seeing how real we are and if we truly exist and other such high-fi philosophical topics is truly fatuous, conceited even if one pretends that one has the one true answer to these conundrums.

So after all this heavy thinking the one modification I’d make to Descartes famous quote is “I think therefore I realise that I may be or may not be real and that it all comes down to a question of which theory of the universe’s existence, and hence my own existence, is true and that the lack of proof in favour of any particular theory can but lead one to the conclusion that this entire question is but an futile exercise in philosophical thought and that I just am”, or in short, “ I think, therefore I am”, or rather, “I just am”.

Now if you've reached this far in the article you've probably realised what a farce this is, albeit a rather high level and thought provoking and a bit moderately well thought-through farce. But then again most meta-physical philosophical thoughts and theses are but farces to some extent (note: I’m only referring to meta-physics) Anyway, for being such faithful readers and for suffering through this pseudo-intellectual piece of mine you deserve a reward. So go treat yourselves to a toffee or an ice cream if your mind feels really boggled.