OF THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN MIND; AND THAT IT IS MORE EASILY KNOWN THAN THE BODY. The Meditation of yesterday has filled my mind with so many doubts, that it is no longer in my powerto forget them. Nor do I see, meanwhile, any principle on which they can be resolved; and, just as if Ihad fallen all of a sudden into very deep water, I am so greatly disconcerted as to be unable either toplant my feet firmly on the bottom or sustain myself by swimming on the surface. I will, nevertheless,make an effort, and try anew the same path on which I had entered yesterday, that is, proceed bycasting aside all that admits of the slightest doubt, not less than if I had discovered it to be absolutelyfalse; and I will continue always in this track until I shall find something that is certain, or at least, if Ican do nothing more, until I shall know with certainty that there is nothing certain. Archimedes, that hemight transport the entire globe from the place it occupied to another, demanded only a point that wasfirm and immovable; so, also, I shall be entitled to entertain the highest expectations, if I am fortunateenough to discover only one thing that is certain and indubitable.[ L][ F]2. I suppose, accordingly, that all the things which I see are false (fictitious); I believe that none ofthose objects which my fallacious memory represents ever existed; I suppose that I possess nosenses; I believe that body, figure, extension, motion, and place are merely fictions of my mind. What isthere, then, that can be esteemed true ? Perhaps this only, that there is absolutely nothing certain.[ L][F]3. But how do I know that there is not something different altogether from the objects I have nowenumerated, of which it is impossible to entertain the slightest doubt? Is there not a God, or somebeing, by whatever name I may designate him, who causes these thoughts to arise in my mind ? Butwhy suppose such a being, for it...
