Rene Descartes, French Philosopher and Mathematician, first penned this statement (Je pense, donc je suis) in part IV of Discourse on the Method (1637 – written in French but with inclusion of "Cogito ergo sum"). Sadly, Descartes was wrong. He should have written, “I think, therefore I am crazy”.
In
contrast to Descartes, eastern philosophy encourages us to stop the
mind from “thinking” so that we can discover, or know, the truth of
existence. Knowing is not thinking! We cannot know or understand our
existence through the analytical processes of the mind. I like to
describe the act of stopping the mind as “touching the void”. When we
touch the void, we can experience what Paul described as, “the peace that passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Only when we are at peace can there be true understanding or knowing.
Of
course, stopping the mind can be a scary proposition. In the west, we
are trained from preschool into adulthood to think analytically, think
critically, think creatively, think outside the box, think, think,
think. What madness! How many poor souls awaken in the middle of the
night with their minds racing? We have a multibillion dollar industry
aimed at quieting the human mind so that folks can sleep (e.g., Ambian,
ZzzQuil, Unisom, Lunesta, Rozerem, etc., etc., etc.). And yet, many
believe (in accord with Descartes) that if they were to stop thinking
they would cease to be.
Well, I guess we won’t know for sure until the final day comes. In the meantime I’ll close with and an ancient Jewish benediction that may be helpful, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14-27)
