Gregor Alfonsin C.

Pondoyo
BSN IV NB

January 10, 2009

Mr. Richard Jeffrey F. Ocampo

A Philosophical Reflection on Descartess Argument of the Existence of God

Descartes made it clear that essence cannot be separated from existence and I
find it very true based especially on my experience. When I look at myself in the mirror, I
ponder what makes me as I am. I cited some of my characteristics but in the end it turned
out that no one character makes me as I am. My essence is not my being able to talk this
way or act like that. Its not because I have two legs and I walk upright that defines me of
being me. It is the totality of my being that makes me as I am: the combination of all that I
have as a character, as a human being, as a person, and as being here typing and as
being perfectly me without anyone exactly in the world or the times to come and at this very
moment- existing.

Yes, Descartes is probably correct that a being which he conceived as having

perfection should naturally exist for it to be really perfect. Because the essence of the idea
of a being that is all-powerful necessarily implies existence then it might be safe for me now
to agree that God really must exist.

Descartess argument is compelling for me. When I read about Anselms I was
skeptical because I thought that attributing life and character on an idea and then proving it
to be true is not fair. It was a circular argument like this one as what our professor said.

But what really is a circular argument and what makes Descartess argument circular
intrigues me most because in the first place, I dont know if it is valid for me to say that
Anselm and Descartes was attributing life and character to this idea of God because this
Idea necessarily implies life and character in itself. This Idea necessarily implies perfection
and perfection necessarily implies existence for it to be fully realized. So it is a reality
whether I or we accept it or not. Whether I reject the existence of God, He still exists
because He is a reality. He is the sum of all perfection and compared to Him I am just as a
dust and His grandeur is of unlimited boundary that in the privacy of my mind I cant help
but grasp just a little of what He truly is.

I came up to a problem on my understanding of this being. Its just that, if this

God is a perfect being and is all-powerful then why didnt He made us live in a condition
where we can at least comprehend some of His greatness. If He can do everything
because He is powerful then why cant He make us see Him despite of our being less
perfect? Therefore, I find this Idea of being all-powerful contradictory to what is in actuality
now: that we only know Him through the mind and not through the senses- by which we put
all things and conclude upon their very existence. What is God if He cant do this simple
thing?

The thought surged upon me once again that what if I am just fooling myself.
Because what if the idea that God as a powerful being and is the sum of all perfection is in
my mind because in the first place I conjured it myself out of the perfection and beauty
around me, out of the many mysteries in this world including the beginning of the universe

itself, and out of my fear that after death, there would only nothingness. I deeply fear
nothingness and that maybe this fear made me make up this God in my mind so that I can
be comforted of the worries I have inside me.

Despite of all my doubts it is probable that the mind of this ever-perfect Being
has some reasons why He allows us to know a little of Himself only in reason and in reason
mostly. That even if I want to accept this idea of God because of other things (like my fear
of nothingness) or because I find it reasonable to, this God in so far as the idea implies
exist independently from my wishes or other things because in itself, this God is perfect just
as what Descartes wrote.