Do We Even Exist?

The Latin cogito, ergo sum, usually translated into English as "I think, therefore I am", is the "first principle" of René Descartes's philosophy. He originally published it in French as je pense, donc je suis in his 1637 Discourse on the Method...

Descartes continues with his thinking and writes the following:

"...What of thinking? I find here that thought is an attribute that belongs to me; it alone cannot be separated from me. I am, I exist, that is certain … I know that I exist, and I inquire what I am, I whom I know to exist … [W]hat then am I? A thing which thinks. What is a thing which thinks? It is a thing which doubts, understands, conceives, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, which also imagines and feels … For it is so evident of itself that it is I who doubts, who understands, and who desires, that there is no reason here to add anything to explain it..."

Herein lies the problem... as a thinking man, he is claiming that he also doubts... as well as understands...  surely Descartes must see that if he doubts and understands that logically should understand that he doubts I THINK THEREFORE I AM...  doubt his own logic and understanding that he doubts his own logic is by definition part of his own concept of thinking.

For many years, Descartes's logic was the sole source of proof that we existed...  but then the movie THE MATRIX came along and logic was taken to a whole new and different level.  How do we know that we are not living in some sort of giant matrix and that all of our perception and awareness, understanding, doubting, and thinking is just the side effect of some complex and comprehensive computer program designed by THE ARCHITECT...  the fact remains, that we don't know for sure and right now there is no way to prove it one way or another.

The other side of this concept for me is spiritual or religious...  and revolves around the concept that the Bible claims that we will have eternal life...  eternity is a hell of a long time...  and, we compare that with living 80-100 years on earth...  our life on earth seems rather meaningless in comparison, doesn't it?

As we ponder this comparison maybe our 80-100 year life isn't real at all...  maybe the only life is after we die...  and, for centuries, especially in Egypt, once a person died all the blood was removed...  so, maybe it is the blood that creates this false life...  maybe it is the blood that puts us into some sort of virtual reality computer program existence in which we pretend to be alive experiencing what we do.

Or, once the blood is created in our body, an essence is initially created that we later have come to label our soul or spirit and the combination of the soul and blood provides us with our matrix-type existence...  and when we die, our true shapes are automatically created by the soul that leaves our body...

Something leaves our body because after we die, our bodies weigh a few ounces less than they did before...   that's some weird shit, isn't it?