Jewish World Review March 27, 2001 / 3 Nissan, 5761


I am, therefore I am

By Rabbi Hillel Goldberg

I think; therefore I am.

  —   Descartes

I study Torah; therefore I am.

  —   'Halachic Man'

Cogito ergo sum.
Philosophers doubt many things, which is why Rene Descartes made his mark in the history of philosophy by proving his own existence. It was a turning point to demonstrate, indubitably, even that one's own self existed.

Said Rene Descartes:

"I noticed that while I was trying to think everything false, it had to be that I, who was thinking this, was something. And observing that this truth, I am thinking, therefore I exist [Je pense, donc je suis; cogito, ergo sum] was so solid and secure that the most extravagant suppositions of the skeptics could not overthrow it, I judged that I need not scruple to accept it as the first principle of the philosophy I was seeking."

When Descartes said that he existed, he struck a blow both against absolute skepticism, and for thinking as the essence of existence. For Descartes, "thinking" included any activity of consciousness -- thinking, imagining, willing.

Perhaps more than its content, the neat, snappy rhythm of Descartes' proof, especially in the Latin translation of the original French, turned his dictum into a springboard for parallel slogans -- some half-baked, some dead serious -- about the essence of existence.

For Descartes, the essence of existence was to think. For others, the essence shifts as Descartes' verb, cogito, is replaced by others.

The Yiddish humorist Shalom Aleichem, for example, said, "I laugh; therefore I am," having in mind, no doubt, the ironic Jewish response to the absurdity of the hatred and the persecution to which Jews are regularly subjected.

For Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, the essence of existence is even flatter and more bleak. He says, simply, "I suffer; therefore I am."

In a way, to reduce one's entire life to a single verb is to be a fanatic. I use the term descriptively, not pejoratively. To be exceptionally one-dimensional or singleminded is to be a fanatic -- not necessarily the same as an extremist. The many lives of fanatics lend themselves to many Descartes-like aphorisms. Possibilities:

I paint; therefore I am.

  —   Vincent Van Gogh

I create; therefore I am.

  —   Michelangelo

I write; therefore I am.

  —   Franz Kafka

I fantasize; therefore I am.

  —   Marc Chagall

I report; therefore I am.

  —   Edward R. Murrow

I hate; therefore I am.

  —   Adolf Hitler

I kill; therefore I am.

  —   Heinrich Himmler

I brutalize; therefore I am.

  —   Saddam Hussein

I villify; therefore I am.

  —   Sen. Joseph McCarthy

I play; therefore I am.

  —   Babe Ruth

I entertain; therefore I am.

  —   Bob Hope

I care; therefore I am.

  —   Eleanor Roosevelt

I help; therefore I am.

  —   Mother Teresa

I innovate; therefore I am.

  —   Bill Gates

I acquire; therefore I am.

  —   Sam Walton

I sell; therefore I am.

  —   Lee Iacocca

I strategize; therefore I am.

  —   Dwight D. Eisenhower

Look over the list. One-dimensional or singleminded people can be broken down into categories:

• Artists (painters, sculptors, writers, reporters; Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Kafka, Chagall, Murrow);

• Criminals (dictators, killers, defamers; Hitler, Himmler, Hussein, McCarthy)

• Entertainers (Babe Ruth, Bob Hope)

• Righteous people (Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa)

• Organizers (entrepreneurs, industrialists, generals; Gates, Walton, Iacocca, Eisenhower).

These categories cannot embrace all fanatics. Humanity is too complicated for this easy a classification. More possibilities:

I scheme; therefore I am.

  —   Lyndon Baines Johnson

I protest; therefore I am.

  —   Thomas Paine

I dialogue; therefore I am.

  —   Martin Buber

I dream; therefore I am.

  —   Theodor Herzl

I publish; therefore I am.

  —   Jacob Neusner

I research; therefore I am.

  —   Harry Austryn Wolfson

Further, there are categories for which I cannot now think of exemplars.

I heal; therefore I am.

I fundraise; therefore I am.

I love; therefore I am.

I dance; therefore I am.

I manipulate; therefore I am.

I raise children; therefore I am.

I rescue; therefore I am.

I dream; therefore I am.

I cook; therefore I am.

I beg; therefore I am.

I educate; therefore I am.

I talk; therefore I am.

I sermonize; therefore I am.

I orchestrate; therefore I am.

What about religion? Here, perhaps, singlemindedness reigns.

I pray; therefore I am.

  —   The Rebbe of Berditchev

I am commanded; therefore I am.

  —   Abraham J. Heschel

I teach Torah; therefore I am.

  —   Joseph B. Soloveitchik

I sing; therefore I am.

  —   Shlomo Carlebach

I study Torah; therefore I am.

  —   the Vilna Gaon

In case anyone is still racked with doubts about his or her own existence -- finding this entire exercise futile -- there is a pristine consolation, based on Exodus 3:24.

I am; therefore I am.

  —   G-d

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JewishWorldReview.com contributor Rabbi Hillel Goldberg is Executive Editor of the Intermountain Jewish News. Send your comments by clicking here.

© 2001, Rabbi Hillel Goldberg