Ego Ergo Sum

Descartes

In a rather arrogant moment of endorphin assisted hubris, I announce my disagreement with Descartes. I have no scholastic or academic basis to do so and admit this somewhat embarrassing fact to the group. They don’t seem to mind, wanting, it appears to me, to know more about my dissension than about my lack of formal training or the institution that issued a certificate or diploma.

Congito ergo sum is Latin for ‘I think therefore I am.’ It may be the most commonly translated bit Latin lore ever, besting even such gems as Veni, Vedi, Veci and Carpe Deim. Rene’s insight, although brilliant, is nowhere near the altruistic stature of I came, saw and conquered or seize the day, because…..

It is only a part of the story. My argument with the French mathematician turned philosopher, is that thinking without doing is like, and please remember that my audience is the class we call group exercise, like, thinking about going to spin class. And not going. The true jewel of an aphorism would be something like Ego ergo sum, or better yet, ego actus ergo sum, I do therefore I am or I am active therefore I am. The difference between thinking about doing and actually doing it, are as different as bananas and pears. Similar is the distinction between knowledge (knowing something) and wisdom (doing something.) I tell my class that they are to congratulated for their wisdom in the process of making that courageous decision. It is not enough to think, one must act to make a difference, one must, the hero or heroine, must bridge the gap spanning the shore of thinking, the solid ground of knowledge by walking, jogging, sprinting or riding across the bridge and stepping boldly upon the far shore of wisdom and active participation with the present reality of life.

They seem to get this, or at lease buy into the premise that it sounds like it could be worthy of a later in the day google search. After all. I silently concede, the remote possibility does exist that the Descartes family line includes a member of the class and that their trust fun depends upon not airing ancestral dirty laundry in public view. One does not simply debate the veracity of one of the most celebrated bean counters turned soothsayers in the history of France (without written permission.)

We are ripping through the class protocol, a hard set of ramp hill repeats, the music is a nice assortment of classic rock and Motown, when it dawns on my that Descartes was also the guy who insisted that man’s mind was somehow disconnected from his body in the same way that one’s soul is  an altogether separate entity as one’s corporal being. Known as duality, this idea was argued for centuries and finally discarded as inaccurate and obsolete.

We are one. It is all connected. Everything has some connection to everything else. We act upon our understanding. Life invites us to participate in the experience of finding out who we are and why we are here. I know this is a lot.

As we consider all of the above, we go to spin class. I do therefore I am. Ego ergo sum.