well, after reading the 3rd-6th meditations, i find myself not enjoying them as much as i did the first two. i think it is because of descartes' in-depth self discussion regarding the existence of a god. knowing the time period in which he lived and his fondness for the mathematical and certain, i find it hard to believe that he believed his conclusion that a god (or God, if you will) does exist. i can't help but wonder how his meditations would differ if done in a period like now, where people not accepting one God aren't condemned to death.

also, in the sixth meditation he reverts mainly back to the physical realities. which got me to thinking about an idea i'd come up with several years ago. it is my belief that people do not all see one colour the same way. for example, i believe a blanket in my living room is black, while my mom insists it is brown. without reverting wholly back to the "what is truth, what is knowledge" discussion, and basing this mainly in science that i have not seen proven, i think that people see colours differently because of the number of rods and cones in the eyes. i imagine that these numbers differ from person to person, therefore creating the differences we see. and still, this does pose the question of "i see this as red, but is it red or is it magenta?" sort of thing.

last comment: i'm sure we've all made the connections to descartes' initial theories of dream vs. reality and movies such as "the matrix" and "vanilla sky", among others. one movie i haven't seen mentioned is "the truman show", which i think presents a different perspective. to me, "the matrix" was the brain in the vat theory (simply because of the medical stasis of the body), and "vanilla sky" the dream theory. i think "the truman show" is more of an arch-deceiver theory, because it is mainly one man controlling how truman perceives the world.

i'd love to know everyone's thoughts on what i've said!