How can I be aware of you when you don't exist? (2019)

 

How can I be aware of you when you don’t exist?

By Marcus Levis

2019-05-18

How exactly can I be aware of you when I am almost completely sure that you do not exist? So far as I know it, the only person whose existence I can prove is mine own. I know that I exist, and even if I go back so far as to use the quintessential piece that is supposed to determine my existence from Rene Descartes “I think, therefore I am”, I know for damn sure that I am thinking, but if this is to be believed, how exactly can I prove that you exist? Where exactly do you appear on the spectrum of existence? I cannot prove that you are thinking. How exactly can I prove that you are even alive and legitimately in front of me at this very moment? How can I not think that this existence is but a simulation (I do not generally ascribe to the simulation theory, but for this point it makes a lot of sense), and how am I to truly know that I cannot wake up at any time and be back with those I have always known in the realm unreachable by those living.

I know I am alive, I have a pulse, I breathe, as I type these words out, I can hear the tippity, tappaty of my fingers on the keyboard and I can hear the sweet sounds of Antonio Vivaldi playing through the speakers on my iPhone 6s. I am hyper aware of the feeling of the keys as I am pressing them to spell out the words on screen, and I can smell the sweetness of my heavy-creamed coffee sitting on the table and taste its oh, so sweetness with every sip. How exactly can all of this, all of these sensations come to pass and come to exist, but that I cannot still be sure whether the other person in the room, or the other people I meet on a daily basis, or even those closest to me, actually exist.

They say that only those who truly question the nature of existence itself are truly to move on to become philosophers, or at least join the ranks of the greats. Well, then if this is the true measuring stick, I have been ready to join the ranks of the greats since I was 13 because this is a theory that I have talked about in one form or another since it came to me during the summer of 2010. I have told many people this and it seems to make sense to a lot of people. I know I am alive, but how exactly can we prove that all others around us are truly alive as well. Sure, when I touch you, I know that you are there, I feel the warmth of your skin, I can hear your breath and even smell it too. When I kiss someone, I can taste them, I can hear them when they speak, and all of these things you would think would more than satisfy the curiosity and check off all of the boxes on the checklist for “definitely alive” but it does not. Sure, I can say based on all of the sensational data my senses get that your body is in fact there in front of me, if you hit me or throw something at me, I am going to feel that pain, but here is where I will reverse it...if I throw something at you...I will not feel the pain, guilt maybe, since we are naturally programmed to feel such emotions when we do something “wrong”, but I feel none of the physical pain that you experience, thus in a small sense bringing back the question from off the top; how do I even know that you exist?

I certainly do not have the answer as of yet, if I did, I would gladly share it, but this is a question that has been on my mind for over a decade now. I know that I am not even close to an answer, but this is for sure worth exploring in more detail in the times to come.

Marcus Levis (Age 23)