René Descartes said “Cogito, ergo sum,” or “I think, therefore I am.” This became a foundational element of western philosophy. I would reword this as, “I am conscious of my existence, hence I exist.” I say this with appreciation that my consciousness is the foundation of me, my existence, and the ego. It is how I know everything.
We would not ask the question “do I exist?” if we didn’t. Higher level order thinking or abstraction is a product of our consciousness. Humans have developed this through evolution, divine intervention, or whatever. It is what allows us and consequently compels us to seek the answer to big questions. As C.S. Lewis said, “If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe, and therefore no creature with eyes, we should never know it was dark.”
