What am I certain of? I am certain in each moment of my experiences. I am certain of the experience I am having right now as I read these words and sentences. This experience includes seeing the characters, combining the characters into words, combining the words into sentences, and cognizing the sentences into something meaningful to me. The experience includes the chatter in my mind questioning where these thoughts will lead me. The experience includes the excitement that I may, after many years of asking myself this question, finally be able to express an answer. The experience includes the realization that whatever words I express can never fully describe the experience I am having. The experience is far larger than words can convey. At best, the words may express a fraction of the experience. However, no one can convince me that the experience I am having right now does not exist.
I dismiss any rebuttals that I cannot be certain of this due to the possibility that I am delusional or dreaming. I may be delusional but even then I still have delusional experiences, or I may be dreaming but even then I still have dream experiences. If I am delusional or dreaming, words to express my experience may be lacking; however, the fact that this and my other experiences arise is certain.
My experiences are separated into two types – internal experiences and experiences of the external. The internal experiences are called “I+ness experiences”. As the I+ness reads, the I+ness is certain of its internal experience of reading the words and all of the internal activities happening within, including the chatter in my mind questioning where these thoughts are going to lead me, the excitement of expressing an answer to a question I have long thought about, and the realization that whatever words I express they will never be able fully to describe the experience I am having. I+ness is certain of the internal experiences that I have.
The experiences of the external, in space and time using the senses, are called “Other+ness experiences”. Other+ness experience is reading with one’s eyes the external characters, words, and sentences. The word that the Other+ness is currently reading passes into the past as a new word is read. Then that word passes into the past and another new word is read. As the Other+ness reads, until it comes to the end of the passage, it constantly expects a following word and sentence. And then more new words and sentences are read. Other+ness is certain of the experience of reading the external words and sentences flowing in a linear order.
The linear order of reading English flows from the left hand side of the top of the page and proceeds horizontally across to the right hand side of the page, and then goes down to the next line on the left hand side of the page. The process continues, ignoring anything in the header and footer of the page, until the last line of the page is reached, and then the same process begins on the next page. Reading cognizes the external characters, words, and sentences in a linear order, Other+ness experiences, into something meaningful, I+ness experiences.
The Other+ness can read the external words with the dimension of enumeration. There are 573 words up to and including the words in this sentence. The Other+ness does not generally enumerate the words it reads. It can, however, do so by starting with the above first word “What”, exclusive of the header, and assigning the number 1 to a result. As each new word is read, the Other+ness can add the number 1 to arrive at a sum of the total number of words read. The Other+ness not only can enumerate these words, but also can anticipate enumerating new words to be read. Other+ness is certain that this experience of enumeration can take place.
However, as the I+ness reads, it is certain of its internal experience not only of cognizing the words read, but also of the emotion they evoke. As the words pass, the I+ness feels emotion. It may feel excited about what it has read and impatiently waits for more, it may feel disillusioned and want to stop reading, or it may feel apathetic about continuing to read. The I+ness may feel that its attempts at expression will never fully succeed in describing all of its experiences. Then the I+ness falls back to the position that it is certain of reading. It focuses on describing the details of reading. Simultaneously, the Other+ness uses the senses to read the characters, words, and sentences, which are external in space and time.
Then the I+ness observes that speaking sometimes occurs when thoughts come into its mind. The activity of speaking expresses those internal thoughts through external articulation of sounds, words, and sentences in space and time. In reading, the external Other+ness experience is interiorized into I+ness experience, whereas in speaking the internal I+ness experience is externalized into Other+ness experience. Reading and speaking are dual activities.
I shall now commence to read the words and sentences in front of me and simultaneously enunciate the same words and sentences as I read them. As I read and enunciate the words and sentences in front of me, the activity of the internal I+ness experience may or may not include cognizing the words. Whether there is cognition or not, a linguistic activity is being performed. The activity may be expressed by verbs ‘to read’ and ‘to speak’. The verb ‘to read’ signifies the activity of transforming the external Other+ness experience into internal I+ness experience. The verb ‘to speak’ signifies the activity of transforming the internal I+ness experience into external Other+ness experience. As the I+ness reads and Other+ness speaks the words and sentences in front of it, they perform the activities of transforming external Other+ness experience into internal I+ness experience and then back into external Other+ness experience.
Another person who reads out loud these very same words and sentences will reach the same conclusion that he or she is certain of the experience of reading the words in front of them. He or she will also be certain of the experience he or she is having right now as he or she reads the same words and sentences in front of him or her. His or her experience will include hearing the sounds, combining the sounds into words, combining the words into sentences, and possibly cognizing the sentences as something meaningful to him or her. His or her experience may include his or her own chatter in his or her own mind, which I am not certain of. I am only certain of my external Other+ness experience and my internal I+ness experience. However, when I hear another person read and enunciate these same words and sentences in front of both of us, then I conclude that he or she is also certain. I may be delusional but even then I still have delusional experiences of hearing him or her speak these words and sentences that I am silently reading to myself, or I may be dreaming but even then I still have dream experience of hearing him or her speak these words and sentences that I am silently reading to myself. I am certain of the experience I am having right now as I read the words and sentences and simultaneously hear the same words and sentences.
A different person who reads out loud these same words and sentences in front of them will reach the same conclusion, namely that they are certain of the experience of reading the words in front of them. He or she will also be certain of the experience he or she is having right now as he or she reads the same words and sentences in front of him or her. His or her experience will include hearing the sounds, combining the sounds into words, combining the words into sentences, and possibly cognizing the sentences as something meaningful to him or her. His or her experience may include the chatter in his or her own mind, which other people cannot hear and cannot be certain of. The other people are only certain of their external Other+ness experience and their internal I+ness experience. However, when other people hear a second person read and enunciate these same words and sentences, then that other people may conclude that the second person is certain. Another person may be delusional but even then that other person still has delusional experiences of hearing a different person speak these words and sentences that another person is silently reading to himself or herself, or another person may be dreaming but even then another person still has dream experience of hearing a different person speak these words and sentences that another person is silently reading to himself or herself. Another person is certain of the experience he or she is having right now as he or she reads the words and sentences in front of him or herself and simultaneously hears the same words and sentences.
Each of us is only certain only of our individual internal I+ness experience and external Other+ness experience. However, when we hear another person read and enunciate these same words and sentences, then each of us concludes that our individual experience of another person is certain, and when we hear a different person read and enunciate these same words and sentences in front of us, then each of us concludes that our individual internal and external experience of a different person is certain. Each of us may be delusional but even then each of us still has delusional experiences, or each of us may be dreaming but even then each of us still has dream experiences. If each of us is delusional or dreaming, words to express each of our experiences may be lacking; however, the fact that this and each of our other experiences arise is certain.
Now I consider the possibility that I am in a room with many different people reading the above paragraph and all the other people reading the above paragraph are created by a virtual reality machine. Even if all of the different people reading the above paragraph are created by a virtual reality machine, I am certain of the experience, whether or not a machine creates the different people in a room reading the last paragraph. The Other+ness can count the number of people in the room who have read the last paragraph. As each new person reads the paragraph, the Other+ness can add the number 1 to arrive at a sum of the total number of people who read the paragraph. The Other+ness is capable of enumerating the number of people who have read the last paragraph, but also can anticipate enumerating another person who may read. I am certain that this experience of enumeration can take place, even though a virtual reality machine creates the people reading the above paragraph. In fact, I am certain of the experience whether or not a virtual reality machine, a delusion, or a dreaming creates it.
You read and enunciate these words and sentences. You reach the same conclusion, namely that you are certain of your experience of reading these words. You are also certain of your experience you are having right now. Your experience includes reading the sounds, combining the sounds into words, combining the words into sentences, and possibly cognizing the sentences as something meaningful to you. Your experience may include your own chatter in your own mind. You are certain of your external Other+ness experience and your internal I+ness experience. However, when you hear another person read and enunciate these same words and sentences, then you conclude that the other person exists. You may be delusional but even then you still have delusional experiences of hearing that person when he or she speaks these words and sentences that you are silently reading to yourself, or you may be dreaming but even then you still have dream experience of hearing that person when he or she speaks these words and sentences that you are silently reading to yourself. You are certain of your experience when that person reads aloud these words and sentences simultaneously as you read to yourself the same words and sentence.
We read and enunciate these words and sentences. We reach the same conclusion, namely that we are certain of our experience of reading these words. We are also certain of the experience we are having right now. Our experience includes reading the sounds, combining the sounds into words, combining the words into sentences, and possibly cognizing the sentences as something meaningful to us. Our experience may include our own chatter in our own mind. We are certain of our external Other+ness experience and our internal I+ness experience. However, when we hear you read and enunciate these same words and sentences, then we conclude that you exist. We may be delusional but even then we still may have delusional experience of hearing you when you speak these words and sentences that we are silently reading to ourselves, or we may be dreaming but even then we still have dream experience of hearing you when you speak these words and sentences that we are silently reading to ourselves. We are certain of the experience when, simultaneously to our reading the words and sentences, we hear you read aloud these words and sentences.
We are certain of the external Other+ness experience we separately experience; however, by using language we can partially share those experiences. Each of us, I and you and we, have common shared external Other+ness experiences and also have isolated internal I+ness experiences that may invoke very different emotional responses. We have verified our shared external Other+ness experiences by reading the above passage together. We can now talk and share our internal I+ness experiences, including our individual emotional responses. One way to share our internal I+ness experiences is through the use of language, and through the use of language we are certain of our experiences, both the internal I+ness experiences and the external Other+ness experiences.