"No," replies Descartes; "I did not create myself, in so far as my mere existence is concerned. But, in so far as I am an ego, or an existence as a self, I certainly did create myself. By becoming conscious, I, in one sense, actually created myself."
"But," says the other, "must you not have existed before you could become conscious, and in order to become conscious?"
"Certainly," answers Descartes, "some sort of being must have existed before my consciousness, but it was only after consciousness that that being became I."
"Do you then cease to be whenever you cease to be conscious?"
To this question Descartes answers both yes and no. "As an existing being; says he, "fulfilling many purposes of creation, I certainly do not cease to exist when I cease to be conscious; but as an 'I' (ego), I certainly am no more the moment consciousness leaves me. Consciousness made me from a thing, a self; that is, it lifted me up from existing merely for others, and taught me to exist also for myself. My being as an ego depends upon, and results from my consciousness, and therefore, as soon as my consciousness is taken away, my existence as an ego or self vanishes. The being heretofore called 'I' still exists, but not as 'I.' It lives only for others, not for itself; not as a self at all, either in thought or in deed."
