Many readers follow Descartes with fascination and pleasure as he contends in the midst of all the skepticism in the first two Meditations. Descartes refutes the skeptics by means of his famous axiom, "cogito, ergo sum". From this premise that a clear consciousness of his thinking proved his own existence, he argued the existence of God. However, many readers find themselves baffled and repulsed when they come to his proof for the existence of God in Meditation three and five. In large measure this change of attitude results from a myriad of factors. One is that the proof is complicated in ways which the earlier discourse is not. Secondly, the complications include the use of abstract mental constructs for which the reader is overwhelmingly unprepared-including such doctrines as the Cartesian version of the Great Chain of Being, the heirloom theory of causality, and confusing terms that are used in technical ways which requires clarification. Lastly, we live in an age which is largely skeptical of the whole enterprise of giving proofs for the existence of God. Descartes's cosmological argument of causality raises questions among critics in the Preface of the meditation about what he meant by the term "idea" and other key concepts. So, even those inclined to concur with the conclusion of Descartes' proof are often skeptical and raise objections about the method which he employs to validate his argument for the existence of God.
             Before beginning his support for the existence of God, he strived first to lay out a strong foundation in which he could refute his skeptics. As the Meditation three unfolds, Descartes makes progress towards defeating skepticism (the agnostics). Using his methods of Doubt and Analysis he has systematically examined all his beliefs and set aside those which he could call into doubt until he reached one belief which he could not doubt-that the evil genius seeking to dec...