“Actually, Sartre and Heidigger disagreed about Descartes, specifically! Sartre liked the Cartesian priority of consciousness,” I text back. 

“Tell me, what is a Cartesian priority of consciousness?” the artist wants to know. 

“It’s about focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging feelings, thoughts, and sensations.” The artist thinks I mean mindfulness, and that it gets away from the point. I am not sure. I wonder aloud, is she aware that existentialism is a direct rejection of Cartesian essentialism. She seems to me like an eleven-year-old.