In part 5 of meditation, Descartes compares God's existence to the existence of a triangle. He says that he did not use his senses to know the nature of a triangle. He claims he can think of all types of shapes that he's never seen before, but can still know the properties of those shapes. He says that he's always regarded mathematical and geometrical objects to be more certain than objects of the senses. He goes on to talk about the essence of objects and says that the essence of a triangle is the fact that it has 3 sides so if an object did not have 3 sides, it would be impossible for it to be a triangle. Since the triangle is such a clear and distinct idea, then it must exist. He continues and says that since God is also such a clear and distinct idea and the essence of God is existence, he must exist.
I agree with Descartes here a little, I think it is possible to think of different shapes and draw visualizations of those shapes from the idea of them, but I don't think just because God's is a clear and distinct idea in Descartes' mind, it means that he must exist. It just seems like there can be a lot of things that may seem like a clear and distinct idea in your head and turn out to be completely false.
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I agree that there can be certain things you think are real but are completely false. For example, dreams. Many people, including myself have had many lucid dreams where I have woken up confused about where I was because it felt like the dream was real. I don't know if there is a way to know for certain if some is completely true.
I think that Descartes likes to draw conclusions from very shaky arguments. The fact that God is a clear and distinct idea to Descartes does not mean that he must exist. I think that if God was a clear and distinct idea to EVERYONE and not just Descartes, then that would be a much better argument. Everyone can understand the idea of a triangle. If you tell someone to imagine a bound figure with three sides they will draw a triangle in their head. But you can't do that with God. A lot of people don't believe in God and those that do have very different ideas about him (or her). His argument here is just very weak...
Descartes also believed that nothing in the mind has not already been in the senses. Anyone can think up different shapes, but they have to start somewhere. A shape with a lot of sides has the same premise as the difference between a triangle and a rectangle. If someone defines a triangle as having three sides and a rectangle as having four sides, then anyone can just go from there. But if you've never sensed any shape then you couldn't imagine any other. Descartes says that any thought has at least a shred of truth to it. It seems to me that he is contradicting himself a little, and I think he is trying to prove God by using God's creations as an argument when God exists separately.
I think descartes is basically wrong here. He states earlier that we can not trust our senses because we are not sure of anything so how do we know that someone or something put these false ideas of triangles and god into our head. Just because its a clear and distinct idea it had to come from some where
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