Full Idea
I would like to know how we could have the idea of being if we did not, as beings ourselves, find being within us.
Gist of Idea
The idea of being must come from our own existence
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], 1.01)
Book Reference
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'New Essays on Human Understanding', ed/tr. Remnant/Bennett [CUP 1996], p.86
A Reaction
I could envisage a creature with an entirely 'externa' mind, that just focused on environment, and took its own place in it unthinkingly for granted. I suppose he's right, though.