  Building on his claim that clear and distinct perceptions are true, Descartes seeks to establish various results concerning the nature of reality, including the existence of a perfect God as well as the natures of mind and matter (to which we turn in the next subsection). Here we must ask: What is the human mind that it can perceive the nature of reality? Descartes has a specific answer to this question: the human mind comes supplied with innate ideas that allow it to perceive the main properties of God (infinity and perfection), the essence of matter, and the essence of mind. For readers  in Descartes' day, this claim would naturally raise a further question: assuming that these innate ideas concern “eternal  truths” about God, matter, and mind,  do these truths hold independently of God, or do they instead  reflect the contents of God's own intellect?