Throughout the Descartes’ novel Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes strives to determine what in life he can determine exists, in comparison to what does not exist.  He begins with the idea that nothing exists, and that anything that he believes exists when taken through the senses can be doubted, as the senses can often be deceitful.  Throughout his first two days of meditations, he discovers that he exists himself; not as a human being that is tangible, but as a “thinking thing” (page __).  When he reaches the third day of meditation, he hits a metaphorical road block; he realizes that he can have a distinct grasp of what his body is through his imagination, but he realizes that he is struggling to identify what this “thinking thing” (page __) is, that he uses to describe his existence.  Because of this struggle, he presents a metaphor known as the wax example.  The reason Descartes presents the wax example is to compare how he knows himself as a thinking thing, and how it is separate from his body, in comparison to how one might know the properties of a wax candle through this same method.
	When Descartes struggles to describe what he is as a thinking thing, he references a wax candle.  He describes that the candle has certain properties, such as smell, taste, solidness, size and other properties, but then exclaims that the candle’s properties change when it is moved close to a fire, and although the properties change, it remains the same piece of wax as before.  Descartes realizes that although he understands that it remains as the same piece of wax, his senses alone would tell him that the melted wax is a different piece of wax, since all of the sensible properties have changed.  When reaching this conclusion, Descartes further confirms that his senses are deceiving, and cannot be trusted to elaborate what he is as a thinking thing.  Upon the realization that his mind understands that the same piece of wax remains after being exposed to a fire, he ponders what all he can understand about the wax.  Descartes decides to move further with his understanding of the wax because he understands that if he cannot perceive a piece of candle wax from his senses alone, then his body is separate from his mind as a thinking thing.
	Leaving his senses aside, Descartes begins to determine what he truly knows about the piece of wax.  He discovers that it is “extended, flexible, and changeable” (page __), which he determined through the idea that the properties of the wax were changed when exposed to an outside source.  Although he knows that this conclusion cannot be reached through the senses, he also realizes that this is impossible to understand through his imagination as well.  He may be able to imagine the same piece of wax, and numerous ways that the wax can change, but he is not able to imagine each and every way the wax can change, therefore he comes to the conclusion that the only way he has the knowledge of how the wax can change is through his intellect alone.  This, however, can only be done when he perceives the wax solely through intellect, rather than referring to it by the color or shape.  He explains this through the comparison of seeing hats and coats walking across the street, and claims that the intellect deducts that those hats and coats walking across the street are people, which cannot be determined from the eyes alone.  Through the conclusion that his intellect alone is able to perceive the properties of the candle that do not pertain to the senses, he is able to apply that knowledge to himself.
	After determining what properties he can undoubtedly perceive of the candle, he comes to the conclusion that his mind is much better at perceiving things than the body is.  Also, through this discovery, he realizes that he must understand his mind more than he understands anything else, as his mind is what allows him to perceive things such as the candle, and it also allows him to judge that his senses and imagination cannot perceive the candle wax.  It is because of his ability to perceive the wax candle through his intellect alone that he concludes that he exists as a thinking thing separate from his body because he cannot doubt that it is he himself perceiving and judging the piece of wax without the use of his senses, and not a malicious demon implementing those thoughts into his mind.  After his analysis of himself in comparison to the wax candle, he comes to a few different conclusions.  Descartes concludes that he exists, he is a thinking thing, he knows his mind better than his body, and that all clear and distinct perceptions come from intellect alone, not the senses or imagination (page __).
	Descartes presented the wax example with one goal in mind: to help him better determine how he as a thinking thing is separate from his body.  First, he analyzes the properties of the candle using his senses, and then takes into consideration how those properties that can be sensed change when the wax is moved near a fire.  Through this observation, he moves onto the idea that his imagination is what he uses to determine that it is the same piece of wax after the properties have changed, but discards the idea when he realizes he cannot imagine every possible way the wax could change.  This idea is discarded for the realization that his intellect is what allows him to perceive the wax.  Because he realizes that his intellect is what creates his perception, he comes to the conclusion that he understands his mind more than the body, since his senses can be deceitful, and that they exist separately, fulfilling the main goal of the wax example.