external existence, the existence of each particular existent is distinct from that of every other and peculiar to it. The same applies to body, animal, and human being considered without qualification. It has already been explained more than once that what this actually means is that this particular animal nature existing externally resembles that animal nature, and this human nature existing externally resembles that human nature. There is thus a resemblance between them in this respect, even though they differ in other respects.

When it is said, “This exists, and that exists,” this affirms the basic fact of existence, actuality, and being for each, and that what belongs to one resembles what belongs to the other in this respect. This meaning, which they share and in which they resemble one another, is utterly remote from the reality of either, just as the reality of each is utterly remote from the reality of the other.

Thus, the external existence of either is identical with its reality. If, then, it is said that all other realities and essences share with it what is denoted by “reality” and “essence,” or resemble it in this respect, then this