in essence and in time, and neither inheres in it nor serves as its substrate, nor shares with it contingency, origination, or need.”

It may be said to him: Your statement, “He neither inheres in anything nor serves as a substrate,” is a pure negation. Negations do not establish difference, distinction, or likeness between realities unless they entail something positive. For two like entities possess like positive attributes, whereas one of two unlike entities possesses positive attributes by which it differs from the other, since the absence of that by which likeness and difference are established entails the absence of likeness and difference.

Thus, not inhering in anything or serving as a substrate does not entail anything positive by which a difference is established. It is known that this does not entail difference in essence or in time, for two entities alike in essence and time may neither inhere in one another nor serve as substrates for one another, as in the case of two like bodies.