they resemble one another is what they share: the universal meaning. This very meaning does not exist externally in abstraction from the two; rather, a share of it exists in each. Thus, considered as universal, it does not exist externally, whereas, considered as particular, it does. Considered as unrestricted, in opposition to being restricted, it does not exist externally, for nothing exists externally that is unrestricted rather than restricted. As for being unrestricted even with regard to restriction itself—namely, the unrestricted that precludes its being restricted—it may be said to exist externally. Yet it exists while restricted, not as something unrestricted and free of restriction.

Likewise, between one living being and another, or one knowing being and another, there must be some resemblance. This is their sharing at the second level, the level of knowledge: a general, universal meaning encompassing both arises in the knower’s mind, just as an unrestricted meaning and a particular meaning arise in his mind. That general meaning is called the shared meaning, and it is that in which the two resemble one another