The cause behind this is that—either due to a lack of precision in defining the meaning of words, or due to a weakness in conception—it descends into our minds that negation is a pure contradiction to affirmation. This introduces bewilderment, for how can a thing be she is He, yet He is not she? Would we not then be like one whose ignorance joins two mutually exclusive contradictions together, which is an impossibility within sound intellects, as the great philosopher of our doctrine states?

So where lies the error? The error lies in our conception of negation as a mere contradiction to affirmation or a nullification of it. If we were to ask the logicians, they would give us a verdict that corrects the error and gladdens the heart, since negation to them is also an affirmation of sorts. If we say: 'The tablet is not white,' we are not merely negating whiteness, but rather we are negating an illusion or an assumption that it was white; so we came to correct the error by our saying: 'It is not white.'

Thus, if we contemplate it, negation refutes a thought or an assumption that rushed into the mind of the listener or the soul of the speaker and was erroneous. We then hasten to straighten the crookedness by negating what sprang to mind and by negating the faulty assumption.