1955. The same thing applies to disputes, where the truth gets lost to the extent that the mind longs for them, unless one proceeds from a general truth as the premise one is trying to defend. Nevertheless, that premise is overshadowed when one is too intensely bent on disputes, for then the truth is obscured. All the counter-arguments against the general truth cannot be refuted, because some are very far-fetched (which the human mind, however, regards as very obvious), and some are very obvious, as we should know if just one truth is put forward, namely, that the Lord governs the universe, both heaven and earth, and that He does evil to no one. Myriads of myriads of objections can be raised against these truths, which the human mind is unable to dispel, and if the mind dwells too long on the objections, it is obscured, divided, and eventually denies, as I was often enabled to learn from spirits. For there is no universal truth that does not contain myriads of myriads of truths, against which there are just as many objections, because just as many opposites. Every truth has its opposite. A mind seeing things upside down favors those opposites, and becomes blind. 1748, 13 May.