 Fechner conceives the soul of the earth as present within all individual souls, much like Averroës famous doctrine of the universal intellect. All the different representations in one mind presuppose a single general consciousness; but the same is the case for the different representations in different minds: they too presuppose a general consciousness (ZA: 160–1). What we perceive or think as an individual mind we perceive or think through the general mind (ZA: 164). This single common consciousness in all individual consciousness explains, Fechner believes, how mutual understanding and communication are possible. Although we are independent and self-sufficient with respect to one another, that is not with respect to the higher mind. That I know myself and only myself, and that you know yourself and only yourself, does not prevent the higher spirit from knowing both of us. What is separation (Scheidung) for us is only a distinction (Unterscheidung) for it. 