Soul friends: the transforming power of deep human connection

Part 1. Containment. Safely and securely held and soothed

Eleanor Roosevelt and Marie Souvestre: the search for safe harbor

Part 2. Twinship. The thrill of reciprocity

Telling our stories, co-creating ourselves

Finny and Gene: doubt, rivalry, and intense contingency

Part 3. Adversity. Wrestling with the angel

Survivability!

Charles Darwin and Robert Fitzroy: the dilemma of the noble adversary

Adversarial intellience : flexibility, fluidity, collaboration, and good will

Part 4. Mirroring. The self behind the self, concealed

Ghosts of the past

The wish to see and the wish not to see

Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Fliess, and the urge to truth

The puzzle solved: unwinding the mystery of "Annable Lee"

Part 5. Mystic resonance. Annie Dillard, Henry David Thoreau, and William Gilpin: the discovery of a like-minded soul

The mystic friend as transitional space

Part 6. Conscious partnership. The "found object"

The upward spiral : joy, contentment, interest, and love

Victoria and Albert: the noble ally.