I found Warren Poland's address quite evocative, often moving, and intriguing on several levels.

First, it can be contemplated in the context of Poland's own theoretical evolution, as a distillation of themes identifiable as his unique “handwriting,” as a further development of some of his lifelong concerns. In an early paper on tact Poland (1975) already speaks of achieving “a union of touching while acknowledging essential separateness” (p. 158). Later on he suggests that neutrality is “born out of [the analyst's] respect for the essential otherness of the patient” (Poland 1984, p. 283).