ABSTRACT
From cradle to grave our lives are embedded in the activities of others. Indeed, even before birth and after death our presence or absence can have a profound effect on the passions and pursuits of other beings. Our births may be anticipated with joy or with dread. News of our death may elicit tears of grief or relief. Not infrequently, these positive and negative emotions may commingle, so that relational features of our comings and goings are both affectively charged and complex. In between our entries and exits, our lives are interwoven with others in ways that can range from ecstatic union to bland indifference to protracted enmity.
