Sentence:  To his Harvard colleague , Josiah Royce , whose philosophic position differed radically from his own , James could write , `` Different as our minds <WSD>are</WSD> , yours has nourished mine , as no other social influence ever has , and in converse with you I have always felt that my life was being lived importantly '' . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)