Coda

Abstract

In order to become a whole person, one with boundaries that are basically not permeable, one must confront one’s mortality. In early writing, the figure of the double first symbolized eternal life and only somewhat afterward was considered a herald of death or death itself. The double we have come to know in this study finally emerged as the shadow self, the other that haunts the first self. Over the years, the term has evolved to encompass many experiences with the other that involve not only how one’s double may cause him to die but also how, if one deals with the double, one may die a more complete person. Or, alternatively, experiences with one’s double may allow one to live as a more integrated self.