The idea that humans have a double soul has ancient roots and can be found in most cultures and societies, for example in religion and art. Phenomena such as ecstasies, trances and out-of-body states have been observed and analysed in relation to the history of the double soul and its occurrence in different cultures. How can we understand these experiences? What is their significance for our understanding of how people view eternity and the secular world? Can they be explained in psychological terms?

The anthology The Double Self in the Religious Experience explores the idea that people have a double soul, part divine and part earthly. Some of our era’s most prominent historians of religion, historians of ideas, social anthropologists and psychologists provide an in-depth analysis of the subject from a philosophical and historical perspective as well as giving an account of the situation today. The book includes previously unpublished texts on Hilma af Klint’s view of double souls.