Doppelgänger

It would be tedious and beyond a bear's expertise to discuss the doppelgänger as a literary trope.  But the fact remains that such creatures can be found in the everyday world.

[image by pholweis]

In my experience, these doubles emerge at critical moments in a person's life.  My own doppelgänger drifted close to me during tumultuous career change, then drifted away again.  And one encounters the doppelgänger's of others only at specific moments.  Are they signs of alternate realities popping into being at inflection points?  Or the effect of a divine double exposure?  Whatever they are, they are fascinating to observe.