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An unceasing dialogue between conscious and unconscious is at the source of life. However, such a dialogue is only thinkable if we assume that the parts of the psyche are inseparable. This is the assumption on which the major concepts of Jungian theory are based: for example, the autonomous complex with affective tonality, the compensatory function of the unconscious, the symbol, and the transcendent function. On the basis of a clinical case, the author examines the vicissitudes of the dialogue between the ego and shadow. Indeed, although this interaction is a source of life, it is not always easy, because it exposes the individual to the disturbing experience of his or her own mortality. Dialogue with the shadow can be especially difficult and dangerous when, due to a fragile ego, the self takes up too much space, especially when self-defense mechanisms are activated.