Satan, our friend?

I’m Roberto and I believe that our objective in life is to be happy, and

that Spirituality and Jungian psychology, my main areas of

interest, can help us in this search for happiness.

Roberto Lima Netto, Ph.D.Stanford University

Why did God allow Adam and Eve to eat the apple in the Garden of

Eden? Why did He allow the serpent - the

devil - to tempt Eve? He certainly knew that His

prohibition would only enhance the attraction of the fruit.

Was God’s intention that our ancestral couple did eat the fruit

and be expelled from Eden? Did He want our souls to grow

through life in a difficult environment, a growth that would

not be possible in a paradise?

Clement, the third bishop of Rome, a successor of St. Peter is quoted

as saying that God governs the world with Christ in his right hand

and Satan in the left.How can God govern the world

with Satan's help?

In Goethe's masterpiece, Faust asks Mephistopheles, who he was,

and receives the answer: I am the force that intends evil but

causes good.

If Goethe is correct, the devil is here to help us grow. Can Satan be

a benign force?!!!!

Since I am not a theologian, I will explain this issue from a psychological point of view, using Jung's concepts.

According to Jungian psychology, the Self, the Image of God inside our

psyche, tries to lead our life in the journey of individuation, the journey

of increased consciousness.

To perform his objective, the Self creates problems in our life, to

force us into the right path. Could these actions be seem, when they

hurt us, as works of the devil?

Another important contribution to this discussion is the affirmation of Joseph

Campbell: My definition of demon is an angel

that was not recognized by the ego. It is a power that you denied and

repressed. So, like any repressed energy, it begins to grow and to

become very dangerous.

According to Jung, one of the first tasks in the process of deep psychological analysis is the recognition of the shadow.

The Shadow is a central concept of Jungian psychology. The human

being is born complete; like Adam and Eve, he does not know good

and evil.

When the process of formation of the Ego begins – when, in the

Garden of Eden, he eats the apple, the fruit of knowledge of good and evil - he becomes potentially able to discriminate between what is

good and what is evil.

In the process of becoming an adult, in the process of

consolidating the Ego, the person chooses certain characteristics that he/she judges correct and repress the others that he/she considers

inadequate.

Since this is an unconscious process, the individual is not aware of

the choices he makes. However, features refused are not

erased from the psyche, but will take refuge in our

unconscious, incorporated into what Jung called the Shadow, one of the

fundamental archetypes of the human psyche.

The shadow can be seen, metaphorically speaking, as our devils, parts of our personality that we keep in the trash box, but that need our recognition for us to

grow in conscience.

Looked at from this point of view, we can conclude

that the devil is our friend.

I invite you to visit my site for additional information and to download a free eBook.

“Shortcuts to happiness”

www.HappinessAcademyOnline.org

I wish you HAPPINESS.Thanks for your time and attention.

Roberto Lima Nettowww.HappinessAcademyOnline.org.