Is the devil our friend? Why did God allowed the snake (the devil) to tempt Adam and Eve? Didn't He know that he was enhancing the attraction of the apple when He prohibited them to eat the fruit? Was His intention that they eat the apple?

1. Satan, our friend?

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. 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?!!!!

7. 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.

8. 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?

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. Looked at from this point
of view, we can conclude
that the devil is our
friend.

16. I invite you to visit my site for additional
information and to download a free eBook.
“Shortcuts to happiness”
www.HappinessAcademyOnline.org

17. I wish you HAPPINESS.
Thanks for your time and attention.
Roberto Lima Netto
www.HappinessAcademyOnline.org.