The Temptation
The offer that tests who one is.
The Temptation: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Before the work begins, the hero or the saint is tempted: with power, pleasure, or knowledge, often by a figure who speaks for what he has refused in himself. Jungian writers read the temptation as the confrontation with the shadow and with the inflation it offers, the chance to take the power of the unconscious for one’s own.
The Temptation: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Christ in the wilderness, the Buddha tempted by Mara, Saint Anthony in the desert as Bosch, Grünewald, and Flaubert pictured him, Faust’s wager.
From the Sources
In Matthew the tempter's first offer comes as a test of who Jesus is, 'If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread', and he answers that man shall not live by bread alone.
“4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
The King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 4:1-4. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
The devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and offers them in return for worship, and Jesus answers, 'Get thee hence, Satan.'
“4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan”
The King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 4:8-10. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
Writing of a saint's sufferings, Jung remarks that temptation is the companion of sanctity, and that analytic experience shows such temptations can pass unconsciously, appearing in consciousness only as symptoms.
“The companion of sanctity is temptation, without which no true saint can live. We know from analytic experience that these temptations can pass unconsciously, so that only their equivalents would be produced in consciousness in the form of symptoms.”
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, ch. VI, "The Battle for Deliverance from the Mother". Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Where to Read
- Edward F. Edinger, Ego and Archetype (1972)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Unions, Spells, and Changes
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Temptation.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/temptation.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Sword: The blade that cuts, divides, and judges. The Temple: The sacred precinct, set apart. The Theatre: The inner drama, and the seat of the one who watches it. The Theft of Fire: Stolen light, and the price of it.