The Fall
The loss of paradise, and the birth of consciousness.
The Fall: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
Jungian writers read the Fall as the birth of consciousness: eating of the tree of knowledge, the first human beings know good and evil, know they are naked, and are separated from the unconscious wholeness of paradise. Edward Edinger read it, with Prometheus’ theft of fire, as the necessary inflation by which the ego is born and must then suffer its alienation.
The Fall: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Adam and Eve, the fall of Lucifer, Icarus, Phaethon, Pandora, the golden age lost in Hesiod.
From the Sources
After the eating, God says that the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil, and, lest he also eat of the tree of life and live for ever, sends him forth from the garden of Eden.
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden”
The King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 3:22-24. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. The text, read in part
In Genesis the woman sees that the tree is desirable 'to make one wise', eats, and gives to her husband; then the eyes of them both are opened, and they know that they are naked.
“3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked”
The King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 3:4-7. King James Version, Project Gutenberg eBook #10. 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)
- Erich Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness (1949)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Death and Birth
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Fall.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/the-fall.
Nearby in the alphabet: Exaltatio: Raising the matter to its highest degree. The Eye: Sight, awareness, and the eye that watches. The Father: Law, order, and spirit, and their hardening. Fermentatio: The leaven that brings the dead matter to life.