The Eden Complex: Transgression and Transformation in the Bible, Freud and Jung

Abstract

Freud chose the myth of Oedipus as the foundation for his understanding of human development, obedience to the law, and his theory of civilization, and he wrote that he saw no psychological value in analyzing the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Drawing on biblical interpretation, the Kabbalah, and the work of C. G. Jung, it is argued that Adam and Eve’s transgression serves as an archetype for an “Eden Complex” that provides a broad and useful paradigm for understanding the dynamics of individual development, parent–child conflict, morals and values, and both psychotherapeutic and societal change.

Keywords

• Eden narrative
• Oedipus complex
• Sigmund Freud
• C. G. Jung
• Kabbalah
• Isaac Luria