Eve was created last, but woke up first. Both Adam and Eve bit the apple and recognized things they had not noticed before. They broke a rule and the honeymoon in paradise came to an end. Together they were awake, and in the muddle of their mischief. It was a fruitful muddle, for Eve awakened to soul and Adam looked on her with new eyes.

Like the first couple, it is inevitable that our relationships (in family, friendship, marriage or the workplace) dare us to break the rules we unconsciously agreed to in the beginning. Each individual wakes up to different things, but the waking follows a basic pattern. The Garden of Eden story mirrors the dynamics involved in becoming more conscious, the claims such awareness makes on us, and the ways in which we cling to our slumber.

An alchemical axiom says, “One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the One as the fourth.” Jung equated this formula to the exercise of individuating, or becoming more of who we are. The lecture will apply the Eden narrative and the alchemical blueprint to each other, and illuminate the process by which we as individuals deepen and expand our knowledge of ourselves.