Psychological / emotional perspective: Intellectually, when presented with options of action we may tend to go for a result that gives short-term rather than long-term satisfaction.
The idea of giving in to temptation suggests that it is stronger or more powerful than we are. Often dreams can show us the course of action we should be taking.
If we are being the tempter we need to be very sure of our own motives in waking life.
[1]Material aspects: Temptation is a conflict between two different drives.
For instance, in dreams we may experience a conflict between the need to go out into the world and the need to stay safe at home. Temptation is yielding to that which is the easiest, and not necessarily best, course of action.
[2]Temptation is one of the biggest spiritual barriers we must overcome. Often it is a conflict between the self and the ego. Consult the entry for siren and also the information on ego, self and siren in archetypes in the introduction for further information.
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