Max Heindel - Mysteries of the Great Operas

The following quoted text from "Mysteries of the Great Operas" by Max Heindel just made me look at things a different way:

"As exercise is necessary to the development of physical muscle, so development of the moral nature is accomplished through temptation.  The Ego being given choice, may exercise it in whatever direction it chooses, for it learns just as well by its mistakes as by right action in the first place, perhaps even better.  There in the Job myth, the devil is permitted to tempt; and in the Faust myth he makes the request:

"My Lord, if I may lead him as I choose, I wager Thou him yet wilt lose."
To this the Lord replies:
"'Tis granted thee!  Divert
This spirit from its primal source,
Him mayst thou seize, thy power exert,
If he will go the downward course.
But stand ashamed when thou art forced to own,
A good man in his darkest aberration
Still knows the path that leadeth to salvation.
Go, thou art free to act without control.
I do not cherish hate for such as thee;
Of all the spirits of negation
The cynic is least wearisome to Me.
Man is too prone, activity to shirk,
And undisturbed in rest he fain would live;
Hence this companion purposely I give
Who stirs, excites, and must as devil work.
But ye, O faithful Sons of God, none wronging,
Rejoice in all of everliving beauty,
The everliving, evergrowing, and becoming;
Now gird yourselves about with love and duty."

So I see this illustrating a man who is at the center.  Or at least he is seeking to find the center where he came from.  To dwell in the center he must be selfless, he must not identify with objects, he must be un-attached from everything including self.  To test one's worthiness of dwelling  in the center temptation must be put before man.  If he can deny temptation and remain balanced then he has shown his worthiness.  His balanced thinking is what keeps him there.  Not a biased God or anything of the sort.  If he thinks as the Creator does then he is balanced as the Creator is.  Balance remains in this void.  If you are not in line with the center circle it means you have unbalance within.  Man gains the most experience through leaving this center void.  If he learns from his experience correctly through pain and suffering, he will realize he seeks to dwell in the stillness at the core.  Because all is in motion it is not easy to hit this target.  He must work with the external world.  Most times he will swing to the other side.  He does not have his base as of yet.  As he learns more and more of the extended poles he can start to shift less and less until he finds the center.  Once he can hold his place in suspension, move along in rhythm with the Creator, he and the Creator shall be One.  So when we give in to temptation we are being induced away from our true Self, our true nature.

You could also look at this from the standpoint of the fall from heaven down into matter.  Man was tempted with knowledge of the creative faculty by the Lucifer spirits and so that he would feel pain, die and gain experience slowly working his way back up to heaven.  Either way, I love the allegory that the book Faust illuminates to the world.