ABSTRACT
The symbol of the Devil rose up in Frank's consciousness because certain symbols which would otherwise have expressed the complex of ideas and feelings whose repudiation was incorporated in the symbol of the Devil were not available to him. The idea of the Devil is a metaphor; so is the idea of God, in the sense that anyone's view of God Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or whatever a metaphor is for that which passes understanding. It must seem strange that a person would attribute to the Devil the responsibility for his sexual wishes. There are also elements of an association between sexuality and the personified symbols of evil in the Hebrew literature. One also finds, as a major theme in the writings of the early church Fathers, an explicit association between subjectively felt sexuality and the agency of the Devil. Sexuality came to symbolize the rejection of God's claims to precedence over any other possibility of love.
