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After delineating the orthodox religious position in such problems as sin and salvation and that of man vis-à-vis the universe and God, the author contrasts it with psychoanalytic thought. He discusses in particular the problem of freedom of the individual and shows how Freud's conceptualization of dualism between Eros and Thanatos, and of a complex psychic structure composed of drives and defenses against them, offers the individual psychic freedom, in contrast to the gnostic view whereby man, being a creature of God, remains under his power throughout eternity. The author notes the interest in symbols, common to both psychoanalysis and religion: religion emphasizes symbolism along esoteric lines, going from the concrete to the abstract; Freud believed that the symbol goes from the less concrete to the more concrete and has an infinitely more precise meaning which harks back to earlier stages of development. Pasche then examines certain formal similarities between religion and analytic concepts and procedures. The dualism between soul and body found in religion finds an analogy in psychoanalysis in the ego and the id. Similarly, the concept of a superego stemming from the Oedipal wish to destroy the primal father is reminiscent of the concept of original sin. Certain analytic procedures, such as free association, interpretation, and reconstruction, appear to be similar to certain practices prescribed in the Zohar for the illumination of the theosophic mystery.