Fallen from grace: Hint #1 The fall of Lucifer

I've raised the question, How does one fall from grace? I ask this both of Christians and those who have not heard of Christ. I don't know the answer yet, but I am considering various hints. Here's hoping that I can make sense of it. If you figure it out before I do, please send along a comment that will enlighten us all.

Hint number one, then, is to look at the fall of Lucifer in Luke 10:18 - v. 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

I won't go into the controversies regarding whether Satan and Lucifer are the same being, whether Satan was an angel, and so on. The disputes are interesting to read and think about, but the majority of commentators equate the two individuals. I note the following very interesting parallels between Satan and his fallen comrades, human beings, and even Jesus himself:

a. Satan was created as a perfect being, as were our common (if mythical) ancestors, Adam and Eve.

b. Beyond perfection, Satan was of such qualities that he is described with the identical term in Isaiah 14:12--'bright morning star' or 'daystar'--as is Jesus in Rev. 22:16. In Paradise Lost, John Milton writes that Satan was "brighter once amidst the host of Angels, than the sun amidst the stars."

c. Despite his exalted position, Lucifer still had a free will. In a metaphor utilizing the King of Tyre, Ezekiel 28 describes the reason for Satan's fall:
v. 11 The word of the LORD came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“‘You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.
16 Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.
18 By your many sins and dishonest trade
you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I made a fire come out from you,
and it consumed you,
and I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching.
19 All the nations who knew you
are appalled at you;
you have come to a horrible end
and will be no more.’”

The prophet Isaiah, in chapter 14, makes a similar comment about Lucifer's great power and beauty, and why he lost his status along with his place in God's kingdom:
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.

It would appear then, that Satan and those that followed him fell because of an immense and corrupting pride accompanied by a desire to be exactly like God.

This is, of course, exactly the temptation dangled before Eve by this self-same fallen angel in Genesis 3:5 - v. 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Two kinds of beings, then--angels and humans. Both fallen from grace for aspiring to be just like God. No gratitude for their immense privileges. No sense that what they had was an unmerited gift from God. In fact, such pride that they forgot that God was their creator and the source of all that was good and perfect in their lives.

Wikipedia (see Fallen Angel) notes that The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of "the fall of the angels" not in spatial terms but as a radical and irrevocable rejection of God and his reign by some angels who, though created as good beings, freely chose evil, their sin being unforgivable because of the irrevocable character of their choice, not because of any defect in the infinite divine mercy.