A friend of mine is a wood carver. While observing a dog that was taking shape from the original block of wood, I asked: "How do you get the correct proportions?" The answer was: "I dream about it." The power of the mind, conscious and unconscious, works around the clock to make things visible.
In the above story it was a dog carving, but imagination can come in many other forms: fantasy characters in parades, literary fiction, fantasy art. Fantasies are a part of our lives. We use them for sexual arousal, to create new ideas and ventures, for fun and escape (e.g. Venetian Masked Ball), and to envisage our future. Sometimes we control them; and sometimes they control us if we get in the habit of deluding ourselves with our imagination.
Definitions:
Anna Brenner, of the University of Chicago writes that the concept of fantasy originates from two different words that are similar in spelling but different in meaning:
- fantasy- from the Greek word, 'phantasia,' which literally means "to make visible."
- phantasy- which is derived from the German word 'phantasie', meaning imagination, in the sense of "the world of imagination, its contents and the creative activity which animates it"
She also distinguishes between the duality of conscious and unconscious fantasies. To her:
- Conscious fantasies are day-dreams, episodes, romances or fictions which one creates and recounts in the waking state.
- Unconscious fantasy seems to be subliminal, and not necessarily reflexively apparent, but closely related to day-dreams.
She summarizes by stating that "The duality of fantasy is therefore recognized as both organized, conscious thoughts of imagination (and) of unconscious thought. The origin of the fantasy, therefore, decides its category."
Fantasy and Imagination in Our Lives:
Fantasy sports such as Yahoo Fantasy Football are big business. In fantasy sports you can trade, sign and cut players just like in the real world. The Journal of Sports Economics even carried an article suggesting that online fantasy baseball influences attendance at games. The same article cited fantasy baseball as a reason for the resurgence of the Major League Baseball (MLB) fan base following the 1994-1995 labor strike.
Lee K. Farquhar and Robert Meeds, investigating the types of fantasy sports users and their motivations, estimated that over 15 million people participate in online fantasy sports. They classified the most common users as casual players, skilled players, and isolationist thrill-seekers, and the chief motivations as arousal and surveillance.
And video games, role playing games and gamers certainly have become popular. They even get on television. In an episode of The Marriage Ref, a man faced his wife over the fact his role playing business, Mystic Realms never made any money.
Of course, don't forget sex. As psychiatrist W.J. Cassidy points out, "it may be necessary to use your fantasies to become aroused."
Productive Fantasy:
But imagination can be a more subtle influence in our lives. As Remez Sasson points out in The Power of Imagination, "Imagination makes it possible to experience a whole world inside the mind. It gives the ability to look at any situation from a different point of view, and enables one to mentally explore the past and the future." Stressed, however, is the importance of using one's imagination correctly by focusing on the positives.
The workings of Brenner's duality of fantasy can be seen by watching MTV's Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. The show follows skateboarding entrepreneur Rob Dyrdek as he and his entourage work in a fantasy-style atmosphere and think outside the box about new projects and business ventures.
Therapeutic Fantasy:
Consider this comment: "When I am with the wife sexually, in order to achieve bliss I usually think about Advanced Amortization Tables for mortgages. This does it every time and I’m not even a loan officer. But, the wife said I am strange and that I should think about her or at least strippers or unsuspecting farm animals, etc. I thought that the modern person is allowed to think of whatever they want? Do you agree with me that my fantasies are none of her business?" Perhaps this man needs Dr. Cassidy.
Dr. Cassidy refers to the therapeutic benefits of fantasy, in particular orgasmic reconditioning, when he discusses the problems of the direction of sexual drive. "Sexual development is often associated by masturbation with the fantasies that you have come to identify as the source of sexual pleasure," he points out, adding that in orgasmic reconditioning, "males switch from the fantasy of the old sexual preference to fantasies, or experiences with, a new sexual preference at the point of unavoidable orgasm."
Imagine that.
Sources:
- Anna Brenner. Fantasy. University of Chicago. Winter 2003.
- Todd M. Nesbitt et al. Major League Baseball Attendance and the Role of fantasy Baseball. Journal of Sports Economics. May 31, 2011.
- W.J. Cassidy. Trapped in the Web of Life. Unpublished Booklet. 2008
James Gibson - James Gibson is a retired teacher and small business owner. He is a published writer and has a wide spectrum of interests.
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