When it becomes impossible to resolve conflicts in life, the
mind will try to convince us through certain methods that psychologists call mental
mechanisms: Day dreaming and fantasy are among them.
Fantasy is a common phenomenon. Especially when we are in
anxiety or sorrow, we wander into an imaginary world, sliding away from
reality.
If there is an intense desire for name and fame that remains
unfulfilled, we get some amount of satisfaction by vividly imagining that we
are being honoured in a function or some such thing.
We imagine of defeating in an argument, a person, who we
cannot face in real life.
In this manner we indulge in all sorts of imaginations and like to remain in a beggar’s dreamy world.
In this manner we indulge in all sorts of imaginations and like to remain in a beggar’s dreamy world.
The discontent mind gets some consolation through such
day-dreaming. Those who are suffering from severe mental maladies may not find
any difference between fantasies and reality. These day-dreaming episodes
indicate different kinds of desire hiding within us, and they also accentuate these
desires. We must try to live a real and authentic life instead of fantasizing.
Source - The Psychological Aspects of Spiritual Life by
Swami Nityasthananda – March 2016 issue of Prabuddha Bharata.