ABSTRACT
All perceptions are in a sense 'interpretations'. Just as a phantasy of having the mother inside can be linked with terror of men, so the belief in God can be linked with terror of large categories of people, or with a desire to punish and attack them. In phantasy, the mother's breast, just like God, giving strength which far outweighs the strength of the individual. Such phantasies can lend the most powerful force to adult experience and behaviour. Great deeds have been done, great sacrifices made and great crimes committed in the name of God the Father. Phantasies sometimes approximate quite closely to reality, using the word reality in a common-sense way. Words which name phantasies are a tool which can make the experiencing of them in a more conscious way possible and bearable: it is this experiencing in a new and safer context which effects change, and also makes sense of the words.
