ABSTRACT
In this paper I shall address myself to the interplay between phantasy and reality which I believe moulds our view of the world. It profoundly affects our personality, it influences our perceptions and it plays a large part in determining our actions. According to Freud (1911a), the basic function of phantasy is to fill the gap between desire and satisfaction. Initially this gap is filled by omnipotent phantasy, sometimes by hallucination, but Freud argued that, at some point, the infant discovers that omnipotence does not satisfy his needs, and that a picture of reality has to be formed. At this point the pleasure-pain principle gives way to the reality principle. But at what point, and by what mechanisms, is this transition achieved? Why does it sometimes fail? And what form does the struggle take?
