> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.descentpress.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Fantasy - URL: https://www.descentpress.com/index/fantasy/ - Published: 2026-09-05T04:40:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-11T20:10:06.000Z - Description: Fantasy — Descent Press Index (entry forthcoming). - Author: Jae Botávn - Tags: #index, #Import 2026-09-04 23:45 ## 1\. Etymology **Fantasy** names a **complex of ideas or imaginative activity expressing the flow of psychic energy**. Related: [active-imagination](https://www.descentpress.com/index/active-imagination/); [dreams](https://www.descentpress.com/index/dreams/); directed vs fantasy thinking. --- ## 2\. Plain summary A **fantasy** needs both [causal](https://www.descentpress.com/index/causal/) and purposive reading: as symptom of a physiological state, and as symbol seeking a goal or line of future development. Jung distinguishes **active** fantasies (creative mentality; intuitive attitude toward unconscious contents) from **passive** ones (spontaneous, autonomous manifestations of [complexes](https://www.descentpress.com/index/complex/)—always needing conscious criticism lest they reinforce the unconscious opposite). [Active-imagination](https://www.descentpress.com/index/active-imagination/) assimilates meaning by experience more than interpretation: continual conscious realization of unconscious fantasies extends the conscious horizon, diminishes unconscious dominance, and changes personality. Samuels: flow or aggregate of images constituting the [unconscious](https://www.descentpress.com/index/unconscious/) psyche’s characteristic activity; passive fantasies “erupt”; archetypal structures drive unconscious fantasy. **Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common fantasy motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):** imaginative activity / psychic energy flow; causal + purposive reading; active vs passive; passive needs criticism; active needs understanding; [active-imagination](https://www.descentpress.com/index/active-imagination/) assimilation; extend horizon / diminish unconscious dominance / change personality; vs directed thinking; archetypal structures; erupt into [consciousness](https://www.descentpress.com/index/consciousness/). --- ## 3\. Academic elucidation In analytical psychology fantasy is **energic image-flow**—Definitions and Two Essays differentiation technique. Descent Press keeps Sharp and Samuels in §4\. §5 holds sample CW stamps at CW 6 ¶¶714, 720; CW 7 ¶358. --- ## 4\. Lexicon **Sharp (1991)** > Fantasy. A complex of ideas or imaginative activity expressing the flow of psychic energy. (See also active imagination.) A fantasy needs to be understood both causally and purposively… Jung distinguished between active and passive fantasies… Continual conscious realization of unconscious fantasies… has the effect firstly of extending the conscious horizon… secondly of gradually diminishing the dominant influence of the unconscious; and thirdly of bringing about a change of personality. (Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 6 ¶¶714, 720; CW 7 ¶358 in Sharp’s lemma. **Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986)** — *fantasy* p. **58** > fantasy Flow or aggregate of images and ideas in the unconscious PSYCHE, constituting its most characteristic activity. … Unconscious fantasy is the direct result of the operation of archetypal structures… (Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986, p. **58**) --- ## 5\. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive > Whereas passive fantasy not infrequently bears a morbid stamp… active fantasy is one of the highest forms of psychic activity. For here the conscious and the unconscious personality of the subject flow together into a common product in which both are united. > (Jung, 1921/1971, CW 6, p. 595, ¶714) > To sum up, we might say that a fantasy needs to be understood both causally and purposively. Causally interpreted, it seems like a symptom… Purposively interpreted, it seems like a symbol, seeking to characterize a definite goal… or trace out a line of future psychological development. > (Jung, 1921/1971, CW 6, p. 600, ¶720) > Continual conscious realization of unconscious fantasies, together with active participation in the fantastic events… has… the effect firstly of extending the conscious horizon… secondly of gradually diminishing the dominant influence of the unconscious; and thirdly of bringing about a change of personality. > (Jung, 1928/1966, CW 7, pp. 300–301, ¶358) --- **See also:** [active-imagination](https://www.descentpress.com/index/active-imagination/); [dreams](https://www.descentpress.com/index/dreams/); [complex](https://www.descentpress.com/index/complex/); [constructive](https://www.descentpress.com/index/constructive/); [causal](https://www.descentpress.com/index/causal/); [unconscious](https://www.descentpress.com/index/unconscious/); [archetype](https://www.descentpress.com/index/archetype/); [consciousness](https://www.descentpress.com/index/consciousness/). ## References Jung, C. G. (1966). The relations between the ego and the unconscious. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 7, pp. 300–301, ¶358). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1928) Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types \[Definitions\]. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 6, pp. 595, 600, ¶¶714, 720). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921) Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). *A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis*. Routledge. Sharp, D. (1991). *Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts*. Inner City Books.