fantasy

Not all mysticism has its basis in trance states, however. Rudolf Otto noted this fact when he proposed a dualistic classification of numinous experiences: the mysterium tremendum et fascinans. In the mysterium tremendum (“awe inspiring mystery”), the numinous is experienced as mysterious, awesome,

>fantasy. The emotions associated with these intellectual and perceptual functions seem to be mediated through cortex connections with the deeper parts of the brain (the limbic system or “visceral brain,” for example), thus permitting a dynamic interplay between perception and emotion through transactions that appear…

The fantasy not infrequently involves idealized sexual partners and activities that the individual has not experienced and even might avoid in real life.

…call a screen memory, or fantasy, hiding a primitive wish. That is, rather than stressing the corrupting initiative of adults in the etiology of neuroses, Freud concluded that the fantasies and yearnings of the child were at the root of later conflict.