Fantasy as an Escape
When I was in high school, our health book had a section on psychological well being. One page listed out, with short blurbs, various coping mechanisms people use to deal with a negative experience. The one I remember most vividly was "escapism" which was described as someone who retreats into their head and daydreams. (I'm heavily paraphrasing here but that's how I remember it.) Reading this in high school, I felt angry that such a thing was considered a negative coping mechanism. The book favored proactive and positive reactions which for a shy introvert is incredibly difficult if not more psychologically damaging.Now full blown escapism is definitely dangerous. It avoids the problem or ignores it or becomes a delusion. As a victim of bullying, fantasy can be a safe haven because in your fantasy world YOU are in control. Control of the situation makes it appealing and empowering, since in reality bullies take your power away.
Pretty much all geek activity offers some sort of escape from reality. At a convention, you can dress up as a favorite character and not receive strange looks. Playing in a LARP or D&D session or an MMORPG, places you in a different world unlike our own where you can be anything, but you. (Not that there's anything inherently wrong with any of these activities! I don't claim everyone uses these as an escape, I'm just trying to make a point.)
Fantasy can be constructing a safe-place to go to for your mind if you are dealing with trauma or even abuse. It's also a safe-place to go if you are often rejected by peers, social groups etc. It allows your mind to stop thinking about the rejection and simulates acceptance. Such a thing can often lead to disappointment in reality and a preference to the fantasy. It helps avoid the problem.
Fantasy as Distraction
Blaise Pascal in his Pensees often talks of Diversions and Man's condition.171. Misery. -- The only thing which consoles us for our miseries is diversion, and yet this is the greatest of our miseries. For it is this which principally hinders us from reflecting upon ourselves and which makes us insensibly ruin ourselves. Without this we should be in a state of weariness, and this weariness would spur us to seek a more solid means of escaping from it. But diversion amuses us, and leads us unconsciously to death.
Diversion sounds pretty grim but at the same time an almost necessary thing. To alleviate man's inevitable misery, distraction feels necessary. So long as the distraction does not last forever, it can be a good thing. Dwelling on a problem or negative emotion can be harmful. It can hinder recovery. At the same time, ignoring the feeling can cause festering.
Humans are not meant to be happy 24/7. Culturally this is what is expected. We MUST be happy all the time, nothing should be wrong with us. "How are you?" "Good." Anything that is not a positive response is met with surprise. Misery is normal, but it is often treated as abnormal. Feeling bad feels is actually good. I know for me personally when feeling low, I can step outside my "feels" and say "I know this sucks but at the same time it's not bad. It hurts but it's okay to hurt." It's part of being refined by fire and this gives me hope.
Emotional diversion is one thing but there's also the risk of distraction from responsibilities. For instance, instead of doing homework or housework, I might distract myself with playing a game. In my case I usually distract myself from sleeping by my over active imagination.
At the same time, periods of rest for the brain are good. Studying or physical labor drain us and entertainment is necessary.
Fantasy as Pleasure
There is a great deal of enjoyment to be harvested from fantasy. Thus the desire to spend much time devoted to it. As with all pleasure in life, moderation is required. It's a terribly overused mantra but still quite necessary: Everything is good in moderation. However, it is our sinful nature that makes reigning in our desires difficult and we might fail. That's okay too, God is forgiving AND understanding.It is not good to go into extremes and condemn pleasure as evil outright. And although it feels like I've been condemning fantasy in this post, I'm really not trying to. It seems obvious (at least to me) that like anything that is pleasurable has a time and place.
Most of my favorite writers USE fantasy and it's pleasure to teach bitter lessons. C.S. Lewis and his Chronicles of Narnia was in a way an escape for the young children in war-torn England. Fantasy is kind of old hat when moral lessons are involved.
Reality
Part of why living in your own fantasy is potentially harmful is that it can cause a dissatisfaction with the current state of a person's life. It in a way rejects the amazing world which God made and makes us a little god in a world which we create. It will be in all ways inferior to reality. It can pull us away from the present moment in which we have to live.However, because of the fall and sin, the world can be dark, scary and plain unpleasant. This is not part of the plan. There is something in human nature that desires a world without the darkness and unpleasantness. We want an Elysium and we can make something like that in our minds. There is a real reality that makes our own world like passing shadows. (I'm thinking of C.S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce" right now.)
In our current culture it seems that there is perhaps a desire for adventure, to prove our worth, test our mettle physically but there are only a few ways to do that. Joining the Army (which not everyone can do), going on an adventurous vacation (which not everyone can afford), or "playing pretend" (which can feel pretty childish) seem to be the only ways which this desire can manifest.
I recently watched a vlog about "synthetic relationships" and how it has been affecting Japan. I'll link it here but heavy warning that there are some mildly explicit imagery (to prove his point, he does put up a warning) so it's not necessarily safe for work, but it does illustrate perfectly the dangers that can face society when a fantasy is preferred to reality: Game Exchange: Dating Sims and Synthetic Relationships.
Conclusion
This topic comes up to me as something I usually get defensive about. I fall into fantasy way more than I care to admit, but whenever I do I have this nagging voice telling me that I'm just playing pretend. But the good thing it does is lead me to question: What am I trying to avoid? Why do I like this? Is it good? Is this something that makes me ill-prepared to deal with life's real problems?I like fantasy. It's a fun diversion, but I can't live in a bubble world. My goodness this makes me think of an Eiffel65 song: Bubble World. Definitely sums up what I want to say with auto-tune. Ha ha!
