The Perils of Autonomous Desire

I am coming to understand that conscious volition (a.k.a. free will) is a pale comparison at best to the volitional forces that dominate our unconscious minds. A clear example of this is the simple and obvious control that I have over my waking fantasies. I can ostensibly fantasize about anything I want, quite literally, as most people can. But, I have almost no controll at all over what fantasies give me pleasure, and/or which invoke only pain. These "underlying" motivations for my fantasies seem almost exclusively controlled and determined somewhere deep in my unconscious mind. I would even argue that the pleasure or pain I receive from a fantasy, not to mention any real-life event, is largely determined by "the collective unconscious", as Jung called it.

This begs the question: If I can control the fantasy, but not the desired effect, then who or what is really in control? Me - or my desire?

J.D. January 3, 2016