From the beginning, reality is too much for us and without a deep belief in the pleasure-giving quality of the real world, man would not be able to succeed in his adjustment. The initial mastery of reality is rendered possible through strong libidinal object relations. Later, perceptive contact with reality becomes a synthetic process involving instinctual gratification. Artistic creation and scientific achievement result from a large capacity for mastering reality, while in the neurotic the attempt does not lead beyond fantasy.

There are many references to psychoanalytic literature on the subject of reality, followed by a theoretical discussion of its relations to ego, repression, rationalization and narcissism.