My friend, alive, no longer editing

England · before 1911

I dreamed that I saw this friend, who was the editor of a psychological journal, alive and well in his room, together with two foreign psychologists also known to me

Original text — The World of Dreams, Havelock Ellis

Open this dream in the galaxy →

Source: The World of Dreams — Havelock Ellis, 1911. Case report
Rights: Public domain (US)
Record type: Research case
Place: England · British
Date: before 1911
Uncertainty: Moderate — Reported in Havelock Ellis’s study of dreams.
Imagery: Friend · Book · Writing · House
Feelings: Relief · Confusion

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Dreams of becoming someone or something else, or of not knowing whether one is awake, have long interested writers on lucid dreaming; Stevenson credited such night work with parts of Jekyll and Hyde.

Stevenson (1888)

Mythological

Metamorphosis is one of mythology’s oldest engines — Ovid’s Metamorphoses gathers hundreds of beings changed into trees, birds and stars.

Ovid, Metamorphoses

Chinese traditions

Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream gave Chinese thought the idea of wuhua, “the transformation of things”, and the phrase “Zhuang Zhou dreams of the butterfly” remains shorthand for the blurred line between self and world.

Zhuangzi, Qiwulun

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images

Already at the hospital, so no need to go Vienna, Austria · c. 1895
Two boys said: move your bed Jiankang (Nanjing), China · c. 480 (Southern Qi)
The scene I had to write England · before 1911
A man clothed with rags Bedford, England · written c. 1676, pub. 1678
My heart’s spirit resigned Ye (Handan), China · c. 560 (Northern Qi)
Cultivate and make music Athens, Greece · 399 BCE