Religious narrative · Light & dark
As in a mirror, as in a dream
Ancient India · c. 5th c. BCE (text)
As in a mirror, so is He seen within oneself; as in a dream, so (is He seen) in the world of the fathers (departed spirits); as in water, so (is He seen) in the world of Gandharvas (the angelic realm).
Open this dream in the galaxy →
- Source
- The Upanishads (trans. Swami Paramananda) — trans. Swami Paramananda, 1919 (translation). Katha Upanishad VI.5
- Rights
- Public domain (US)
- Record type
- Religious narrative
- Place
- Ancient India · Indian
- Date
- c. 5th c. BCE (text)
- Uncertainty
- Moderate — Reflection on the dream state rather than a single dream (Swami Paramananda translation, 1919).
- Imagery
- Mirror · Water · The dead · Light · Shadow
- Feelings
- Awe · Calm
How traditions have read this kind of dream
Psychological
Dreamers often report vivid light, shadow and colour. Ellis observed that vision dominates dreams even though the eyes are closed; some later writers treat light and dark as figures for knowing and not-knowing.
Ellis (1911), ch. IV
Mythological
Sun, moon and stars bow to Joseph in his dream; across cultures celestial lights mark rank, destiny and the order of the cosmos.
Genesis 37
Chinese traditions
The moon in Chinese poetry is a shared light across distance — the same moon seen by people far apart — which is why it appears so often in dreams of absent loved ones.
Su Shi; Du Fu
These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.
Dreams that share its images
- Father, don’t you see that I am burning? Central Europe · before 1900
- My old friend entered my dream Qinzhou (Gansu), China · 759
- Who is dead in the White House? Washington, D.C., USA · early April 1865 (as reported)
- What pain it was to drown London, England · c. 1593 (play)
- The sun fell into the water Feicheng, Shandong, China · c. 500 (Northern Wei)
- A statue running with blood Rome (setting) · 1599 (play); set 44 BCE