Dream Galaxy

Diary & poem of record · People & kin

I dream only of strangers, not of you

Tongzhou (Dazhou), China · c. 815

我今因病魂顛倒，惟夢閒人不夢君！

Original text — Reply to Letian, Who Often Dreams of Me, Yuan Zhen

Now my soul is in disarray from illness; I dream only of people who mean nothing — never of you!

Translation · Editorial translation (draft)

Open this dream in the galaxy →

Source
Reply to Letian, Who Often Dreams of Me — Yuan Zhen, c. 815
Rights
Public domain (ancient text)
Record type
Diary & poem of record
Place
Tongzhou (Dazhou), China · Chinese
Date
c. 815
Uncertainty
Low — Yuan Zhen’s reply to Bai Juyi’s poem.
Imagery
Friend · A stranger · Mountain · River
Feelings
Longing · Grief · Helplessness

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Family members, friends and strangers populate most dreams. Freud read many such dreams as wishes in disguise; contemporary researchers emphasise continuity with waking relationships and concerns.

Freud, Dream Psychology (1920)

Mythological

Dreams in epic and scripture are often addressed to someone — a wife waiting for a husband, a son receiving a vision for his family — and are told aloud to be understood.

Odyssey XIX; Genesis 37

Chinese traditions

Confucius lamented that he no longer dreamed of the Duke of Zhou; in Chinese letters, dreaming of someone is a measure of how much they are on one’s mind.

Analects 7.5

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images