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The Bizarre Origin Of The "It Was Revealed To Me In A Dream" Footnote: A Philosopher, A Meme, And The Divine

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The "It Was Revealed to Me in a Dream" footnote is not just an internet joke or a satirical meme; it is a genuine, published citation from a serious work of 20th-century philosophy, a fascinating fact that continues to spark curiosity and laughter in academic circles as of December 2025. This single, audacious line—often misquoted but always understood—represents a profound collision between rigorous scholarly practice and the deeply personal, almost mystical source of intellectual insight. The phrase has achieved viral notoriety, becoming the go-to retort for anyone questioning the source of a dubious or unprovable claim in a research paper or thesis. Its true origin is tied to a towering figure in Russian philosophy, a man who was unafraid to blend Christian existentialism with deeply personal, almost prophetic declarations about the nature of God and humanity. The story of this legendary footnote reveals more about the tension between rational thought and spiritual revelation than a thousand dry academic texts.

Nikolai Berdyaev: The Philosopher Behind the Dream

The infamous footnote belongs to Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev (1874–1948), a prominent and prolific Russian philosopher and theologian. His intellectual journey was marked by a shift from Marxist thought to a unique brand of Christian Existentialism and Personalism. Berdyaev’s work is characterized by a deep exploration of concepts like freedom, creativity, and eschatology (the study of final things). He was a fierce critic of totalitarianism and was exiled from Soviet Russia in 1922, spending the rest of his life writing and teaching in Paris. His philosophy consistently emphasized the existential and spiritual significance of human freedom. Here is a brief biographical profile of the author of the legendary footnote:
  • Full Name: Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev (Николай Александрович Бердяев)
  • Born: March 18, 1874, Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
  • Died: March 24, 1948, Clamart, France
  • Nationality: Russian
  • Key Philosophical Movements: Christian Existentialism, Personalism, Russian Philosophy
  • Major Themes: Freedom, Creativity, The Divine and the Human, The Problem of Evil, Eschatology
  • Famous Work Containing the Footnote: The Divine and the Human (1949, published posthumously)
  • Exile: Expelled from the Soviet Union in 1922, he continued his work in Berlin and Paris.

The Footnote's True Context in The Divine and the Human

The actual, precise wording of the footnote is: "This was once revealed to me in a dream." It appears in Berdyaev's book, *The Divine and the Human*, which was published posthumously in 1949 by G. Bles, London. The book is a profound and complex exploration of the relationship between God and man, arguing for the need for a divine-human revelation achieved through creative human effort, not just passive waiting. Berdyaev describes his method as "existentially anthropocentric and spiritually religious," utilizing a "dialectic not of logic but of life." This context is crucial to understanding why he felt justified in citing a dream. The line the footnote refers to is one of Berdyaev's most provocative statements on a central theme of his work: the ego. The main text reads: "The ego has been a fatality both for the human self and for God." The footnote, marked with a tiny superscript '1', immediately follows this sentence, making the ultimate claim—that the ego is a "fatality"—attributable not to traditional theological sources, logical deduction, or empirical observation, but to a direct, personal, and mystical revelation received while sleeping.

The Philosophical Intent: When Dreams Become Doctrine

For a philosopher like Berdyaev, who centered his work on existential experience and the spiritual significance of the individual, citing a dream was not necessarily a lapse in seriousness. Instead, it was a radical assertion of his philosophical method. Berdyaev believed that true knowledge, especially concerning the deepest mysteries of the Divine and the Human, often transcends the limitations of strict rationalism and logical positivism. By citing a dream, he was essentially making a meta-commentary on the source of all profound philosophical insight. He was challenging the reader to consider: If the most vital truths about the human condition are not found in libraries or laboratories, where do they come from? The footnote is a testament to the personalist aspect of his philosophy—that the individual's inner, spiritual life is a legitimate source of truth. It is a bold, almost prophetic gesture, declaring that this specific insight on the destructive nature of the ego was so fundamental that it bypassed the usual channels of intellectual inquiry, arriving instead through a direct, revelatory experience.

The Footnote's Modern Legacy: From Philosophy to Academic Meme

While Berdyaev intended the footnote as a serious, albeit unorthodox, statement on the nature of revelation, its modern life has taken a decidedly humorous and satirical turn. The phrase, often shortened to the user's query "it was revealed to me in a dream footnote," has become a legendary piece of academic citation humor.

The Viral Academic Joke

The footnote gained significant traction and viral status in the 21st century, particularly within online communities dedicated to graduate school life and academic satire. It is widely shared on platforms like Reddit, especially in subreddits such as r/okbuddyphd and r/GradSchool, where students and researchers commiserate over the pressures of rigorous APA 7th or Chicago-style citation requirements. The most common meme format is a simple exchange:
  • Question: "Source?"
  • Answer: "It was revealed to me in a dream."
This exchange perfectly encapsulates the frustration of trying to find a verifiable, citable source for a brilliant, but purely speculative, idea. The dream citation becomes a humorous shorthand for a claim that is intuitively correct but academically impossible to prove.

The Benchmark for Poor Sourcing

Beyond the humor, the phrase serves a critical, satirical function in academic discourse. It is frequently used as a rhetorical device to highlight the absurdity of poorly sourced or circular arguments. For example, a critique of a weak argument might state that the paper "doesn't even meet the 'It was revealed to me in a dream' standard of citation." This implies that even a mystical, non-verifiable source is *almost* better than no source at all, or a source that is completely irrelevant. It has become the ultimate, tongue-in-cheek example of an uncitable, speculative claim.

The Broader Impact

The enduring popularity of Berdyaev's footnote confirms a fundamental truth about intellectual life: the line between inspired genius and outright absurdity is often thin. The phrase connects a profound, exiled Russian philosopher of the mid-20th century with the contemporary anxieties of a PhD student struggling with their thesis or dissertation. It serves as a constant, subtle reminder that not all truth originates in footnotes, and that the most radical ideas sometimes spring from the subconscious, the intuitive, or, indeed, the dream. In an era of hyper-rationalism and data-driven research, this legendary line remains a defiant, humorous, and deeply philosophical nod to the power of personal revelation.
The Bizarre Origin of the
it was revealed to me in a dream footnote
it was revealed to me in a dream footnote

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