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November/December 2007 Spirituality
The Three 'Only' Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination

Robert Moss

Robert Moss, author of The Three "Only" Things and a dream teacher, shares how dream time can change your life.

Q. When did your interest in dreams and coincidence begin?

A. As a child, growing up in my native Australia, I survived three near-death experiences that made me very strongly aware that the physical world is not the only reality. The first person I knew who was able to confirm my experiences was an Aboriginal boy who came from a tradition that teaches that the dream world may be more real, not less real, than the world of ordinary physical existence, and that our true spiritual teachers  - and the nature of our soul's purpose  - are to be found in the dream time.

Similarly, coincidence has guided my life at every turning. I once bought a property because a red-tailed hawk dropped a wing feather between my knees as I sat under an oak tree behind the house. I was invited as a keynote presenter at an international conference in the Netherlands in 1994 - the first world platform for my original Active Dreaming techniques - because I missed an airport shuttle and met someone on the "wrong bus."

Q. What is the most important gift dreaming has given you?

A. I learned from a dream guide in my childhood that the most important knowledge comes to us through anamnesis, which means remembering the knowledge that belonged to us, on the level of soul and spirit, before we came into this world. Dreaming is the best way I know to practice soul remembering. We live differently when we remember that our lives have a purpose, one we consciously accepted before we came here, and that the ups and downs of our present lives are part of a bigger story.

Q. How has dreaming been central in the history of scientific breakthroughs and discovery?

A. Many of our greatest scientists and inventors - Newton, Einstein, Niels Bohr, Wolfgang Pauli - have been world-class dreamers and imagineers. Kekule dreamed the secret of the benzene ring. Elias Howe dreamed up the modern sewing machine needle, ushering in a new phase of the industrial revolution. Modern cryptography and the first military aircraft were both inspired by dreams.

Wolfgang Pauli, a Nobel laureate and one of the pioneers of quantum physics, said that throughout his life dreams were his "secret laboratory." Pauli's dreams coached him on his scientific work, and in dreams he frequently found himself holding discussions with colleagues that took them beyond their current level of understanding. His dreams helped him to pursue an immense life project: a unified theory that would explain that there is no separation between psyche and physics at any level of reality. Its nature became clear to him in his mid-30s, when he dreamed that Einstein came to him and told him that must accept a new dimension to reality, the psycho-spiritual depth of things.

Q. You talk about how the body believes in images and those images can make us well.

A. An image sends electrical sparks through your whole body. This shows up when an EEG records brainwaves. At the same time, an image sends a stream of chemicals washing through you. If you dwell on images of grief and failure, you are manufacturing "downers." If you can shift your mind to a relaxing scene you produce a natural tranquilizer whose chemical structure is very similar to Valium. If you summon up images of triumph, you mobilize neuropeptides that boost your immune system.

In its internal workings, the body does not seem to distinguish between a strong image and a physical event. There is immense potential for healing here  - as is increasingly recognized in the healthcare community, if we choose to give our focus to positive images that are right for us.

Q. How do you live by coincidence in everyday life?

A. I play the game of assuming that anything that enters my field of perception could be a message from the universe, large or small. I love playing simple coincidence games like opening a book at random and seeing what pops up on the page, or scheduling five minutes of unscheduled time a day to pay attention to whatever is going on around me  - on a busy street or a quiet wood  - and see what the world is saying.

I've learned that coincidence may be wild, but it's never truly random. It follows certain rules. One of these is that every setback offers an opportunity. Another is the law of attraction: our thoughts and feelings are actions, and they produce results. We are ready for a juicier, more creative life when we take that concept further and recognize that the passions of the soul work magic, and will draw fabulous events, people and opportunities to us if we can only trust ourselves to follow our deepest and truest desires.

Robert Moss, author of The Three "Only" Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination, is a world authority on dreams and a professor of ancient history. See Moss at events on Nov. 10 at The Coast Bellevue Hotel in Bellevue, on Nov. 12 at New Renaissance Bookshop in Portland and on Nov. 30 at Stonehouse Bookstore in Kirkland. Visit www.mossdreams.com.