Praise for Active Dreaming
“Active Dreaming is a soul-nurturing, imagination-firing book! Avowed storyteller and webmaster of dream landscapes Robert Moss challenges us to dream forward into our personal and collective futures to give the Great Story of humanity meaning and purpose. The dreamscapes he conjures are full of surprises and hope!”
— Dorothea Hover-Kramer, psychotherapist and author of Second Chance at Your Dream and Healing Touch
“If you are searching for a way to reconnect with your authentic self, read Active Dreaming by Robert Moss. This book’s timeless techniques and thoughtful guidance will bring you back to the springs of personal wholeness. I highly recommend it.”
— Robert Waggoner, author of Lucid Dreaming
“Robert Moss’s Active Dreaming prescribes medicine to heal the pervasive drought of dreams in our society. From stories to dreams to instructions on how to navigate the bountiful ocean of dreaming, we readers journey toward the heart of what it is to be human. Illuminating, compassionate, and practical, Active Dreaming will inspire dreamers of all ages and walks of life everywhere.”
— Denyse Beaudet, PhD, author of Dreamguider: Open the Door to Your Child’s Dreams
“Dreaming may be our most important natural resource, one that everyone has access to and one that can never run out. Robert Moss teaches us how to tap that resource for the benefit of our waking lives and the healing of our world. Robert is a wizard of the Dreamways and a master teacher. In this exciting, outstanding book he works his special magic, giving us practical tools for bringing our dreams to life and our lives to dream. No one does it better.”
— David Spangler, author of Subtle Worlds: An Explorer’s Field Notes
“Robert Moss’s invitation to ‘wake up and dream’ opens the door to the world within the world of our sleeping and waking dream life, where the self merges with the Self. In a book both enchanting and practical, he provides the compass and map for the journey and serves as wise, compassionate, and soulful guide.”
— Judy Reeves, author of A Writer’s Book of Days
“Robert Moss’s extraordinary dreamwork, in my opinion, comes from the fact that he is not confined, as are we psychologists, to scientific rationale, methods, and explanations. Instead, his background in journalism has opened his mind as a storyteller. In Active Dreaming, Moss helps us explore the immense possibilities in consciousness that our dreams reveal, leaving us in a new world of meaning and adventure.”
— Henry Reed, PhD, author of Dream Medicine, known as the father of the modern dreamwork movement
“This book sits at the intersection of poetry and practicality. Robert Moss speaks to a world we each inhabit and only dimly understand. Read this book. You will be a little more awake and a little clearer, and you will probably greet the world with a little more acceptance.”
— Peter Block, coauthor of The Abundant Community
“Active Dreaming is a jewel of a book! This is an important, practical guide providing powerful tools to chart a way to choose and live the life we desire. Robert Moss’s teachings are clear and empowering. Active Dreaming is a book that we can continue to turn to for deep wisdom, rich teachings, and inspiration time and time again. This book not only helps us to personally transform our lives but also provides a path to transform the world we live in.”
— Sandra Ingerman, MA, author of Soul Retrieval
“In Active Dreaming, Robert Moss shows how we can be active participants in our dream world. Active Dreaming is one of the most practical guidebooks on dreams currently available. Highly recommended.”
— Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Words
“Robert Moss gives readers a road map to chart our courses through life, complete with suggestions on how to find the perfect balance of passions and skills to live a life we love. Thanks, Robert, for reminding us and for providing inspiring directions on how to live each day like a holiday, as well as showing us how to become dream guides for others!”
— Patricia Garfield, PhD, author of Creative Dreaming
Copyright © 2011 by Robert Moss
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, or other — without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Text design by Tona Pearce Myers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moss, Robert, date.
Active dreaming : journeying beyond self-limitation to a life of wild freedom / Robert Moss.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 235) and index.
ISBN 978-1-57731-964-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Dreams. 2. Self-actualization (Psychology) I. Title.
BF1091.M789 2011
154.6′3—dc22
2011001544
First printing, April 2011
ISBN 978-1-57731-964-1
Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Prologue: Making Every Day a Holiday
Introduction: Three Modes of Active Dreaming
2. How to Break a Dream Drought
3. Talking and Walking Our Dreams
4. Keeping Your Books of Night and Day
Part Two. Active Dreaming for Conscious Living
8. Reclaiming the Power of Naming