cover image The Three “Only” Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination

The Three “Only” Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination

Robert Moss, . . New World Library, $21.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-1-57731-596-4

Dreams, coincidence and imagination are “the three 'only' things,” says Moss, because people's common response to these phenomena is that it's “only” a dream, etc. A thriller writer and the pioneer of a dream-interpreting technique called Active Dreaming, Australian-born Moss believes that “the Three Only Things can connect with “extraordinary sources of direction, healing, and energy.” Writing about dreams, Moss is eloquent and authoritative, a wise teacher. He says that for many indigenous cultures the dream world is more real than waking life; he argues for dreams' prophetic capacity; and he shares some dreams of his workshop participants and reveals the meaning behind certain common dream motifs. The power of the section on dreaming carries the rest of the book, which is a slightly rambling and quirky meditation packed with great stories on how to read the coincidences that pop up in our lives. Moss is a raconteur, but a serious one, and finishes by describing how we can access and use our imagination's healing imagery to help us map our lives. As he says, “[W]hat we can imagine has a tendency to become real in our bodies and our world.” (Sept. 15)