I’m going to try to post reviews of books that I have really enjoyed; we’ll see how long this blog feature lasts. Many of the books I am reading lately are for a women’s shamanic book group I am in. I love the books we read though I don’t always finish them before the meeting, and I don’t always make it to the meetings.
The book for my November book group meeting is Robert Moss’ The Three “Only” Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination (2007). This book would be great for someone new on their spiritual journey who wants to learn more about how the divine can be found in our lives because of the multitude of easy ways Moss lays out for individuals to invite and practice working with messages in dreams, synchronicity and imagery. Robert Moss’ sense of humor is right up my alley, and the multitude of stories he tells and examples he shares create a fiction-like characteristic to the tone. Even though I’m not new to the concepts he presents, I still enjoyed the book immensely.
Moss approaches three areas that we are prone to blowing off as “only” things: It’s “only” a dream, it’s “only” a coincidence, and it’s “only” your imagination. Moss argues that these three only things are actually powerful means of guidance that we should be listening to, not ignoring as our mainstream culture teaches us. He states, "There are no impermeable boundaries between inner and outer, subjective and objective." He breaks each “only” down into a list of his beliefs about each and then supports each with narratives and arguments from people he's met and from more famous individuals such as Mark Twain and Joan of Arc.
The first part of the book is the strongest as it focuses on dreams: Moss has written other books on dreaming. I was captivated. While I have powerful and detailed dreams, I don’t have the experiences Moss details, though I believe they are possible. For me, most often my brain uses my dreams to work out past traumas or even mundane daily events rather than showing me future paths. However, I don’t believe dreams are “only” anything. They are deep experiences that deserve a great deal of respect and consideration.
The second section focuses on coincidence or what many people would call synchronicity. I feel that Moss’ attempt to resist the word synchronicity is noble but doomed. Any English major can tell you that words change in spelling and meaning. This is part of linguistic evolution. Just because a word is not true to its root meaning doesn’t make it a bad word. Rather than trying to force the connotation of the word "synchronicity" onto "coincidence," I think Moss should come to terms with the fact that language is what people make of it.
Aside from that petty quarrel of mine with the author, Moss shows that synchronicity is powerful in our lives as a sign of divine guidance. He believes that when we are in motion, sometimes literally and sometimes mentally, we are more likely to attract synchronicity. When synchronicity shows up, we should be asking why and what it means for us rather than just saying, “How cool!” I find this to be true in my own life. Recently during the middle of the night, my spirit guides were telling me through a dream and my subsequent waking thoughts that I have a "block" going on in my emotional processing that I need to remove so that I can get rid of some negativity that I am holding on to. Just to make sure I got the message, the toilet then clogged (or blocked) at 2 a.m. Really, I didn't need that confirmation to understand the message, but thanks, y'all!
The third section of the book was the weakest in my opinion, but it was still worth reading. What Moss terms “imagination” I would call “inspired imagery.” I find that the wild images that pop into my head are not attributes of my personal creation but are intentionally put in my mind by others as I experience during my healing messages. Here again, word choice is vital as to me, imagination has a connotation of personal creation rather than outside influence, though in some ways Moss is arguing there are no such thing as boundaries. I have learned that these inspired images I experience are incredibly important to listen to, and it is on that point that Moss and I agree. Tuning in to the higher powers that guide our lives in seemingly “only” ways can help one’s life become far better than one ever imagined.
© 2013 Green Heart Guidance
The book for my November book group meeting is Robert Moss’ The Three “Only” Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination (2007). This book would be great for someone new on their spiritual journey who wants to learn more about how the divine can be found in our lives because of the multitude of easy ways Moss lays out for individuals to invite and practice working with messages in dreams, synchronicity and imagery. Robert Moss’ sense of humor is right up my alley, and the multitude of stories he tells and examples he shares create a fiction-like characteristic to the tone. Even though I’m not new to the concepts he presents, I still enjoyed the book immensely.
Moss approaches three areas that we are prone to blowing off as “only” things: It’s “only” a dream, it’s “only” a coincidence, and it’s “only” your imagination. Moss argues that these three only things are actually powerful means of guidance that we should be listening to, not ignoring as our mainstream culture teaches us. He states, "There are no impermeable boundaries between inner and outer, subjective and objective." He breaks each “only” down into a list of his beliefs about each and then supports each with narratives and arguments from people he's met and from more famous individuals such as Mark Twain and Joan of Arc.
The first part of the book is the strongest as it focuses on dreams: Moss has written other books on dreaming. I was captivated. While I have powerful and detailed dreams, I don’t have the experiences Moss details, though I believe they are possible. For me, most often my brain uses my dreams to work out past traumas or even mundane daily events rather than showing me future paths. However, I don’t believe dreams are “only” anything. They are deep experiences that deserve a great deal of respect and consideration.
The second section focuses on coincidence or what many people would call synchronicity. I feel that Moss’ attempt to resist the word synchronicity is noble but doomed. Any English major can tell you that words change in spelling and meaning. This is part of linguistic evolution. Just because a word is not true to its root meaning doesn’t make it a bad word. Rather than trying to force the connotation of the word "synchronicity" onto "coincidence," I think Moss should come to terms with the fact that language is what people make of it.
Aside from that petty quarrel of mine with the author, Moss shows that synchronicity is powerful in our lives as a sign of divine guidance. He believes that when we are in motion, sometimes literally and sometimes mentally, we are more likely to attract synchronicity. When synchronicity shows up, we should be asking why and what it means for us rather than just saying, “How cool!” I find this to be true in my own life. Recently during the middle of the night, my spirit guides were telling me through a dream and my subsequent waking thoughts that I have a "block" going on in my emotional processing that I need to remove so that I can get rid of some negativity that I am holding on to. Just to make sure I got the message, the toilet then clogged (or blocked) at 2 a.m. Really, I didn't need that confirmation to understand the message, but thanks, y'all!
The third section of the book was the weakest in my opinion, but it was still worth reading. What Moss terms “imagination” I would call “inspired imagery.” I find that the wild images that pop into my head are not attributes of my personal creation but are intentionally put in my mind by others as I experience during my healing messages. Here again, word choice is vital as to me, imagination has a connotation of personal creation rather than outside influence, though in some ways Moss is arguing there are no such thing as boundaries. I have learned that these inspired images I experience are incredibly important to listen to, and it is on that point that Moss and I agree. Tuning in to the higher powers that guide our lives in seemingly “only” ways can help one’s life become far better than one ever imagined.
© 2013 Green Heart Guidance
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