Robert Moss

Robert Moss, born in Melbourne, Australia in 1946, is a historian, journalist, author and creator of a dreamwork technique called "active dreaming".

Biography

Early life and education

As a child, Moss suffered several serious illnesses. He attributes his fascination with dreaming from these experiences.

Moss was schooled at Scotch College, Melbourne and Canberra Grammar School. His university education was a Bachelor of Arts (1st class honours and University Prize in History) at Australian National University (ANU), followed by a Masters Degree in history, also at ANU. Following his education, he became a lecturer in ancient history at the ANU in 1969–1970.

Journalism and international affairs

In 1970, Moss started PhD research at University College, London, but soon accepted an invitation to join the editorial staff of The Economist. From 1970–1980, he was an editorial writer and special correspondent for The Economist, reporting from some 35 countries. He edited The Economist's weekly Foreign Report from 1974–1980, and wrote for many other publications, including The Daily Telegraph, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic and Commentary. He was a regular commentator on international affairs on British television and the BBC World Service.

In a paper presented to the International Institute of Strategic Studies in 1971, Moss was one of the first to identify the emergence of international terrorism. He expanded his paper into his first book, Urban Guerrillas, published in 1971. From 1971–1980, he was a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. Moss drafted a speech for Margaret Thatcher in January 1976 which warned about the Soviet military build-up. In response to this speech Thatcher was labelled the "Iron Lady" by the Soviet Army newspaper Red Star.

He was awarded the Freedom Prize of the Max Schmidheiny Foundation at the University of St. Gallen in 1979.

Moss co-authored the novel The Spike with Arnaud de Borchgrave; it became a best seller in 1980. Moss then became a full-time writer and published several suspense novels including Moscow Rules and Carnival of Spies.

Interest in dreaming

In 1986, Moss left this work as an author behind and moved to a farm in upstate New York, where he started dreaming in a language he did not know that proved to be an archaic form of the Mohawk language. Assisted by native speakers to interpret his dreams, Moss came to believe that they had put him in touch with an ancient healer – a woman of power – and that they were calling him to a different life.

Out of these encounters, he wrote a number of novels and created a technique he terms "active dreaming", which combines modern dreamwork with journeying and healing techniques. A central premise of Moss's approach is that dreaming isn't just what happens during sleep; dreaming is waking up to sources of guidance, healing and creativity beyond the reach of the everyday mind. His first speech on the topic was at the conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) at the University of Leiden in 1994.

Moss's description of the core techniques of active dreaming is:

Quick dream-sharing (using a "lightning dreamwork" process) and using an "if it were my dream" protocol so that the dreamer is always the final authority on his or her dream.
Making a conscious journey back inside a dream in order to clarify information, dialogue with a dream character, or move beyond nightmare terrors into healing and resolution.
Conscious dream travel on an agreed itinerary by two or more partners, often supported by shamanic drumming.
Reading coincidence and "symbolic pop-ups" in ordinary life as "everyday oracles".

Publications

Politics

Articles

"International Terrorism and Western Societies". International Journal, Vol. 28, No. 3, Revolution, Summer 1973, pp. 418–430. doi:10.2307/40201138. JSTOR 40201138.

Books

Urban Guerrilla Warfare. International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1971.
Urban Guerrillas: The New Face of Political Violence. Maurice Temple Smith, 1972.
Spain: Between Past and Present. Economist Brief Books, 1972.
The War for the Cities. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1972. ISBN 0698104498 / ISBN 978-0698104495.
Chile's Marxist Experiment. David & Charles, 1973.
The Collapse of Democracy. Maurice Temple Smith, 1975.

Reports

Urban Guerrillas in Latin America. Institute for the Study of Conflict, 1970.