Are we awake or dreaming?

Robert Moss’ new book Dreamgates opens readers up to a new world where dreams enter into our waking life, and parallel worlds are open for discovering.

After moving away from life as a successful novelist, Moss moved away to a peaceful farm and found himself experiencing a new sense of himself through his dreams. The author believes he came in contact with a spiritual healer that put him in touch with an alternative life.

Moss administers workshops and training to guide individuals into a life of active dreaming. Dreamgates is one of many books and projects the author has made available for people to achieve these altered states of reality.

In Dreamgates, Moss addresses some of the things he believes connect our reality with an alternative reality that we can—through training—come into contact and learn to understand.

Moss explains how we have spiritual families and biological families in our world. He believes that there are other people or souls that exist in other times or alternative realities which are reflections of ourselves.

The author also discusses the notion of coincidence, and the role that it plays in our lives, seeing it as a way that the alternative universe is coming into contact with us.

Moss looks to indigenous shamans and ancient traditions and stories to explain how alternative realities work. Bringing in research he has done of teachings from all over the world, he explains a mystic concept of “dreamtime” that comes for the Australian aboriginal people. Within this idea, “dreamtime” refers to the time that the ancestors came to earth, as well as a realm that is accessible now.

The main objective of Moss’ book is to allow the reader to learn to become an active participant in their dreams, as well as the world they know. He provides step-by-step tutorials on how to achieve these things—for example, being able to step into a picture and travel within it. Moss believes this is possible individually, or sometimes as a group.

It’s clear from reading the book that these dream travel practices require a standard of creativity and imagination for them to work. The individual must make sure they are in a “safe space” physically, mentally and emotionally.

From reading the book, it seems that these practices can really be possible, but not achievable right away, even if the individual is in a safe place. Much meditation and practice might be necessary to get the results the author so fondly speaks of.

So, you might not be able to sit down with the book, follow the directions, and casually enter a photograph. You probably won’t be able to easily experience your second self—seeing yourself lying down while you walk around the room, but maybe it’s worth a try when you’re tripping on acid at Burning Man this year.