I'm about to keel over from exhaustion -- chased my tail waaaay too much this evening (damn you, tail! Why must you be such a tease?) -- so I'm going to keep this one short, and make up for it tomorrow night:
I've always held that our dreams aren't merely mental diversions. They're actual trips into other realities. Apart from whatever dubious metaphysics this may conjure up for you, consider this: How can we have memories of things that we've never actually done? I still remember things I did in dreams from as far away temporally as childhood. If it was 'just a dream', i.e. not real, then how can I remember doing those things?
More on my dreams soon, and why I'm a big white wolf.
dream a little dream of me (and give me lots of kibble, please)
Akela