Here is something that I stumbled upon by Ray Kurzweil in the NY Times,
"When I go to sleep I assign myself a problem, without trying to solve the problem," he said. Then during his waking moments, between consciousness and slumber, he revisits the problem. "It is a great time for creative thinking," he said. "You can think of new connections, new approaches that you wouldn't otherwise think of."
Gives a whole new dimension to the process of dreaming.
[Note: this is an old entry from my typepad site, which will be going down soon]
Posted by elkaim at November 23, 2003 2:24 PM