Day to day I would say that dreams are nothing more than random firing of the neurons.
But, I've had two precognitive dreams that kind of mess up that view.
There's an idea I had that could ''explain'' precognitive dreams... Nothing scientific... just a thought exercise...
Imagine yourself at the bottom of the Empire State building in New York. What do you see? You see the other buildings that are directly around you...
Now imagine yourself at the top of the Empire state building... What do you see? You see A LOT more than you could see at the bottom right? You can see most buildings of New York and can probably see pretty far away... In other words, you have an entirely different perspective on things...
Now on a 2-D map, you are always at the same place whether or not you are at the bottom or the top of the Empire State Building... (Imagine a typical flat map of New York with a flashing dot meaning 'you are here'.
It's only when you add the 3rd dimension (height) that you can explain the fact that your point of view changes...
What if we apply this idea to our dreams...?
When we sleep, we are on different wave length. Our perception of time is completely altered. From a scientific point of view, even our brain generates different wave patterns... Perhaps dreams give us access to a different or
larger perspective of the ''HERE'' and the ''NOW''... When we are awake, we are mostly concerned with what is directly close to us... But when we dream, I would think that being on a different wavelength of consciousness opens up the field of perception to another level...
If I try to connect the dots in my rambling, the waking mind would be the equivalent of you standing at the bottom of the building, but the dreaming mind would be at the top of the building... It can see further in space and time, but not with as much clarity as the waking mind... This would explain how dreams could have a precognitive quality... Or perhaps 'meta-cognitive' would be a better word...
The metaphor shouldn't be taken too literally... But you get the idea... If i'm clear enough...