Excellent wake-up post. I've often said that there is no such thing as fiction. If you imagine it, it is happening in your universe. That is why some religions state that sinning is not only the actual act, but the imagination of that act. That is why "coveting" is a sin.

Classic meditation is the letting go of imagination. If you follow the breath instead of ruminate, your mind calms and then actually disappears. It's not gone. It's just put away until you need it again.

Crossing that threshold is not the end to it, though, only the beginning, the awakening to reality. TV, internet, books, movies, blogs, cell phones are all roadblocks on this path. They not only promote the fictive dream state, they enhance it, promote it and supplant it. These are the "blue pills" of our culture, the ones we willingly take that keep us asleep and dreaming. Thank you for this red pill, @valued-customter.