As we change our point of view, what appears as "real" to us will also change. A changing world cannot ultimately be "real", for the definition of "real" is that of a self-perpetuating state, hence changeless. We have been eternally dreaming..

Time itself is an illusion, a thought-made construct. We can think(!) about past and future but when we stop thinking we realize that there is only this moment. What adds on to our illusion of there being a past and future, however, is the fact that we tend to transfer old, outdated thought patterns into the present moment. We give meaning dependent on the meaning we gave in the past.

You nail once again with the "past, present, future mental classification".
We are very much on the same page!:)