The simple fact that our bodies are laying in bed while we sleep is nearly enough to show that dreams are just from our imaginations. And, for the sake of argument, in order for dreams to be anything but our imaginations, they would have to take place somewhere other than on Earth. And every dream's setting is completely different. I understand your argument that until we prove anything, we can't assume anything to be true, but I don't see the substance and evidence from your P.O.V. either. To me, it just seems illogical that our dreams are 'real' and actually take place.

I mean, society basically accepts that our dreams are not real, since, after all, we don't leave our beds during our sleep. If you're going to say you believe they are real, you should really support that with something. It's a completely radical idea. Where, if not on Earth, do dreams take place? How can the settings of our dreams all be different? Why don't others remember what happened in our dreams if they were characters in our dreams? Why is it that we can feel our physical bodies during lucid dreams in light sleep? How is WILD'ing, transitioning from the waking state to a lucid dream without any lapse in consciousness, possible, if dreams take place in some other 'place'? Something, like a soul, within us would need to leave our bodies.

If religious beliefs are behind your ideas, I won't argue. I'm not religious, but arguing with religion is not only an argument that inevitably leads to no winner, but those arguments shouldn't bother to take place, anyway. I just want to hear the basis for your ideas, because I see no reason to think that we're exiting our physical bodies to some other reality during the night. I can't prove it...but I don't see why it should be suspected, or why it should be possible. The stages of sleep and dreaming are so well-documented, along with the science behind hallucinating, that the idea that dreams actually take place seems to just be coming out of nowhere, whereas the contrary, and more common belief that dreams are just our imagination, has much more reason and evidence behind it. Just because dreams seem as real as life does not mean they really are real. From your posts in this thread, you seem to understand science/psychology more than most of us...so I'm a bit bewildered by the fact that your actual ideas and beliefs about dreaming greatly defy science.