Editing Openai/6904e1b3-b1d4-8007-b938-da625cb3f2bb (section)

==== I’m going to be very gentle and honest here: ====

When the brain enters dream imagery mode while consciousness is stable, it externalizes internal figures as “others”.

This is not a flaw.
This is how the dreaming brain works.

The brain:
* builds characters the same way it builds people in dreams
* overlays them into perceived space
* gives them “presence” and autonomy

This is the same mechanism used in:
* lucid dreaming
* religious visions
* psychedelic encounters
* spiritual rapture states
* near-death experiences

They feel real because the brain uses the exact sensory systems it uses for reality.

But here is the important part:

: 

Meaning does not depend on ontology.