Have you ever had this experience: You're doing something strangely familiar yet ... different. Suddenly it dawns on you that you're dreaming! In that moment, and for all the moments that you are aware; where are you?

At first you might be tempted to say that you're at home sleeping. Technically you're right. Your BODY is at home sleeping. So if you're referring to your body you're right. Are you your body? You might further clarify and say it's your mind sleeping on the pillow dreaming - that's where "you" are. Are you your mind?

This little demonstration brings up an interesting question about where and who we are. Can you name any specific area of your body or mind that represents "you"? And if you say - well I'm "everything" ... what about when you lose a leg or an arm? Have you lost a part of yourself? Do you feel less alive? Of course not. And if every vital organ in your body can be replaced, do "you" go with it when it's replaced? Of course you don't.

Well then that must mean "you" are in your brain. Is that a true statement? We now know the brain has several functioning departments, much like the body. These parts are all interconnected but they all have different functions. For example the brainstem controls the reflexes and automatic functions (heart rate, blood pressure), limb movements and visceral functions (digestion, urination). The hypothalamus controls behavioral responses such as feeding, drinking, sexual response, aggression and pleasure. The cerebellum helps to coordinate motor functions and is responsible for other cognitive (thinking) functions.

When you become aware that you are dreaming - you definitely have to think about it, which means you're using your cerebellum. Simply put, you're only using a part of your brain to exist in those moments. Does that mean "you" are your cerebellum, or only some of the 100 billion neurons that make up your brain?

My point here, if you're hung with me this long, is that "you" is an awfully general term. We have associated "you" with this massive vehicle you carry around called a body, really just comprised of trillions of cells - many of which can be replaced. We know "you" can't be replaced - so where are you?

If you believe "I think therefore I am" as the poet Descartes pointed out, you believe "you" are your cognitive abilities. Which means that in that dream, all that exists is you in that dream at that moment.

Now I was going to leave this topic open for you to decide where "you" really were, especially while you're dreaming, but I decided I'd help you out a little. "You" are energy. In your truest form "you" are just energy. But you've associated yourself with mind and body. You happen to inhabit a body and a mind that allows you to be aware of itself. Otherwise your energy just is. It just exists, void of the ability to perceive itself.

Energy in it's truest form exists in all matter. If you've ever heard the statement, "God is in all things" this accurately describes the energy in our universe. When energy actually inhabits a body and mind - marvelous things begin to happen.

"You" become an identity, and you associate yourself with mind and body. Your identity becomes much more than that, you associate yourself with everything you do and everything that happens to you. You take on a role far beyond the existential state of energy. Meaning that while energy exists, "you" with your thinking faculties, choose to live.

I could write a book on this subject but to maintain our initial topic of this article and wrap things up here - when you live that is where you are. When you dream, the mind and body are still vehicles into the dream world. You couldn't dream without them. You couldn't understand dreams without first having senses and the faculty to understand!

Dreams are like an extended reality. Instead of using your senses to observe the immediate reality around you - the one you spend the most time in. You're using all of the same senses to observe a world beyond this one. And the question that has plagued man for ages is whether a dream is localized in the brain, or is actually a foreign dimension that we visit.

In truth - all sensory inputs are localized in the brain. Even the words you read now are located in your brain. You observed them and they appear to be outside of "you" based on your brains ability to interpret space. Your brain understands dreams in the same way. Images, sounds, feelings .. are all given life IN the brain.

So I leave the question up to you: When we dream, is our consciousness wandering through billions of neurons and giving us sensory perceptions - or are we visiting another dimension and understanding it through our senses? Very simply, are you experiencing dreams as an external reality, or an internal one?

James Rick is author of Full Potential, a revolutionary guide to mastering your life in stages. Motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and CEO of two international ventures. James Rick also keeps a daily blog that keeps us on track by merging our understanding the physical and spiritual world. Sign up to receive more at jamesrick.com