Out-of-body experiences, often framed as departures from the flesh, are in fact elaborate productions of the nervous system—dreams that embody rather than escape. The sense of leaving is generated inside, through vestibular distortions, neural discharges, and the brain’s capacity to simulate space. In this view, the body is not an obstacle but the very medium that makes such visions possible: a cage only insofar as it defines boundaries, yet simultaneously the indispensable architecture that houses and sustains the mind. To dream is to remain embodied, to inhabit the paradox of confinement and refuge at once.
