Attributing a physical presence to an energetic being (like we all are, a soul if you will) is where many people stop. I believe the energy is greater than the physical, so for me it’s real when these things happen. Some aren’t comfortable with crossing that line, so the energy must be their own and couldn’t possibly be from beyond our physical world.
Who’s right, who’s wrong? Both can be right I think. It is what YOU think it is, that’s the nature of energy and our interactions with each other.
I have had dreams where my dead relatives exist, just as they always were to me. Healthy, not old or dying, just being themselves. Lately I’ve been using the recognition of my dead relatives being dead as a trigger to start lucid dreaming, with minimal success. I have had some success with lucid dreaming in the past, using other triggers.
If I lucidly dream to ask them for advice or help (instead of trying to OOB through the universe like I always do) then I think it’s my energy directing the dream, so where is the advice or discussion coming from? It’s all very circular, and I doubt anyone will ever conclusively figure it out in a way that makes sense to others.
Do what is right for you, live in the moment, be open to energies that are here and now with you and life will be amazing. Reflect on the past and do the work to have the closure you need to heal, but don’t dwell on the past too much. It’s not coming back, our futures are in front of us.
At the center of this existence, it is everything and nothing, all of us and each of us and none of us. My light is now lit, and it cannot be extinguished.