The conventional answer is that this 'something real' is the universal consciousness/Ground of Being (Brahman for the Hindus). It is separate from 'our' consciousness, in that we experience ourselves as separate from it, although we are potentially actually it (Tat Twam Asi as the Upanishads say). What is it? Pure consciousness. Where did it come from? Nowhere, since it is infinite and eternal (some might call this God). It is the ultimate source of us as conscious beings.