Unfortunately it is not real. You will learn this when this feeling begins to fade. If it were real it would be with you for the rest of your life.
What? farmaz was asking if the visions one sees on drugs are "real", as opposed to just some form of insanity that doesn't deserve a second thought. Personally I think it completely depends on one's definition of "real", but I don't agree that if something is "real" it will stay forever. That doesn't make sense to me. All sorts of things fade. For example I have had things happen to me that I don't remember at all, but there is concrete evidence and witnesses, does that mean it wasn't real?
It also sounds like you interpreted "real" to mean a permanently and dramatically life-changing event? I don't agree that "real"=life-changing, but even if you take it that way, I don't think you can know whether the OP's experience was/will in fact be life-changing. I have had many positive life-changing experiences with drugs, particularly psychedelics. I think it totally depends on how you use them, whether you pay attention to the insights, whether you are open to change, and whether you put in the effort (you can't just expect the drug to magically do all the work if you don't actually try to change or to remember). But even when there doesn't seem to be a dramatic and immediate change to one's life, that doesn't mean it hasn't affected us, things can change us in ways we don't readily perceive. Everything that we ever experience affects/changes us in some way.
It's as real as the world appear to us. Doesn't mean it's all in focus or isn't jumbled up signals though, that must be taken into consideration. I wouldn't be taking visions from substances as any bastion of truth though.. as DoomMood said it may feel that way but once you come down it's gone. The real deal does not fade over time, it remains. Unfortunately there are no shortcuts, if you want the real deal you have to do the hard graft and change who you are.. and no substance can do that for you.
You should also consider the possibility that what you see isn't being generated by you either. McKenna said the mushroom spoke to him, other's talk about "plant spirits".. what you see may be projected into your mind from an entity you can't see.
^Totally agree with this.
farmaz:
"Reality" is simply how our brain interprets things, it's all perception. So in that sense experiences and visions on drugs are just as "real" as anything else. But we don't know what it means or how much of it is coming from our brains and how much is caused by something external. So you have to take what is meaningful to you and not worry to much about where exactly it came from I guess. Certain drugs can give us great insights, just think about how many people have had great realizations while on psychedelics, like several Nobel prize winners who made their discoveries or invented their inventions while on LSD, famous artists/musicians who were greatly influenced by their drug experiences, many people who changed their lives for the better (found their calling, found happiness, quit addictive drugs, found spirituality, whatever), and so on. So I wouldn't say, as SS said, that if you have a profound experience you should just think of it as a pretty picture and then forget about it. Just maybe consider whether it had meaning to you and how you might want it to influence things for you. If it was positive then try to remember it and incorporate it into your life.
You might also want to check out some books on this topic, there are many excellent books on this very question and what it all might mean or come from. Obviously nobody has it completely figured out (or if they do they don't have much to prove their theory using Western science in a way everyone is going to accept/believe), but it makes for interesting and thought-provoking reading.
ETA: I also agree that certain drug experiences can totally change how we feel about life and death. That has definitely happened for me. But, one point DooMMood made that I do agree with is that those feelings can often fade - but to me this does not mean it wasn't real, or the insights weren't true, just that it can be easy to forget that feeling when faced with "normal" everyday life and usual consciousness. Drugs may be a fast track to enlightenment compared to say, meditating for 10 years or something, but with that comes a price of it being more difficult and taking practice to be able to retain what you learned.
(I love that you put Interzone as your location btw
).
