Your not dreaming, I grew up in Malaysia, India, and a few other countries. People are the same world wide :)
We can all get caught up in daily stuff, and forget our connection to the Universe. We can allow our lower self to take over, sometimes its a constant effort to remain in the higher self, (for me at least).
I'm an optimist, I believe we can change the way we live, and we can heal ourselves, and heal our planet. As the 12 step programs say, the first step is admitting we have a problem. There are many in this world that do not want to admit there is a problem, that would mean they would have to take responsibility for their part in the problem, and some are not ready to do that yet. Denial is much easier than change.