"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."

This is a quote by Philip K. Dick. He is my favorite science fiction author. I don't particularly like science fiction in general, but his stories were prophetic in many ways. The underlying core of most of his stories though, wasn't science or the future, but the nature of reality. Everyone lives in their own unique world, and for most people, it seems like they can never truly experience what someone else does. Being that this is the case, it's rather amazing how coherent and interactive our experiences are. There is a basic consensus of what is 'objectively real', even though no one can observe anything objectively. All experience is subjective.

If you accept this to be true, and anyone who is honest with him/herself must admit this, it can be very liberating. What it means is that you literally create your own reality, simply by directing your thoughts and actions a certain way. On a personal level, this can be very powerful. If you are depressed and unhappy with your life, this means that it's your fault. Maybe there are valid reasons for you to be depressed, but the key to fixing it is by changing your thoughts and attitudes. This is of course the idea of existentialism, that you are responsible for everything in your life. It's also an idea that is used in Psychology. What is more interesting to me though, is how this applies to social, economic, and environmental problems.

For example, most of the world is in the midst of an economic crisis. There are many obstacles in the way, and they are usually framed in esoteric terms like liquidity, interest rates, inflation, etc...But none of these things are real. People made them up, and they exist because we treat them as real. The obstacles are self made and self maintained. We made our economic system a certain way. We continue to believe in this economic system. The solution then is obvious; we have to start believing and acting as if we had a different economic system. The current one is made for crooks in suits to make as much money as possible, and to keep common people happy enough that they won't demand a change.

We can't depend on the people that benefit from the current system to change it. We have to change our perceptions (and actions) on a personal level if we want to change it.