Any number of people with spiritual leanings told me that seeking to do anything at the political level is forcing one’s will on the world.

That you aren’t forcing your will on the world doesn’t mean that nobody else does. Texas Oil is still forcing its will on the world. Christian Right is still forcing its will on the world. Marxist feminists are still forcing their will on the world. All this attitude does is make yourself irrelevant to the running of the world while the world goes on with its wrongs.

The people who are most inclined to give credibility to people who believes such things are people with spiritual leanings. When these become irrelevant to the running of the world, the results are terrible. The world fails to benefit from the insight and discernment that is had by the people who see the problems of the world and care about them. These people are told to focus instead on working on themselves. There is merit to working on the self; there is no merit to letting the world go to hell while you are doing that.

In “Revolution,” Beatles said, “it’s gonna be all right.” It has not been all right. We have global warming. We have the federal debt. We have the war in Ukraine. We have hideous relations between the genders. Not focusing on the world’s problems does not make them go away. You spin off into irrelevance; problems keep getting bigger. Others say that the world will take care of itself. No; it will take care of itself when we take care of it.

It should be able to have spiritual values and do what needs to be done in the world. By all means work on yourself, but don’t neglect the world while you are doing that. In most cases there are problems both with oneself and one’s environment, and effort needs to be made in both directions. Work on yourself; also do what you need to do for the world. And see wisdom matter to both yourself and the world.