What you say makes me think of Carl Sagan's Demon Haunted World. I think people turn to "mysticism" when they feel a loss of control and hope in their own lives. On the one hand, I do delve into some things that could be termed mysticism - but only things that awaken people's "earth consciousness", sense of purpose (when it's in line with fighting for the earth, for other people, and for future generations - not for self-aggrandisement!) and help them resource themselves in ways that will prevent burnout. I hear what you are saying, of course - how much time do we have to sit around doing "inner work" when we need to stop climate change?
I look at Joanna Macy's three dimensions of the Great Turning (which I mention in this article). We need people on all fronts - yes, we need to do what we can to prevent things from getting as bad as they possibly can be (although I am skeptical about our chances of that, which is why I am in the Deep Adaptation network) , but also people there to take care of people's needs - physical/material, of course, but also emotional, mental, and spiritual. A sense of community and shared spiritual purpose can bind us together and - I hope - make us far less likely to descend into killing each other, which I think would be more likely in a mentally unwell and highly individualistic culture where people are already traumatised and wounded (or entitled and self-centered) than in a society where people know each other and have developed a sense of community. And communities (and all relationships) thrive when people take responsibility for their own healing and emotions instead of expecting others to fix, heal and complete them.
My ideal is that we do both simultaneously. Nobody can spend every waking hour fighting to prevent global heating - if you think you can, then I am sure you will burn out pretty quickly and be of little use to any cause. Just one hour a day of meditating, or perhaps one 3-hour Work that Reconnects workshop a week, could complement your work/activism, enrich it, and even help you see ideas and perspectives that you will lose if you get too stuck in tunnel vision. At least, that's how I see it... a world in which we pursue survival and give no weight to the human spirit/heart is not a world I would want to live in, and if you study societies that are already living through collapse (post-conflict, refugee camps etc, even Viktor Frankl's accounts of concentration camps), you can probably see the difference that grief rituals, community dances ('inner work') etc can make.
