Improving ourselves to improve the world

In an earlier post, in response to a comment from RVCBard, I wrote about the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam, and Sen McGlinn's discussion of islah-e ‘aalam.

I did some research to learn more about those concepts.

The Israeli Tikkun Blog
Understanding the world we live in, so we can make it better.

This means that the Jewish people have been praying for world Repair for at least a thousand years. But for many years this was understood by the Sages to mean "Repairing the Character”, or perfecting the moral character of the Jewish believer. Many tracts were written about "Tikkun Midot" attempting to explain the working of the human soul and how to perfect yourself . . .

I see improving myself as an indispensable part of helping to improve the world.

Islah-e-Batin
Purification of the inner self

Islah literally translated in English means purification. As in any language, word for word translation cannot justify the essence of the meaning between languages. Islah also denotes the meaning of repair or fix. A more detailed analysis also reveals the meaning of reform. So in essence Islah means to purify by fixing or reforming.

According to Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi translated Islah-e 'aalam as "ever-advancing civilization,” “the reformation of this age,” “rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind,” the “betterment of the world” and “to reconstruct the world."