The first thing I notice over tea in Tribeca last week with the author and presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is that there’s nothing silly about her. Williamson speaks bluntly, laser-focused on the dangers that American-style capitalism poses to our planet, our lives, and our well-being.

During our interview, her answers are sometimes so concise and on point they seem to challenge my questions. As soon as we sit down, I ask her what experiences convinced her that our current spiritual crisis was a collective one, a social disease.

“I never thought it wasn’t,” she says, looking almost annoyed.