Dear America,
I want to begin with this:
I love you.
I really, truly do.
I lived in your cities. I walked your campuses. I sat in your coffee shops, dreaming of building something that could change the world.
America was where I studied. Where I discovered my voice.
Where I fell in love with ideas that reshaped my life.
Where I started Mindvalley, with nothing but ambition and a belief that anything was possible.
For a full decade, you were my home.
And in many ways, you still are.
I may live elsewhere now, but I still identify as American more than anything else.
Because America—the idea of America—isn’t just geography.
It’s a frequency. A dream. A promise that inspired not just me, but billions of people around the world.
What we loved about you
We loved your optimism—the way you believed anything was possible.
We loved your rebels—the ones who spoke truth to power and rewrote the rules.
We loved your Martin Luther King Jr., whose voice still echoes across continents.
We loved your Silicon Valley, that dared to invent the future.
We loved your Apple, born in a garage, changing the way we connect.
We loved Burning Man, a wild celebration of freedom, creativity, and community in the desert.
We loved your poets, your scientists, your dreamers.
You were never perfect. But damn—you had soul.
You were the lighthouse.
The messy, brilliant, complicated beacon we looked toward for what was possible.
But lately… that light feels like it’s flickering.
What the world sees now
In just six months, this is what the world has seen:
– Threats to abandon NATO, the alliance that preserved peace for generations.
– Pointless trade wars where everyone loses.
– Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty, while the Earth burns.
– And now—bombs falling on Iran.
Another unwinnable war in the Middle East.
A war your people swore they’d never allow again.
Not after Iraq.
Not after Afghanistan.
And it’s not just the outer world we see you destroy.
We see you tearing yourselves apart from within.
- Immigration raids that tear apart families and have caused LA to burn.
- Politicians who sound like children while openly taking bribes.
- Tax cuts for billionaires, while those struggling now actually have to pay more in taxes.
- A climate movement abandoned by the very country where it was born.
And yet—I’m writing this letter with an open heart.
Because I haven’t given up.
This week, I’m helping my son apply to U.S. universities. We’re preparing for a tour of East Coast campuses. Then, I’m driving from South Dakota to Yosemite, with stops at Mount Rushmore and the great open spaces I fell in love with.
I want to show my son America. Because I still believe in what America can be.
But I also cannot stay silent—not as a lover of your culture, not as a global citizen.
This spiral you’re in?
It must be named. And it must be stopped.
Because true friends don’t stay silent when they see you crashing.
The spiral was not a mystery. It was a choice.
Every war.
Every broken treaty.
Every erosion of trust.
It didn’t just happen. It was chosen through voting decisions.
By people who, often unknowingly, chose:
- Ego over empathy.
- Charisma over character.
- Soundbites over substance.
And I don’t blame you.
You were caught in a storm of propaganda. You were tired, misled, afraid.
But we need to be honest:
When you vote for leaders who enable war, destabilize peace, and govern through vengeance, you are not just voting for policy. You are voting for self-destruction.
What happened to service?
A great American president once said:
“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy
Another said:
“We must never remain silent in the face of injustice.” – Barack Obama
Even Ronald Reagan once called America a “shining city upon a hill.”
What happened to that America?
Now we see leaders who sow division instead of unity.
Who thrive on conflict rather than compassion.
Who look not to serve, but to rule.
And as Sun Tzu warned:
“Some men would set their own nation ablaze, just to be king over the ashes.”
Can you recognize them?
Because now more than ever, you must.
America, you’ve always known how to tell the story. Now it’s time to live it.
Think of your heroes.
The ones you’ve shown us on screen for decades.
Will Smith in Independence Day.
Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.
They save the world, not just themselves.
They protect their families, but they also rise to a higher mission.
That’s what made us fall in love with you.
Your heroes were never selfish.
They were flawed, yes. But they stood up for something bigger.
So why, in real life, do you so often vote for the opposite?
Your vote is not just yours
I say this with love—and urgency:
Your vote doesn’t just affect your neighborhood. It affects the entire planet.
- It affects the air we all breathe.
- The treaties we all depend on.
- The peace we all hope for.
- The future our children will inherit.
This is no longer about party loyalty or economic policy.
This is about consciousness.
This is about whether the most powerful country on Earth will continue to operate from fear and ego —
Or rise into wisdom and service.
What the world needs from you now
We don’t need another American empire.
We need an American elder.
Not one who dominates. One who guides.
Not one who fears. One who serves.
Because you were never meant to be a fortress.
You were meant to be a lighthouse.
But a lighthouse cannot fulfill its purpose if it forgets to shine inward first.
You taught us to dream. Now we’re asking you to dream again.
The world doesn’t hate you.
We’re not laughing at you.
We’re just watching… and hoping.
Hoping that the America we believed in is still in there.
The next time you march in the streets,
March for all of us.
Not just for the poor or hungry in your zip code.
But for the citizens of our shared planet who need you to shine again.
And when the time comes…
Vote with your heart. And with your higher self.
The choice is yours
Not every election is a turning point.
But some are.
And the one you’re facing now?
This is that moment.
You can vote for leaders who turn the world into a battlefield.
Or vote for those who understand that true power is service.
You can choose:
- Ego or evolution
- Division or destiny
- Fear or future
The world is not asking you to be perfect.
We are simply asking you to remember who you are, at your best.
The America that marched with MLK.
That wrote the Moonshot speech.
That created iPhones, NASA, jazz, and the dream that all humans are created equal.
That’s the America we still believe in.
That’s the America the world needs.
Let that be the America you choose.
— Vishen
Founder, Mindvalley
Citizen of Earth.
Forever shaped by the promise of America.
PS: This letter isn’t just mine—it’s a conversation we all need to have. I’d love to hear how this landed for you. What do you believe America still stands for? What does it need to stand for?
Share your comments below.
Let’s make this a space for reflection, dialogue, and hope.
958 Responses
I never comment on posts, but this time I have to. Brilliantly written, with courage and compassion. I share your voice, concerns, and hopes from far-away South Africa. Thank you, Vishen, for speaking up when others stay silent.
Thank you, thank you, thank you♥️ for your wise words. I have been waiting for somebody like you to react to that horrible situation in US. Where is the love, empathy, respect for others and acceptance of differences? They have been forgotten and replaced by selfishness, hatred and violence. Right now I wish that these ideas and lessons that you, Vishen, and your colleagues teach, should be included in the education programs of all schools, universities and communities.
With a broken heart greetings from Finland:
Humanity is lost (or is it?), help💔
I wonder if the probems we are seeing across the world are part of a greater problem rooted in the explosion of the total human population. Is this a turning point where we are figuring out how and if we can all still live and share planet earth together or have we reached a threshold where this has become too challenging and a major shift and rebalancing has to occur. through the effects of territorial war and climate change. I pray we can find a smarter, peaceful way forward where humanity and earth can prosper together in a new way.
Vishen, you said:
“We don’t need another American empire.
We need an American elder.
Not one who dominates. One who guides.
Not one who fears. One who serves.”
Would you react, over-react, if I said that is Khamenei, that’s right Ayotollah Khameini?
He is what you ask for…if he was perceived as “soft” to the West.
Khamenei is scoffed at for his age, for his beard (“why doesn’t he just use a Gillette and wear a suit, then we might listen to him”?) and countless other pernickety and superficial judgments from the West.
…From the same culture and tradition as Rumi, the philosopher poet. The essence of the Persian. No Ego.
Persia/Iran may have become “radicalized” more recently. But on citing the great fall of the West, you can amply see why now, though we couldn’t see it earlier.
The father, the mother, will do anything to protect their brood from the predators at the gate. That may call for some drastic measures. But it has been so. You cannot cure corruption with the corrupt. But you can soften the “hard by experience” with truth, sincerity, loyalty, honesty, non-duplicity. Those qualities that almost cannot be found in the desert of soul that has become the great American desolation.
I am not American so I should leave all this to the Americans. But, I could not disagree with you more
The world doesn’t hate you.
We’re not laughing at you.
You wrote….,
We’re just watching… and hoping.
Hoping that the America we believed in is still in there.
The next time you march in the streets,
March for all of us.
Not just for the poor or hungry in your zip code.
But for the citizens of our shared planet who need you to shine again.
And when the time comes…
Vote with your heart. And with your higher self.
How do you know that the people who voted for the current leader, did not do so with all of this in mind?
Why is it, when someone disagrees with an opinion, they are painted as less of a thinker, or less of a cater. Why don’t you ever ask the people why they chose what they did instead of assuming ignorance or anger and so on.
We the people, can only know what is reported by the biggest political parties in the world- the media. We all know that words are powerful and that depending on how you present facts or data, the story is very different. Right now, the administration does not use the general media to manipulate public opinion- they may use their own, but those who read that are already on board. Can you be sure that the past administrations have not manipulated the masses using the media?
Right now, when a ‘fact’ is presented, no one questions the ‘fact’, they degrade the person who presented it. This is not what I call good process either.
If I understand it, the United Nations used to use American military as its big stick. American soldiers were everywhere. Doing work for everyone else, but no said thanks. A lot has been taken for granted, and money has gone missing in the millions of dollars. Surely, this is not the America you want?
A section of the community is down trodden and feel afraid of the authorities- that didn’t happen under Trump. Homelessness, veterans going without didn’t happen under trump, assassinations of presidents did t happen under trump.
Very disappointing for you to use your platform to be a political advocate for what was the status quo –
If due to the current swing to the right, American culture permanently loses the “political correctness cramp” from the past “Liberal age” I personally would be jumping for joy. I think it is high time that democratically minded people get more tolerant to at hearing points of view and ways of expression that they don’t agree with. Because those opinions are THERE, you can’t erase them by telling them they’re bad, bad, bad.
It is also important that minorities simply calmly keep standing strong and keep demanding respect in a respectful way, no matter what they are called by whom. It is high time minorities asked for the respect they deserve to be shown by actions, in practice, rather than by choice or censorship of words. Soon as we stop letting words disempower us they will cease to be effective as a weapon!
If Dems had completely ignored Trump instead of constantly scratching the itch on their way oversensitive morality skin he causes, he wouldn’t be President now. What has been greatly overlooked in all the Trump-bashing, is the role the elitist liberal culture, that eternal insuffrable wagging index finger, has played in getting it this far.
Yet again, the liberal side has been persistently focusing all it’s attention on what it DOESN’T want, instead of making clear what it does want. Constantly Democrats allow themselves to be lowered into the tactics of political shaming-blaming the other side, rather than truly standing up to what they believe can be done, and showing how that might be done.
That which you give attention, grows! This is why I like your message. It focuses on what you do want. I also like the fact that you as CEO speak out. It may however be a bit easier for the tech giant you are because of not being based in the USA – but I hope you influence your peers tehre.
More true mindfulness rather than posturing is key in the ongoing martial arts fight for public and political attention. Trump may think of politics as a boxing match, and granted, he’s good at boxing, but a clever martial arts fighter will win from a boxer triple his/her size any time.
I hope America’s constitutional democracy will come out more robust than ever (including making it possible to sensibly amend the Constitution there where it’s focus is outdated), I hope separation of presidential, congressional and juridical powers not only will hold but come out more reaffirmed as a tried and tested way to protect governments from corruption and power abuse. I hope that the big lesson out of all of this will be that while “sticks and stones may break our bones, words will never hurt us”. Instead, words are able to heal us when focussed with pure intent on bridging the polarisation gap, instead of making it bigger.
Hello friend, working on it. No fear, just vision thanks to you
I’m going 100% Europe. Still corrupted and imperfect… but it has some respect for its citizens.
Let’s make Europe great… er 😊.
Hello friend, working on it. No fear, just vision thanks to you
I’m going 100% Europe. Still corrupted and imperfect… but it has some respect for its citizens.
Let’s make Europe great… er 😊.
Very good reflection on today’s world’s situation.
As a world citizen I am deeply saddened about all of this.
I wish Trump would have listened to Michael Jackson when he sang:
“I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change”
Unfortunately he will never change.
But there is hope: a lot of mediums state that he will no longer be in power in 2027 (without revealing the details).
Let’s hope they are right.
This is exactly how I feel about this situation! Thanks, Vishen! You spoke from all of our Souls
Is this fake? Not sure if this was inaccurately generated and sent, seems out of character. What was written —It’s an interesting perspective, I see different. I can also appreciate the current chaos. I think it’s needed to get to a better place to where we are all aiming to be. I am proud for the American nation, I am proud to be American. To be part of all the courage it takes to get through the chaos, to come through arriving at a better place on the other end of it all -because of it ALLLLLL. We are going through it, not just the good parts…we’re storming right through the messy too. That’s where we are at, and that’s ok. It’s our freedoms that allow us the ability to expand and the messy chaos is part of the process. Let us get there while you point the finger, that’s ok too ..because that’s also expected in the path of expansion. We are going to come out of this greater than before. I am so happy to be an American and to be here right now through the thick of of it all expanding to more. I love where we are going. We are continuing and always will be expanding to a better place of the American Dream! <3
The success of Mind Valley as a global community of change-makers, those of us seeking to make the world a better place, starting with ourselves, places Vishen in a unique position to be of influence. I am heartened to see the Letter to America, not only for its content, but because for me as Mind Valley devotee is started to feel like there was something important NOT being said.
What is happening in, to, from, with, because of the US (all of the prepositions) impacts us all. Let this be a clarion call to those of us for whom compassion is key. Progress is not linear. It cannot be assumed. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are noble aspirations which align perfectly with Mind Valley. But a Constitution is but paper if it is not protected, lived and breathed. That which we value we must curate.
Love the discussion you are creating Vishen! We definitely need more open and respectful discussion of important issues. My take on your letter is that it oversimplifies things to make your point.
The bombing of Iran’s nuclear program was in large part due to Iranian leaders, including Khomeini, Khamenei, and others, repeatedly making extremely hostile statements about Israel’s existence, calling for the end of the “Zionist regime” and supporting groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
Iran has officially claimed that its nuclear program is peaceful and says it has no intention to build nuclear weapons, but its actions show otherwise.
Over the years, some Iranian military and political figures have made fiery remarks that could be interpreted as threatening Israel if Iran were to ever have nuclear capabilities. Some have talked about Israel being “wiped off the map” (this quote is often associated with Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president, though the translation is debated).
Khamenei, for example, in 2015 tweeted a graphic plan called “9 key questions about the elimination of Israel” where he called for a referendum to eliminate Israel — but emphasized that nuclear war or mass slaughter would not be the means.
United States pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement because of its unfairness, not because it doesn’t want to stop climate change.
It limits the USA’s abiltiy to use its own natural resources and hurts the U.S. economy, while helping economies like Russia and China, which have few limits.
Trump said the agreement imposed “draconian financial and economic burdens” on the United States, while allowing developing nations to continue growing emissions.
Paris relies on voluntary, non-binding commitments (“nationally determined contributions” or NDCs).
Countries like Russia (and China) can:
Set weaker targets.
Move slowly in meeting them.
Continue to export fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, the U.S. tends to impose stricter rules on itself through domestic legislation and regulations.
Critics argue that this creates an asymmetrical burden:
The U.S. sacrifices growth and energy security.
Competitors exploit loopholes or simply do less.
As for immigration, the most successful countries have strict immigration requirements so that they can govern effectively, and those immigration requirements need to be humanely enforced. Switzerland is a great example of this. More developed countries should help less developed countries by providing their residents with knowledge and resources so they will want to stay in their own countries and make their gardens bloom where they are. A great example of this is the huge impact YouTube is having on Africa by teaching its residents how to do anything they want to do.
First, I want to thank you for posting about this—twice now. It matters deeply, and I wish more leaders had the courage to do the same. The personal is political, and the impact of doing the right thing reaches far beyond the bottom line that so many seem to worship these days.
I’m also so sorry that you and your team will likely have to wade through a flood of mean-spirited, poorly worded, conspiracy-laden responses. I know how frustrating and disheartening that can be. So let me say “thank you” again—because I’m sure you knew the backlash would come, and you chose to speak up anyway. That’s courage. That’s leadership.
I don’t know you personally, but if I did, I’d tell you I’m proud of you—and give you a big hug. (Even strong people and visionary leaders appreciate encouragement sometimes!) Professionally and anonymously, I’ll say this: I admire your decision, and I admire your work. This is what integrity looks like.
I look forward to seeing more of it reflected in the world as more people align with morality, empathy, and the courage to care—about others, about justice, and about building a future where abundance, integrity, and compassion coexist.
Massive props—and massive respect—to you and your incredible team of world-changers.
I choose:
evolution instead of ego
destiny instead of Division
future instead of Division
Your SEO strategy is working — but so are peoples discernment, thank goodness!
I’ve followed your work for a long time and have always appreciated your teachings around consciousness and growth. That’s why I was surprised — and honestly a bit disappointed — by this letter.
While I can see it comes from a place of care, it felt very political and emotionally loaded. Instead of calling people higher, it came across as pushing one side’s view while dismissing others. That’s not what I come to Mindvalley for.
Many of us look to your platform to rise above fear, division, and control — not to be pulled into more of it. Consciousness should make room for different opinions, not shame people into one “right” path.
I say this with respect, but also honesty. You have a powerful voice — please use it to unite, not divide.
Just sharing this as someone who still believes in what you can stand for, when you stay aligned with your core message.
Beautifully said Vishen. Thank you for this 🙏
I believe this type of posturing is called selective gratitude — enjoying the freedoms, market access, and wealth creation opportunities that the U.S. uniquely provides, while turning around and positioning yourself as morally superior by criticizing the very place your success began. It’s even more amplified in Vishen’s case because Mindvalley brands itself as a global, conscious, transformational movement — yet behind the spiritual buzzwords, it’s still a for-profit empire built largely through Western capitalist structures, with a significant portion of its audience and revenue coming from Americans.
I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with building a successful business or making a profit — in fact, that’s something many of us aspire to. But it’s incredibly hypocritical to criticize others for having similar ambitions while enjoying all the perks, freedom, affluence, and influence that success brings.
I use to love Mindvalley; I just don’t care for its “King” anymore.
Thank you Vishen! I appreciate your candid and open letter to the American people. Many people are hurt and based on their experience will shape their response. I’m happy you shared your opinion, some may disagree that this is the right platform, but as a leader and visionary it shows strength and courage. It’s also your platform! You show diversity in your presenters and they show love and compassion! Mindvalley is an amazing product, filled with hope!
Speak your truth – I’m listening!