An Open Letter to Volodymyr Zelensky

Dear President Zelensky,

Your meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice-President J. D. Vance in the White House on February 28, 2025 was a puzzling, thought-provoking spectacle.

It had a theatrical quality that could have been intentional on part of the hosts, but for you, it was clearly hurtful given the unjust, brutal war imposed upon Ukraine.

Observers offered three main explanations for the drama. Perhaps the Trump administration wanted to lure Putin to the negotiation table by signaling willingness to abandon Ukraine. Perhaps the Trump administration wanted to convey a genuine desire for peace to dispel the accusations of warmongering that have always been made against the United States. Perhaps the Trump administration wanted to appease constituencies that had been promised a swift end to distant wars.

Whatever the truth may be, the wrinkles on your forehead, the pain in your eyes, the discomfort of your folded arms, and the grief of your black attire, all conveyed deep disappointment as well as frustration. Where you may have hoped for deep solidarity, you were forced to confront the possibility of sudden abandonment.

You must regularly encounter those who dispassionately see Ukraine from the lens of the Cold War between the United States and China. Such people remind me of Thrasymachus, who argued in Plato's Republic that "justice is the advantage of the stronger". They may compare Russian brutality in Ukraine with Israeli brutality in Palestine, and despite the weak comparison, argue that it is indeed Thrasymachus' justice that rules the world, not Socrates'.

Unfortunately, such propaganda can be highly effective, for a lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Fortunately, the truth has magic shoes.

Ukraine has a connection to universal spirituality that goes back thousands of years. The neolithic Trypillian Civilization that inhabited the region around 4000 BC had a highly evolved spiritual culture [1]. Archaeological finds include a 6,000 year old temple and ornamental motifs expressing concepts of infinity, eternal life, and the fluid cycle of nature meant to pictographically aid communication with higher forces. By the early medieval era, Eastern Slavic tribes had a worldview centered on unity with nature and the cosmos, with a "Great World Tree" connecting the realms of gods, humans, and ancestors [2]. Even when Prince Volodymyr the Great embraced Christianity in 988 AD, his envoys to Constantinople noted the transcendent beauty of the Hagia Sophia as a representation of spiritual enlightenment. In the centuries following the Mongol invasions, Ukraine remained a stronghold of the Eastern Orthodox faith and mystical practice [3]. Great emphasis was put on contemplative prayer and the pursuit of divine wisdom, represented in the concept of theosis, the mystical inner transformation of a person through union with God's energies (often described as being filled with divine light).

In the 18th century, Saint Paisius Velychkovsky was instrumental in reviving the Hesychast tradition of prayer, a meditative practice of inner silence and continual prayer meant to aid the experiencing of God's light [4]. This lineage of contemplative prayer continued in Ukrainian monasteries. During the same time period, philosophers such as Hryhorii Skovoroda saw the connection between Orthodox mysticism and European enlightenment [5]. He viewed the visible world, the inner self, and Scripture as three levels of reality to be harmonized in pursuit of the divine spark within. No wonder he was called "the Ukrainian Socrates" [6].

Such are the foundations upon which great civilizations are built, but as paradox would have it, these foundations attract fear, mistrust, and envy from surrounding empires where the same religious symbolism may be appropriated by a spiritually bankrupt state fighting to preserve itself.

Truth has magic shoes though. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and neuroscience herald a world where philosophical traditions that were previously deemed subjective can be validated objectively. Lies can run around the world all they like, but the truth can reach more hearts even while sitting in the lotus position.

Because Putin derives some legitimacy from Orthodox Christianity, a philosophical and theological challenge to his unjust war may be more effective than only a geopolitical and legal challenge that may be easier to counter with Cold War propaganda.

It is on this basis that we can make a stronger case for Ukraine, seek allies among those with the same spiritual foundations, and ensure that no matter what happens next, history remembers.

May the universe grant you all the strength you need for success in the true liberation of your people.

May the force be with you.