Dr. Vivek Murthy: Community is the Cure
And loneliness is what ails us...
Greetings, Beautiful Souls,
This week on the Soul Boom podcast, Rainn sits down with the extraordinary Dr. Vivek Murthy—former U.S. Surgeon General and a man whose entire life has been devoted to healing, not just bodies, but hearts, minds, and communities. Their conversation takes a hard and honest look at the tangled web of social media’s impact on our mental health, relationships, and the delicate development of young minds. Together, they explore the stark reality of how these platforms, driven by algorithms and profit, have left us more disconnected than ever—and why bold solutions may be the only path forward.
We’re not the only ones inspired by Dr. Murthy’s work. This week, People magazine also spotlighted his thoughts on the epidemic of loneliness and its antidote in the form of community—along with his appearance on the Soul Boom podcast. It’s well worth checking out!
As his second tenure as Surgeon General was wrapping up, Dr. Murthy released his final work as Surgeon General, My Parting Prescription for America. This is his swan song, his final offering after years of walking alongside us in some of our nation’s most trying moments. It is, above all, a love letter to the power of community—a call to rediscover the deep, life-affirming connections that bind us together and to heal the loneliness that so many of us carry.
While we hope you read it in full, we thought we’d whet your appetite with a little amuse-bouche sampling from it. The short excerpt we’re sharing from his Prescription is anchored in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—whose day of honoring this week happened to fall on the last day of Dr. Murthy’s second tenure as Surgeon General.
Dr. King’s life was a testament to love in action. For him, the ultimate aim of all service was “the creation of a beloved community”—a society where humanity lives together as brothers and sisters. This vision of community transcends mere public health or social frameworks; it is a spiritual ideal rooted in love. A love that begins in our connection to Source, burns brightly among members of a community, and extends boundlessly to embrace every human being. In the comments below, we’d love to hear what a “beloved community” looks like to you.
With love,
The Soul Boom Team
The Core Virtue of Community: Love
From My Parting Prescription for America
By Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy, 19th & 21st Surgeon General of the United States
When it comes to community, how we approach our relationships, service, and purpose matters. Over half a century ago, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that we cannot build a healthy community if we are motivated by hatred toward others.
To build community requires love. Love not as sentimentality, but as a commanding force with the power to build, strengthen, and heal. Love as generosity and kindness. Love as hope and grace. Love as courage.
The love required to build community must not be reserved only for close family and friends or those who share our beliefs and life experiences; it must also be extended to neighbors, colleagues, people of different backgrounds, people with whom we disagree, and even people we consider our opponents. It requires recognizing something deeper and more fundamental that connects us.
Communities that are built around fear and animosity may mobilize people to take action on a particular issue or provide a sense of affiliation and support through shared grievance, but they ultimately have a corrosive effect. They deepen our division, turning us against one another. And the persistent experience of fear and anger ultimately drains and hurts us.
By contrast, history tells us consistently of the power of love. Love helped sustain and guide Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, and other leaders in the 1960s through their long struggle against injustice as they fought for civil rights. Love enabled Nelson Mandela to foster reconciliation in South Africa following a bitter fight for freedom. Love fueled Mother Teresa who observed that “the most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved,” and who instead urged us to build community with small acts of great love. And today, as it has been for generations, it is love that inspires parents to put everything on the line for their children, compels neighbors to help each other during moments of hardship, and guides soldiers to put themselves in harm’s way to defend not only the country they love but also their brothers and sisters in arms.
Sometimes we may be tempted to view love as soft and a source of weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. The sacrifices and strength that love enables are the foundation on which we build our lives. We are at our best not when we fear but when we love, not when we turn away but when we turn toward one another. This must be our compass as we set out to build community. Leading with love means seeing love as a virtue to cultivate in ourselves, to encourage in our families, to infuse in our workplaces, schools, and halls of government, to insist on in our leaders, and to shape our public conversation. A community grounded in love is a community that will stand.
Dr. Vivek Murthy is a renowned physician, former U.S. Surgeon General, and one of the leading voices on public health, community, and well-being. Serving two terms as Surgeon General, Dr. Murthy has worked tirelessly to address the root causes of widespread physical, mental, and emotional challenges in society, including loneliness, addiction, and youth mental health. His groundbreaking initiatives and compassionate approach have helped countless individuals and communities foster resilience and connection. With his book Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, and in his latest message, My Parting Prescription for America, Dr. Murthy offers profound insights into how relationships, service, and purpose can transform our lives and create healthier, more fulfilling communities.
Thank you so much for posting this eloquent and heartfelt message from Dr. Vivek Murthy. The Triad of Fulfillment is incredibly poignant, especially in these highly trying times. My gratitude is his for his willingness to share "The Parting Prescription for America"
Loneliness is a destabilizing force for bad. I have seen many choose poorly only because of their fear of loneliness. Loneliness contributes to increased substance use and mental illness. Knowing we are not alone and having positive people in our lives is and important part of living fully.