“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”
Joseph Campbell
What is sentience? If you were to zoom in on a single cell in the human body, would you call the cell sentient? Probably not. The same could be said of a single tree. Yet the mycorrhizal network shows a complex system whereby trees and plants exchange nutrients and information, using the roots and fungi, in what has been termed the Wood Wide Web.
Intelligence reveals itself in systems, and systems are the byproduct of consciousness. Systems indicate interconnection, cooperation, and harmony. Intricate systems, both microscopic and macroscopic, their patterns, fractal formations, coherency, and interactions, are all signs of higher intelligence, God’s design.
Within this understanding, you and I are single cells, sentient in as individuals, yet part of a greater whole, a vast system of interconnection and co-collaboration. Zoom out, and the world is a singular, living organism — named the Gaia hypothesis, after the Greek Earth goddess. How do you match your heartbeat with the beat of the Earth? The answer lies in electromagnetic fields.
These fields are a fascinating link between the Earth, the brain, the heart, meditation, compassion, love, and consciousness. They show how we influence each other beyond the physical, and support evidence in how together, we can change the resonance of the entire planet.
The Earth’s Heartbeat
“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
(Matthew 6:21)
Though the sun might shine where you are, at any given moment, there are 2,000 thunderstorms across the Earth. Lightning strikes 50 times per second. These bursts cause waves in the atmosphere, causing a rhythmic, repetitive pulses called Schumann Resonances, after physicist Winfried Otto Schumann. The frequency of this “heartbeat” is 7.83 Hz. In the brain, this frequency matches alpha brainwaves, visible during states of relaxation and cell regeneration.
Growing evidence shows that invisible magnetic fields from the sun and Earth directly influence human behaviour. A 2006 study “demonstrated unexpected similarities in the spectral patterns and strengths of electromagnetic fields generated by the human brain and the earth-ionospheric cavity.” In other words, changes in Schumann Resonances visibly changed brain activity.
It’s not only our brains. Just like the Earth’s heartbeat, the human heart is a power station of electromagnetic energy. Its electromagnetic field is 100 times greater than the brain and detectable up to three feet outside of the body. It has its own intelligence, too; the intrinsic cardiac nervous system, or heart-brain, is a complex network of neurons that respond to emotions.
Go into the cave and you find the treasures of heaven.
Chandogya upanishad
A consistent theme in ancient spiritual traditions is that the heart is the seat of the soul. Our use of language shows we haven’t lost the significance of the heart. Get to the heart of the matter, speak from the heart, listen to your heart, wear your heart on your sleeve… Words symbolise the heart as the centre of wisdom, clarity, truth.
One of the oldest upanishads from Hinduism, the Chandogya Upanishad, refers to hridaya guha as the “cave of the heart” which resides in the supreme reality. Indeed, the heart is the bridge between the material and the divine. There’s a beautiful passage from this scripture, written over 2,000 years ago:
“Go into the cave and you find the treasures of heaven. The sun and the moon and the stars, the very space and the clouds and the lightning and the rains—all this miracle of creation is within the heart of man. When it rains outside, it rains inside also, and the stellar regions shine resplendently within the heart of man.”
The core ethos of the Chandogya Upanishad is tat tvam asi — you are that — is a reminder that the true self, Atman, is inseparable from the higher order. The goal of life? Self-realisation, and union with the absolute, matching your nature with nature.
The Frequency Of Well-Being
So, we know that the Earth has a heartbeat at a certain frequency. We know that these frequencies link to brain waves. We know the heart both the metaphorical and electromagnetic core. But what about the subjective reality? The Heartmath Institute has spent 30 years researching heart-mind coherence.
Coherence is the term given to energetic alignment of emotions, heart, and mind. Through their research Heartmath have discovered the optimal “psychophysiological” state — where physiological coherence is led by a positive emotion.
Emotions such as anger, anxiety, or stress, cause the heart to beat incoherently. When the heart beats coherently, cognitive functioning, focus, attention, empathy, and social coherence increase. Practices such as meditation create coherency. But the fastest portal to this optimal state is the cultivation of compassion, empathy and love.
Let that sink in. There’s an optimal physiological state, one promoting well-being, linked to coherency in heartbeat. And its attained by cultivating what Buddhists call loving-kindness. It’s a radical departure from the view we are separate, that our hearts can’t meet in a non-physical plane, that emotions can’t be sensed or influenced, that love is contained within the mind.
The word core originates from the Latin cor, which means heart. Picture the Earth as a unified field of waves, hearts beating, synchronised and interconnected. Love, compassion, and empathy, as real as the air you breathe. Not only real, but influential, the core of being.
Heart And Mind Synchrony
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Synchrony between the Earth and us mere mortals is one relationship. There’s also a wealth of research into interpersonal synchrony: how heartbeats, breathing rhythms, brain waves, movement, and even skin conductance, align in the collective. What is the intelligence that synchronises? Why is there an innate pull towards unity, coherence, flow?
Drumming has been a ritual practice for millennia, to enter altered states, lose a sense of individual identity. When groups drum together, hearts synchronise. The same happens with choir singers, theatre audiences, and musical performances. In fact, an audiences’ enjoyment of a performance by the degree of synchrony with the musician, like an orchestra of neurons.
When listening to music, the blood flow of oxygen increases to parts responsible for “understanding patterns, interpersonal intentions and expression.” These same areas are the base of mirror neurons, which fire when performing an action or observing the action, as the brain reflects synchrony with others. No wonder concerts feel sacred.
Synchrony and mirroring isn’t exclusive to large groups. Put two lovers in a quiet and calm room together, without touching or saying a word, and their heartbeats and rhythm of breathing match, in ways that don’t occur with strangers.
The Frequency Of Consciousness
“Our entire biological system, the brain, and the Earth itself, work on the same frequencies.”
Nikola Tesla
What’s the role of meditation and consciousness? Returning to the upanishads, the supreme reality is that of Brahman, the absolute. Tat tvam asi. You are that. In scientific terms, this is the unified field of consciousness. David Bohm, a leading quantum physicist, explained this as the implicate order, or “unbroken wholeness of the totality of existence as an undivided flowing movement without borders.”
Ancient teachings show how meditation enhances connection to this field. Evidence of this is shown in the brain. Experienced meditators such as yogis and Buddhist monks demonstrate enhanced gamma-ray oscillations, even while performing day-to-day tasks. And guess what gamma rays relate to? Harmony between different areas of the brain.
Electromagnetic fields and consciousness are part of an intricate network of connection. Everything from information, memories and emotions transmit across these vast networks. The brain, super sensitive to such fields, doesn’t create but facilitates consciousness, like an antenna. When we feel lost, disconnected, and out of sorts, the TV is static. Fine-tune and find the right frequency, and we promote better health, cognitive performance, social cohesion, and overall well-being.
Global Coherence And The Maharishi Effect
Consciousness as the primary source of existence is encoded with information and infinite potential. It exists outside of time and space. Rather than powerless in respect to magnetic fields and unified consciousness, what if we have the potential to create harmony from the inside, to work together to influence these fields? What happens when we match our heartbeat to that of the Earth?
Using nothing but the ability to cultivate positive emotion, and harness the power of the heart, could radically change the world. The Global Coherence Initiative (GCI) is exploring this bold possibility. Its hypothesis is that the Earth’s magnetic field is part of the collective consciousness, acting as a carrier for collective emotions and states of being. The project’s aim is to elevate collective consciousness, to create greater harmony between us all, positively impacting the Earth.
Significant global events, such as 9/11, have shown to effect the Schumann resonances. But what about the opposite? Large groups emanating positive emotions such as love and compassion can positively impact the Earth. For example, the Maharishi effect occurs when 1% of a population practices transcendental meditation. Through this practice alone, it’s been observed that the quality of life of the community increases, with crime rates dropping an average of 16%.
This is a powerful reminder it’s within our power to influence magnetic fields, to harmonise and radiate coherence, that consciousness is sentient. We don’t realise our power, our true nature, our ability to influence the world for the greater good. And at the core is the heart, that beating drum in the chest, the seat of the soul, the centre of spiritual truths.
