A crazy experiment. Eerie but true.
Thump, thump, thump.
Happy Friday…
Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who’d worked his land for many years. One day, his horse ran away. “I’m so sorry, that’s terrible news.” his neighbor said.
“We’ll see,” the farmer replied.
A couple of days later, the horse returned and brought a couple of wild horses with it. “What good news, lucky you!” his neighbor exclaimed.
“We’ll see,” the farmer replied.
The next day, the farmer’s grown son tried to ride one of the wild horses, got thrown and broke his legs. “I’m so sorry, that’s awful!” his neighbor said.
“We’ll see,” the farmer replied.
The next week, military officials came to the village to collect men. They did not take the young man because his legs were broken. “What good news,” his neighbor said.
“We’ll see,” the farmer replied.
Thump, thump, thump.
In 1899, Nikola Tesla was experimenting with wireless energy in his backyard in Colorado Springs, when he discovered the Earth resonated at a consistent frequency. He was ahead of his time. He’d discovered it, but he couldn’t prove it.
50 years later, professor Schumann at the University of Munich was doing experiments with his class when they also discovered the Earth resonates at a specific frequency. It took him 2 years, but he figured out how to prove it.
In 1954, his discovery was documented and named after him.
Schumann Resonance, they called it.
Thump, thump, thump.
A slow beating at exactly 7.83 Hz. Emanating from the Earth.
The heartbeat of the planet.
It gives you chills, a little, doesn’t it?
A crazy experiment. Eerie, but true…
In 1963, a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Germany built an underground bunker that screened out the pulsing of the planet.
Student volunteers agreed to live in the bunker for 4 weeks.
It made them sick. Physically and mentally.
Their circadian rhythms and sleep got messed up. They experienced debilitating stress, emotional distress and headaches. Some of them got migraines.
When they put the students out in nature, they got better almost instantly.
In Japan, there’s a word for that. Shinrin-yoku. Forest-bathing.
Here’s where it gets eerie.
If a doctor came along and measured your brain waves while you’re walking in nature, know what they’d be? 7.83 Hz. The heartbeat of the planet.
You can’t make this stuff up.
The Age of Anxiety
In 1947, W.H. Auden published a book length poem, called The Age of Anxiety.
It started as a conversation among 4 strangers in a bar in New York.
Four strangers, talking about Western culture during World War II.
“We would rather be ruined than changed
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die.”
That’s the most quoted verse from the book.
It struck a chord among readers.
And won a Pulitzer.
That verse? It doesn’t make me think of World War II. But maybe climate change, racism, politics and the anxiety that permeates the news right now.
Times change. People, not so much.
Last one…
I don’t know what’s going to happen on Tuesday.
I don’t know if it will be good or bad.
Like the old farmer, no matter what happens — we’ll see.
But until then? Maybe find a tiny bit of nature you can go walk in.
Nature is our primal sanity.
I’m going to go walk by the river.
I’ll be thinking of you.
That’s a promise.
“There must always be two kinds of art: escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep, and parable art, that art which shall teach man to unlearn hatred —and learn love.”
—W.H. Auden
What I wrote this week…
Thank you for the flood of feedback last week. Y’all helped me decide and I appreciate that a ton. Yay, I have direction. lol. More about that coming soon.
If you liked this, please do click the heart to let me know. Comments are always open. If you’re reading via email, you can click the title to leave a comment.
Thanks — you are very appreciated!
xo,
Linda
P.S. The photo is the river by my place. There’s more beach a little farther up. This is the hiking part. I took this photo a couple of weeks ago. Thought you might enjoy knowing that. :)
Great article. Overnight in the desert of Arizona, I heard the heartbeat of the Earth for the first time. Sleeping in the forest of Northern Wisconsin, the beat was even more pronounced. I think the trick is silencing the noise in our own brains while deep in Nature.
You've written a lot that I've saved, but this piece may be, for me, the most impactful. Thanks, Linda.
I live in nature. When I try to return briefly to my city home, it makes me anxious. I believe the earth has a heartbeat. How can we tap into its rhythm?