All Hearts Beat As One

We are a world that is deeply polarized right now. It is heartbreaking to see what is going on and the way we are treating one another. I saw in the news the other day that a teacher was punched by a parent because the teacher enforced having his child wear a mask in school. Regardless of what our thoughts are on masks, violence is never the answer nor does it ever solve the deep rooted issues we are facing.

The vaccinated vs. not getting vaccinated debate rolls on and how that is going to be handled moving forward as far as entry into events, restaurants and gyms. Someone is going to need to enforce this. The question is how are we going to treat the employee at the restaurant who is in charge of asking for proof of vaccination? Are we going to treat this person with love and respect because they are doing their job or is this person going to get punched too because of someone’s uncontrolled anger and juvenile behavior?

People are playing the blame game with what is happening in Afghanistan. It is an awful situation with so many lives lost. These are human beings that deserve better. It doesn’t do any good to play the Trump vs. Biden card at this point. That isn’t energy well spent. Our energy needs to be going towards praying for world peace and overcoming a world that is deeply divided.

Unite Together for a Common Purpose

We now more than ever need to come together as a society to heal our world. The word unite is strong on my heart these days. To unite is to come together for a common purpose. That common purpose is to heal ourselves and heal the world.

I have received a vision so strong I can’t help but share it. I have been appointed by God to be the inspired leader of a men’s movement called Spiritual Warriors Unite who are changing the world by transforming ourselves.

If you are the man that punched the teacher, I want to invite you to be a part of this group of spiritual warriors. I don’t know the circumstances of what happened, but right now we need righteous anger that serves rather than hurts other people. Let’s be angry at the circumstances of our world, but channel that anger for good. There is already plenty of evil in this world.

Non-Dualistic Thinking

Our world is suffering from dualistic thinking, which is a term I was first introduced to by Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Priest and the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation. Dualistic thinking is the thought process of if I am right you have to be wrong. It leaves no room for discussion or hearing the other person’s point of view.

Whereas non-dual thinking moves us away from either or thought. It gets us away from mask/no mask, vaccinated/not vaccinated, Christian/non-Christian, Biden/Trump. It opens up a possibility for conversation and listening where one person doesn’t have to be right and the other one wrong.

What if we had unity of mind in how we treated one another even if we didn’t agree with the other person? This is a beautiful scripture that resonates with my heart in how we can unite moving forward. Being united is a possibility that we often don’t even think of. 

“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, and a humble mind.” 1 Peter 3:8

Showing brotherly love to our fellow humans is a possibility even when we don’t agree with them. We can still be united in love and show empathy when there are polarizing issues we are facing and will continue to face for a long time moving forward. What if we are united in love instead of being polarized in hate? What if we could share our point of view without having to make someone else wrong or even worse have it turn to violence?

This is how we work towards unity. We simply put on love. 

“And above all these, put on love, which binds together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:14

I love this quote by JK Rowling. 

“We are only as strong as we are united as weak as we are divided.” 

Right now our world is very weak because of our divisiveness.

All Our Hearts Beat As One

I had a very clear vision the other evening while I was sleeping. I was surrounded by several other men of varying races and religions. I firmly pointed at each man’s chest and told them, 

All our hearts beat as one.

Regardless of how different we appear on the outside, the one thing we have in common is our beating heart. Our heart not only keeps us alive, but it is also the organ of love.

If you have lived long enough you have suffered from a broken heart and we all know how that feels. Pretty shitty right? The flip side of that is when we love with all of our heart it feels amazing. It bathes our body with powerful hormones such as oxytocin, the love drug.

So how do we heal our world from all of the hate, divisiveness and violence that is going on? It starts by healing ourselves and coming together united with a loving heart to share our inner peace and love.

Inner Peace Creates World Peace

I recently read a book by Gregg Braden called The Divine Matrix. It was mind blowing. What really grabbed my attention was this particular study he cited in his book called the “International Peace Project in the Middle East,” published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1988.

During the Israeli-Lebanese war of the early 1980’s, practitioners were trained in precise techniques of Transcendental Meditation to create peace in their bodies, rather than just thinking about it in their minds or praying for it to occur. They embodied inner peace.

On specific days of the month, at specific times each day, these people were positioned within war-torn areas of the Middle East. During the time frame that the Transcendental Meditation practitioners were at peace, terrorist incidents, crimes against people, emergency-room visits, and traffic accidents all declined in number. When the participants stopped their practice, the statistics reversed. This study confirmed earlier findings that when a small percentage of the population achieved peace within themselves, that peace was reflected in the world around them.

In another study in 1972 referenced in The Divine Matrix, 24 cities in the U.S. with populations over 10,000 experienced meaningful changes in their communities when as few as one percent (100 people) participated in the studies. The participants in the study used specific meditation techniques to create the inner experiences of peace that were mirrored in the world around them. This is called the “Maharishi Effect” in honor of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who declared that when one percent of a population practiced the methods of meditation he offered, there would be a reduction in violence and crime for that population.

From these studies the researchers were able to identify the minimum number of people needed to feel inner peace in their bodies before it’s mirrored in the surrounding world: The square root of one percent of the population. This is the smallest number required for the effect to begin-the more people that participate the more profound the effect.

In a city of one million only 100 people at the same time could create an effect of peace in their surroundings. How mind blowing is that?

It’s easy to throw up our hands and think what can I do to make a difference in our upside down world right now? The previous two studies are glaring examples of what a profound impact we can have on the world by developing inner peace in ourselves and then through collective consciousness with all hearts beating as one we can create more inner-peace and love in the world.

Instead of blaming others for the situation in Afghanistan let’s do something about it. Let’s take personal responsibility for our own state of being instead of being angry at the world. That doesn’t help, it only makes matters worse.

Spiritual Warriors Unite

I want to invite you to a new possibility and be a part of this movement of Spiritual Warriors Unite. What is a spiritual warrior? A spiritual warrior is someone who is willing to take a deep introspective journey for a cause greater than themselves. It’s someone who isn’t afraid to do the inner work that will transform who you are and by doing this it will change the world around you.

As evidenced by the studies previously mentioned, we are stronger together. We are stronger when all hearts beat as one regardless of race, religion and personal beliefs. It’s time to set all of that aside for the greater good of the world. 

I envision a group of men who are willing to show up with brotherly love willing to be non-conformists. To be rebels for good. To stand united in righteous anger for what isn’t working in our world. Stop pointing fingers and take responsibility for the change that you want to see in the world. We don’t need to agree on everything, we only need to agree on one thing and that is showing one another love and respect.

When we do that I believe with all my heart we have the ability to change the world for the better.

To get started I want to invite you to join the Spiritual Warriors Unite public Facebook group. You can join here. I will be holding regular group meditations starting in October.

You can also join my membership site at Barbells & Brothers.

This is the Manifesto for Barbells & Brothers. If it speaks to your soul I would love to have you be a part of our community. We are all in this together.

Manifesto

We are a Christian brotherhood of men, who are committed to being better sons, brothers, friends, husbands, fathers and leaders.

We are athletes, at heart.

There is only one barrier that holds us back from being our best — self-doubt-the voice inside our head that screams, “You are not enough” and tells us to play it safe in our lives, leaving us feeling emasculated and unfulfilled.

We know to be true, what Henry David Thoreau said: 

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

We are on a journey of transformation.

We overcome self-doubt, by seeing ourselves the way God sees us.

We overcome the limitations of safety and security, by taking a chance on ourselves.

We overcome the fear of being rejected, by being courageously vulnerable.

We choose to live a life of purpose, feeling fully alive!

I want to invite you to be a part of something bigger than yourself. I see a possibility where we can make a difference in the world when a group of men come together united as spiritual warriors where all hearts beat as one.

Troy Ismir

Spiritual Warrior Coach

Founder and Creator of Barbells & Brothers

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