By Atalwin Pilon

A warrior writes from his heart in order to save the world.

This was previously published on Basic Goodness.

As you can see, this website has many options to share its content, to comment on posts and to leave a testimonial behind. I would like to invite you to make use of all the possibilities that are offered to you. I will be very grateful. Let me explain.

Every time I post on www.basicgoodness.com I test myself. Do I have the courage to speak from the heart and to publish what comes up without editing? That’s what this website is about. Writing is a huge source of insecurity and vulnerability for me because what comes up is almost always very personal and because I don’t edit and am not a native speaker I never feel sure about the grammar and stylistic features of the text.

The reason why I put myself in this vulnerable position is a very grave one; it’s because I have learned that hiding fears, wishes and desires for oneself and others are the source of human suffering, loneliness and disconnectedness; it’s nothing less than betrayal of our hearts and souls. Our personal embarrassment and dishonesty are not just individual obstacles of minor importance; we are killing the planet with our fear because it leads to greed, anger and ignorance. To save our own humanity and our humanity as a whole we must become more honest with ourselves. We must overcome our fears. The only way I can make a contribution to overcoming collective human fear is to overcome my own fear.

How can I expect others to take that step if I don’t have the courage to do it myself? If I am not the change I envision myself and my words are not congruent with my actions I would be still pretending to be something that I’m not. The realization of having no other choice than speaking the truth has permeated the content of this website. This blog is not about selling you how great and successful I am as a coach or a trainer, trying to convince you to hire me. Even though I have a background as a marketing strategist, I refuse to aim for strategies that would increase my income but sacrifice my integrity. Of course my greed is not happy with this and will give me a hard time often. I too feel greed, or better; fear of deficit, pulling at me. Although I have learned by now that we will never experience abundance (or love, or generosity, or harmony, or intimacy) by acting out on our fear of deficit, not giving in to that fear is still is a daily struggle.

I hope that one day my words are powerful enough to unite us. That we will overcome our fear of deficit together. At this moment I still feel alone often on this mission because you, anonymous reader, are invisible to me. When I’m speaking from my heart I am—in a way—aiming at your heart. But at the same time I’m shooting my arrows into the dark void of cyberspace. Often the only way I can tell you are here is by looking at the amount of visitors who read my posts. It would be nice if you speak up too, if you would join me on this search for truth and honesty. Especially for those of you who know me personally, who pat me on the back when we meet in streets or bars of Amsterdam, please leave a comment and recommend my posts on your Facebook page if you like to read them (and you are reading one now). The whole idea is to overcome our personal embarrassment and to show some courage together. That if I can do it, you can do it too. And yes, just a simple comment, a recommendation on Facebook or a testimonial can already make a difference. It will for me, definitely. But your testimonial might even inspire a complete stranger to learn to meditate and change his life, for example. Do not underestimate the power of your voice and certainly not the power of you saying yes. It’s a shame that we often resist our friendliness and generosity out of fear of judgment and vulnerability. Allow your heart to speak and act whenever you have the chance.

Social media offer us tools to create another facade, another illusory identity. But they also give us the unique opportunity to create more openness and honesty in the world. They actually have the power to connect us. Thus I want to invite you, my dear audience, to become less passive. There is no way change will come out of passivity. So please click, recommend, share and comment away, it’s a safe opportunity to open up step by step and it’s free. The more like-minded souls find this website and meet here, the merrier. Hopefully we find a way to join forces one day. You can contribute to that. I hope you will consider lending me a hand now and then.

How do you feel about all this? Would you like to give it a try?

—Photo credit: Atalwin Pilon
* This essay was featured on The Good Men Project.