First: what is a drumbeat? In physics, sound is vibration and vibration is caused by force. Thus, it is the sound produced when a tool (force) strikes a drum at rhythmic intervals. What then is the heartbeat?
The radiation of the human soul animates the physical body and is connected to it through the solar plexus, which is connected to the heart through a network of nerves. As the soul’s energy enters and pervades the body through the solar plexus, it sends electrical energy through the nerves that puts rhythmic pressure on the heart, causing it to beat and pump blood. Thus, the heartbeat is caused by the soul’s energy striking the heart at rhythmic intervals.
Just as a drum needs a force to produce a drumbeat, so does the heart need the force of the soul’s energy to produce a heartbeat.
Moreover, as a pulse is “the rate arteries expand as blood is propelled through them”, it follows that the soul’s energy is what causes the heartbeat and propels the blood through the arteries at the rate we classify as a “pulse”. Lastly, when the human soul’s connection to the body is severed (what we call “death”), its energy no longer animates it and strikes the heart, so it stops beating. Its rhythm flatlines like an unplayed drum.
~Dr. Ikenna Q. Ezealah
Foundation for Ascent 