biology of belonging.2

I promised last week to cover more on belonging, and I'll start here...the belongingness of it made me cry.  And you?

You've probably already noticed how naturally we humans find our way toward synchrony, which seems to me an unconscious form of belonging  and connecting.  It's especially noticeable in crowds where hundreds of hands start clapping, and then, instructionless, somehow become a shared rhythm.  It happens in other ways, too...when people unconsciously match each other's movements and speech patterns, and how women sharing homes find their periods synching up.

Technology has made it possible for us to witness the less easily observable connections, like "interbrain synchrony!"  (Who knew?)  What these studies confirmed is that we humans create "interbrain synchrony" during cooperation.  So, moving together as humans — laughing at the same things, singing together, celebrating collectively, etc. — increases our connectedness.  Research found that people who moved together later showed more affiliation, cooperation, willingness to help one another.

Pre-brain scans, I'm pretty sure this is what Mother Teresa meant in her now famous quote: "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

Community is where humility and glory touch. 

— Henri Nouwen