The Bond: Connecting through the Space Between Us (cont.)
By Lynne McTaggart

As soon as it opened, the center immediately became a fulcrum for the entire town. Further plans are afoot for a playground for the children, Cherokee language classes, an afterschool program and other activities for young and old. “It puts the future for the kids in the community, ” says Pauline Sanders. Community involvement in the two projects became infectious in Tailholt; community members began to volunteer in other ways — for the rural fire department and fundraising.

Psychologists call this a superordinate goal – a goal only achieved by large cooperative teamwork of two or more people. Engaging in sharing and teamwork tends to transcend differences, because it emphasizes the very heart of humanity — we are all in this together. And if we are all in this together we are no longer competing for scarce resources.

From a scientific point of view, the true power of leaving our small space of individuality and coming together as a group to achieve a superordinate goal stems from a collective resonance effect. The electrical activity of each individual in the group begins to resonate on a common wavelength — a choir perfectly in tune. Like a coherent group of electrons that begins to vibrate as one giant electron, the group creates a resonance that magnifies the individual effect.

Psychologists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany, and the University of Salzburg, Austria, wished to examine whether our brains act “in tandem” with others when we’re engaged in a common purpose. The German scientists were inspired by recent studies examining the brain-wave rhythms between two people when they socially interact, demonstrating that one type of brainwave rhythm was associated with independent behavior, while another brainwave rhythm showed up and was shared by both parties when the behavior was coordinated.