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In envisioning the collective nervous system, a tendency might be to look outside.

Instead, practice what it feels like to look through eyes from within the collective.

As our digital connectivity brings us closer as humans, so should our nervous systems.

A pathway for social change is moving from traumatized to trauma-integrative.

How the human nervous system organizes our bodies is nothing short of miraculous. When regulated, the systems of our body work in cooperation, ensuring homeostasis. In a state of hyperarousal or dysregulation, many physiological processes become activated, usually set off by stress.

Researchers continue to unpack new discoveries about the individual nervous system. As co-authors, we are curious about what it might mean to investigate a "collective nervous system." This question connects to the field of collective intelligence, which examines how networks of cooperative behavior solve problems at the level of cells, tissues, and whole organisms. We do not claim quantifiable proof of a collective nervous system. Instead, we invite you to work with the concept as a practice: to explore it through your own experience, with curiosity, and in conversation with others, and to notice what the potential is for individual and collective healing.

Looking Through Our Collective Nervous System

In envisioning the collective nervous system, our tendency might be to look outside, visualizing a group of individuals who are wired together through their central nervous systems. But what if we explored what it feels like from within the collective? What’s the subtlest form of awareness we can access? How and what does the collective see?

What we can do as a collective, we can’t do alone. When we see as one body, we don’t miss anything. Imagine if, when just one person is hurt or is suffering in your neighborhood, city, or country, the entire population becomes aware?........

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