Human Nature: The Drive to Connect, Learn and Create

It is human nature to connect, learn, and create; it is how we grow and evolve biologically, socially and culturally. In fact, physical, social and cultural evolution is testimony to our drive and our collective success at connecting, learning and co-creating. Neurophysiological research on the brain and central nervous system has identified specific mechanisms in our nervous system that support connection, learning, and creating. One neural system identified is mirror neurons.  Mirror neurons fire in the same way whether we are acting ourselves or simply observing others acting. This gives us the capacity for empathy and deep understanding of another’s experience, facilitating our ability to connect.  Watch Mirror Neurons at play!

Furthermore, research at the HeartMath Institute shows that the electromagnetic frequency and coherence of our nervous system plays an important role in learning and access to higher order thinking, where creativity and critical thinking occur.  When our nervous system has an erratic, incoherent frequency pattern, our capacity to think clearly, logically and use the whole brain diminishes. A coherent frequency pattern gives us full access to higher order thinking. An important concept in electromagetic frequency is entrainment (systems aligning their frequencies to one another). Research shows that our brain (and other organs) entrain to the strongest electromagetic frequency around--within and without us.  It turns out the heart has the strongest electromagnetic frequency of any system in the body, 5,000 times stronger than the brain!  Furthermore, that frequency reaches out beyond the edge of our bodies, easily impacting others within a 10 foot radius.  Again, facilitating our ability to connect as well as impact the capacity of others to learn and create (have access to their full thinking capacity).

The challenges and opportunities facing us today call us to consciously and intentionally design our organizations and communities so that we can access our collective drive to connect, learn and co-create.  We are called to develop structures and processes in our organizations that support and enhance these innate tendencies and to expand our capacity to access them.  We have found that the using four META strategies [Multiplicity, Engagement, Thinking Together, and Acting Together] for designing and working together, help us connect, learn and create collectively and we propose organizations intentionally design structures and processes to support these capacities.