Jiwasa: When the I Exists Only Within the We
Jiwasa: When the I Exists Only Within the We
Human Behavior Map: from DNA to Body-Territory
Modern life often tells us that the individual builds themselves alone.
But no body is born alone, learns alone, regulates emotions alone, or sustains a future alone.
We become an “I” because, before that, there is a “We.”
The concept of Jiwasa helps name this collective dimension of life: the field where bodies, affects, tasks, rhythms, and responsibilities regulate one another.
In Decolonial Neuroscience, Jiwasa is not a crowd, obedience, or a captured mass. It is living belonging.
It happens when a group creates enough trust for each person to contribute from their own abilities, without depending on fear, money, or enemies to remain united.
The collective that regulates bodies
A real group regulates the body.
A classroom can calm.
A circle can organize speech.
A team can coordinate movement.
A community can sustain courage.
A school can protect a child.
A village can preserve memory.
A university can open futures.
The body knows when it belongs.
It breathes differently.
It sleeps differently.
It learns differently.
It decides differently.
It cooperates differently.
The Human Behavior Map asks:
What kind of collective are we creating: one that regulates life or one that captures obedience?
Jiwasa as Distributed Allostasis among Body-Territories
Homeostasis is usually understood as the maintenance of internal stability. The body regulates temperature, glucose, blood pressure, pH, and autonomic activity to stay alive.
But Jiwasa seems to go beyond that.
It is not only balance.
It is adaptation.
It is redistribution.
It is coordinated change.
That is why the strongest formulation is:
Jiwasa as Distributed Allostasis among Body-Territories.
Allostasis means stability through change. The system does not simply maintain one fixed point. It anticipates, shifts, redistributes energy, and reorganizes functions in order to keep living.
When a brain region is injured, other networks may increase participation. When sensory input decreases, the brain reorganizes perception using the signals still available. When one member of a group becomes ill, another cares. When someone has greater ability for a specific task, that person leads temporarily.
In this sense, true Jiwasa works as collective allostasis.
The group changes to protect the life of the whole.
Leadership is not possession.
It is a temporary function.
It is an adaptive response.
Leadership as function, not ownership
In complex systems, leadership does not need to be the fixed property of one person.
In a forest, different species sustain different functions.
In the body, different systems lead according to need.
In a healthy community, different people can lead different tasks.
Who knows how to care, cares.
Who knows how to teach, teaches.
Who knows how to plant, plants.
Who knows how to organize, organizes.
Who knows how to listen, listens.
Then leadership changes.
This natural alternation of leadership is one of the foundations of true Jiwasa.
The leader does not capture the group.
The leader serves the common task.
When the collective becomes unhealthy
Not every collective is Jiwasa.
Some collectives are organized by fear, shame, exclusion, enemies, consumption, symbolic violence, or economic dependency.
In these cases, the “We” stops protecting the “I” and begins to imprison it.
The person remains inside the group but loses internal freedom.
They belong, but obey.
They participate, but remain silent.
They repeat, but do not create.
False Jiwasa is rigid.
True Jiwasa is adaptive.
False Jiwasa concentrates leadership.
True Jiwasa distributes function.
False Jiwasa needs fear.
True Jiwasa produces trust.
Money, fear, and enemies
Many political, religious, digital, and economic groups are maintained by three forces:
money, fear, and enemies.
Money buys presence.
Fear captures attention.
Enemies create fast identity.
But this type of union is fragile.
When fear fades, the group needs another fear.
When the enemy disappears, it must invent another one.
When money ends, obedience weakens.
True Jiwasa is sustained by another logic: shared task, trust, territory, care, and participation.
That is why the Economic Right to Existence, guaranteed by DREX Citizen and by the country’s territorial assets, is essential. It allows the Body-Territory to participate in the State’s economic metabolism without depending on favor, vote buying, or economic obedience.
Jiwasa and science
Science is beginning to measure something many Indigenous peoples have long understood: bodies in relation synchronize.
With fNIRS hyperscanning, we can measure prefrontal synchronization between people during cooperation.
With EEG, we can observe shared attention, emotional response, and temporal coordination.
With HRV, GSR, and breathing, we can measure collective autonomic regulation.
Jiwasa can therefore become not only a philosophical concept, but also an experimental question:
When a group truly belongs, do its bodies regulate one another more effectively?
Scientific references and experimental pathways
Sterling, P. (2012). “Allostasis: A Model of Predictive Regulation.” Physiology & Behavior.
Allostasis supports the idea of stability through change, offering a conceptual basis for Jiwasa as adaptive collective regulation.
Experiment: measure HRV, breathing, and fNIRS in groups exposed to changing tasks to observe whether leadership redistributes according to demand.
McEwen, B. S., & Akil, H. (2020–2022). Works on allostasis, stress, and allostatic load.
The allostatic-load literature shows how living systems adapt to environmental demands, but may become ill when adaptation turns into overload.
Experiment: compare rigid-leadership groups and alternating-leadership groups, measuring GSR, HRV, and cooperative performance.
Zhao, Q., Zhao, W., Lu, C., et al. (2024). “Interpersonal Neural Synchronization during Social Interactions in Close Relationships: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of fNIRS Hyperscanning Studies.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
This review shows that interpersonal neural synchronization can be investigated with fNIRS hyperscanning, giving scientific support to Jiwasa as measurable collective belonging.
Experiment: fNIRS hyperscanning in small groups performing cooperative tasks under different levels of trust, threat, and belonging.
Ni, J., Yang, J., Ma, Y., et al. (2024). “Social bonding in groups of humans selectively increases inter-status information exchange and prefrontal neural synchronization.” PLOS Biology.
This study shows that social bonding increases information exchange and prefrontal synchronization among people of different status, reinforcing the idea that true Jiwasa reduces hierarchical rigidity.
Experiment: compare fixed-hierarchy groups and leadership-alternation groups during problem solving using fNIRS.
Calabrese, C., et al. (2021). “Spontaneous emergence of leadership patterns drives synchronization in complex human networks.” Scientific Reports.
This study shows that leadership patterns can emerge spontaneously in complex human networks, bringing leadership closer to a dynamic function than to permanent possession.
Experiment: EEG/fNIRS in rhythmic and cooperative tasks where leadership emerges without prior command.
Gordon, I. (2025). “Interpersonal Synchrony Research in Human Groups.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
This review presents interpersonal synchrony as an important mechanism for connection, cooperation, and social coordination.
Experiment: measure EEG/fNIRS, HRV, and movement in conversation circles, collective dance, group sports, and community decision-making.
Post-stroke functional reorganization — post-2021 reviews on plasticity and motor recovery.
Recent stroke literature shows that preserved networks may increase functional participation during recovery, supporting the analogy between neural compensation and functional redistribution in collectives.
Experiment: use this logic to investigate whether healthy groups compensate for absence, fatigue, or difficulty in one member by redistributing leadership and effort.
Group interventions for neurodivergent adults based on ACT and Compassion-Focused Therapy — Brain 2026.
This work proposes small groups for neurodivergent adults focused on self-acceptance, self-regulation, safe relationships, and belonging, showing how groups can become territories of care.
Experiment: EEG/fNIRS + HRV before and after group intervention to assess emotional regulation, social safety, and belonging.
Camargo, L. G. L., Schuch, F. B., Venera, M. E., et al. (2024). “Association between mental-disorder clusters and physical activity in Brazilian university students.” Brain 2024.
This study shows that regular physical activity is associated with lower mental-health risk, linking body movement, routine, and psychological protection.
Experiment: fNIRS hyperscanning + HRV before and after collective physical activity, measuring belonging, mood, and cooperation.
BrainLatam2026 experimental proposal
Central question: do groups with natural leadership alternation show higher neural synchronization, stronger collective autonomic regulation, and greater adaptive capacity than groups with fixed leadership?
Experimental design:
Compare three groups:
fixed leadership;
rotating leadership;
emergent leadership according to task ability.
Tasks:
problem solving;
cooperative physical activity;
decision circle;
creative task;
simulated crisis.
Measures:
fNIRS hyperscanning;
EEG hyperscanning;
HRV/RMSSD;
GSR;
breathing;
speech analysis;
social-network analysis;
belonging, trust, and cooperation scales.
Hypothesis: groups with emergent leadership and functional alternation will show greater prefrontal synchronization, better autonomic regulation, lower stress, and higher collective creativity.
How to transform this evidence into public policy
If you are running for President of Brazil
Propose the National Jiwasa Program for Cooperation and Belonging, integrating schools, universities, SUS, sports, culture, DREX Citizen, and territorial assets to strengthen healthy collectives and the Economic Right to Existence.
If you are running for the Senate
Propose a Legal Framework for Collectives of Care and Cooperation, recognizing belonging, social support, diversity, leadership alternation, and community participation as foundations of the Secular Democratic State.
If you are running for Governor
Create State Jiwasa and Human Behavior Map Centers, connecting universities, schools, communities, sports, culture, and EEG/fNIRS laboratories to measure cooperation, social synchronization, mental health, and collective leadership.
If you are running for Federal Deputy
Allocate resources to multicenter research on fNIRS hyperscanning, EEG, belonging, discrimination, collective physical activity, social support, alternating leadership, and community mental health.
If you are running for State Deputy
Support pilot projects in schools, neighborhoods, universities, Indigenous territories, quilombos, and traditional communities to create care circles, collective sports, citizen science, local culture, and safe belonging spaces.
Sentences for a government plan
Jiwasa is when the I flourishes because the We protects, regulates, and liberates.
True Jiwasa is Distributed Allostasis among Body-Territories: the collective changes, redistributes functions, and alternates leadership to preserve shared life.
A real collective does not need fear, money, or enemies to exist; it is sustained by shared task, trust, and belonging.
Democracy matures when leaders stop capturing groups and start serving the living tasks of the Body-Territory.
