Chapter Nine:

Knowing Oneself in a Group Mind Dynamic

Encountering and enduring stress together in a shared modality is a way to create bonds between people, be that modality a job, a virtual space, a group activity, an audience... any space in which all the participants are equally (or believed to be equally) engaged within the same modality. Let's compare two different online virtual worlds, Second Life and World of Warcraft. Second Life is a system for meeting and interacting with acquaintances, while World of Warcraft is a system for forming guilds and raiding parties, not to mention exploration, character development, and an open-ended, yet expansive narrative. While some people are fascinated with Second Life, a lot more people are addicted to World of Warcraft.

Because there's more stress involved with the game play, connections formed in World of Warcraft are predictably more intense than those in Second Life. This kind of group behavior is truly an intriguing thing to observe in action. Group minds are, by and large, infectious and possessive. They seem to displace elements of identity at the pre-conscious level, and as such, influence decision-making processes of those involved with the group mind; effectively hijacking the individual's decision-making system. Another factor to consider is that bonds are intensified by stress, and a group that deals with massive amounts of internal and external stress will have a significantly stronger egregore than groups of similar size but with much less stress⁵⁵. In addition, World of Warcraft is designed around guilds which help the individuals achieve in-game goals, promoting a group dynamic that Second Life lacks. This helps strengthen those community bonds in ways that go beyond simply sharing information.

Once an individual is conscious of the influence of groups, institutions, egregores, and memes, they can more accurately constrain the selection of reactions present in the preconscious mind at any given moment. This allows for decisions to be based on the individual's intentions and desires rather than remaining hardwired to the options imposed by external entities.