Italian version

Unity is strength is a very famous proverb. It is easy to find experiences in sports that demonstrate the substantial validity of this proverb. It sometimes happens that the performance of a team is surprisingly greater than one would expect by “adding up” the value of the individual components. Think of the feats of Denmark and Greece at the 1992 and 2004 European soccer championships, the victory of Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester in the 2016 Premier League, the victory of the Italian women’s national volleyball team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In this case, although the Italian team was one of the favorites, it came out on top by losing only one set in the entire tournament, demonstrating a superiority that could not have been predicted on the eve of the tournament. These are situations where the unity of hearts and minds of players, coach and the entire staff amplified the team’s potential, endowing it with invincible energy.

I turn now to a more rigorous consideration, which comes from the laws of physics. The sum of two forces of equal intensity and with the same direction corresponds to a force with twice the intensity. However, if the forces do not have the same direction, the intensity of the resulting force is less than the sum of the individual forces, and even the two forces cancel if they have opposite directions.
We can say that union is strength when efforts, energies, and intentions are aligned toward a single goal. I believe this is the crux of the proverb: “any union” is not enough; we need a harmonious, coherent, orderly union.

In Eastern traditions, such as in Confucianism and Taoism, we find the principle “Different bodies same mind.” In Soka Gakkai Buddhism, “Different bodies same mind” aims to create an environment of wonderful solidarity in which people encourage each other as they seek to realize their own happiness and the happiness of others. It results in an approach to life that seeks to overcome humanity’s karma of division and conflict and pave the way for lasting peace.

Cartoons often contain teachings full of wisdom. In this regard, I am reminded of the cartoon “Finding Nemo,” which I often watched with my children. It involves one of the final scenes, in which a group of fish is caught in the net of a fishing boat. As the fishermen lift the net, the fish inside try to flee in all directions in panic. The little fish Nemo convinces everyone to swim downward at the same time. All the individual forces act in the same direction, creating enough force to break the winch arm that is raising the net. All together thus manage to save themselves, giving a concrete example of the benefit we can achieve with “Different Bodies Same Mind.”

I conclude with this question:
“Can we prove scientifically that unity makes strength in the realm of emotions and interactions between living beings (even at a distance), exactly as can be demonstrated in physics in the law of force composition?”
Animated by the personal attitude of seeking bridges between science and spirituality (e.g., see the article The convergence of science and spirituality), in my opinion the answer is obviously yes. I anticipate that in the next article I will try to convince you by talking about the Global Coherence Initiative of Heartmath Institute, a Nonprofit scientific organization, which is conducting scientific experiments on the measurable effects of “the joining of hearts.” It is a very fascinating topic from my point of view, wonderfully combining scientific disciplines such as signal theory, the biology and physiology of the heart, and the connection of all living things.