Episode 3: bell hooks and the Neuroscience of Love

Georgina Brown (hershe)
Jul 14
2 min read

Inclusion as Radical Nervous System Repair

“Love is an action, never simply a feeling.” – bell hooks

Let’s start with that.

Because if David Bohm showed us how to think together…And Krishnamurti taught us to question the source of our thoughts…Then bell hooks comes along and says, none of this matters if you don’t do it with love.

And not the fluffy, pink, platitude kind of love.

The radical, world-rebuilding, system-shifting, community-sustaining kind.

The kind that requires boundaries, bravery, and yes, neurobiological safety.

What bell hooks Knew Before the Brain Scientists Did

When bell hooks wrote All About Love and Teaching to Transgress, she wasn’t just reimagining education or community—She was describing the neuroscience of belonging before we had the MRIs to prove it.

Let’s break it down BARDO-style:

Love = Trust + Safety + Connection
Safety = Oxytocin + Serotonin + Psychological Permission
Inclusion = Repeated, Intentional, Love-Based Micro-Actions

What she called love, neuroscience might call a cocktail of secure attachment, regulated nervous systems, and oxytocin-fuelled pro-sociality.

Same thing.

One just wears a lab coat.

The other wears hoop earrings and unapologetic truth.

Love is Political, and So is Inclusion

hooks said love was political, and so is inclusion.

That’s not a metaphor.

Both require:

Seeing who has historically been excluded.
Creating systems of care, not control.
Challenging the idea that domination is natural.

She asked educators to show up with authenticity, care, and critical consciousness.That’s not just nice. It’s biologically reparative.

Why? Because trauma, especially from exclusion, lives in the body.Inclusion that feels real heals.

It literally rewires the nervous system for trust.

What This Means for NIMM (BARDO’s Neuro-Inclusive Maturity Model)

bell hooks is the heartbeat of the NIMM.

Our framework includes:

Neuroscience-Informed (She anticipated this)
Trust-Building (She demanded it)
Mindset-Shifting (She modelled it)
System-Aware (She lived it)
Bias-Disrupting (She named it, long before it was trendy)

And she never left love out of the equation. That’s where most models fall flat.Love is the mechanism of inclusion.

Try This: The bell hooks Inclusion Micro-Practice

“Where’s the love?” – Start Here

Before you deliver feedback, make a decision, or chair a meeting… pause.

Ask yourself:

Am I doing this with care and clarity?
Have I created safety for those not yet speaking?
What would love look like here?

Then do that. Even a little.

“There can be no love without justice.” – bell hooks “When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear.”

Want More hooks? Don’t Miss:

All About Love: New Visions – Possibly one of the most transformative books you’ll read. Ever.
Teaching to Transgress – Inclusion as liberation in learning spaces.
The Will to Change – Especially powerful for unlearning patriarchal bias.