Rubber Band Theory: Toward a Unified Energetic Model of Love, Ego, and Human Coherence

The Rubber Band Theory (RBT) proposes a unified framework for understanding human relationalbehavior by integrating findings from neuroscience, psychology, attachment theory, endocrinology,anthropology, and theology. Building upon two prior works — Pure Love: A Working Theory (PLWT)and Broken Bonds: Quantifying Betrayal-Related Neuro-Injury (BNRI) — this model conceptualizeslove as an energy-like organizing force reflected in biological, psychological, and behavioral patterns.RBT positions the human organism within a dynamic tension field between two poles: Coherence(aligned with bonding, regulation, empathy, and love) and Fragmentation (aligned with ego-defense,reactivity, trauma, and the patterns associated with Pure Hate). Movement toward the Love poleincreases internal tension — similar to stretching a rubber band — resulting in ego activation,vulnerability, and trauma-triggered reflexes. Movement toward the Ego pole temporarily reducestension but increases long-term dysregulation and fragmentation.This bidirectional tension offers a unified explanatory mechanism for: trauma recovery and relapse,attachment styles, emotional regulation, moral behavior and altruism, jealousy and betrayal, pair-bondstability, the human search for meaning, and theological representations of love and union.RBT is not presented as metaphor, but as a conceptual model describing measurable psychological andphysiological dynamics. The framework aligns with multidisciplinary evidence that love — expressedthrough bonding chemistry, coherence states, and interpersonal synchrony — functions as a regulatoryenergetic phenomenon within the human system. This paper advances the hypothesis that Love operates as an energetic organizing principle, and RBT provides the structural map for how humans move within that field. Version 2.1 (September 2026): corrected-references reprint. All references verified against their records; argument and wording unchanged.