there was a controversial speaker at my university last year, I went to check it out and accidentally ended up joining in the protest. There were some moments when the crowd became mob-like and nearly rioted; when I was a part of the more momentous moments, it was like I was on autopilot.

In reaaaally simplistic terms, consciousness is subjective experience, and there's an argument that all of us in the crowd were experiencing and responding to the same things, that we had the same goal, and all felt and acted accordingly as one.

also, experiences that facilitate bonding seem to have a similar connectedness in them. "we were all a part of the same thing" can often be said with a bit of nostalgia, maybe there's something related there~