After the Great Fortune, the kattie, accompanied by family members and friends go to the Saman Devali which is the biggest and most important temple of Saman Devio, the protecting God of the province, to give thanks.
But Sunil also expresses the team’s gratitude by offering out a handful of coins among the beggars lining up the road to the temple. “I can expect to have good luck only if I too give help to the needy when I am able” he says with deep conviction. According to miners, fortune is far from being blind. They should know this, their lives depend on it. As they put it, it all depends on their connection to the gods.
The moment of truth has come. Will it turn out a success with good fortune smiling upon them? Will all the work they have done been in vain?
They can’t predict the gods’ favor either, however, do their best not to negatively affect the higher powers by misbehavior or not giving the compulsory honor.
“If any of the gods get angry, he would hide the stone,” Sunil explains. “We wouldn’t notice it even though it would be right in front of our noses.”
There are several gods for them to win good graces from. First off, the Buddha, whom they consider to be a god. Next is Saman Devio. There are also still the spirits of the earth, goblins, and dwarves in whom they are indebted to.
It is true that I haven’t experienced a time, even though I have been at big, industrial mines as well, where sifting through the baskets of stones wouldn’t start with a prayer.
This view is also part of the thousands-of-years old miner tradition.
Sunil goes around and pays all of his debts back in full, so everything can start all over again with a clean slate. If they wouldn’t have helped each other during times of need, this free-lance, treasure hunting miner world couldn’t have endured. They have helped sustain each other following all the laws of their lives. The laws of society and of God which, lucky for them, do not differ.
For that is the sustainability we can both trust, and need. Each of us with a personal commitment of cooperation, mutual support and good will. That creates a social network where we can spend our lives in the warm safety of people and gods. That is our original, natural setting. The longing for win–win games and to seek for what is beneficial for all living things, including nature, is what is harmonious with human nature.
And that is the view which makes life a more “digestible bread.”
There is a whole new branch of science now, “happiness-research” that talks about the human need for friends, mates, loving community as the basic source for our psychological comfort. However, the lack of physical comfort doesn’t really seem to be in the way of our happiness.
That is the important truth our consumer culture has made us forget, but we can learn again from “less developed” nations, meaning those who are still closer to our primal state.
Obviously, it is not possible to “go back,” nor would it be desirable, and our social context is rather different. So, what to do?
Here is the point where we can integrate all the knowledge, skills and insights we have with the eternal laws and values, to create personal solutions, as we indeed live in the age of integration.
Literature on the Age of Integration:
https://www.dailyevolver.com/theory/
https://centerforintegralwisdom.org/integral-psychology/essentials/ken-wilber-outline-integral-psychology/
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e804/acb4209d72e793938cb0a54178044e3a56b6.pdf