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… we cool his heart to make him gentle
Are the San people the happiest on Earth? In exploring this question, Vishen Lakhiani touches upon a profound social technology that stands in stark contrast to our modern, ‘power-branded,’ gold-embellished world.
For the San—the indigenous hunter-gatherers whose ancestral territories span the vast Kalahari Desert across Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa—happiness isn’t found in individual conquest, but in a radical, gentle egalitarianism. This way of being has been erroneously viewed by ‘colonial forces,’ past and present, as ‘primitive,’ while they attempted to ‘favour’ the natives with their own rigid systems of hierarchy, ‘law’, and ego.
The San understood what many often forget: that the ‘Big Man’ complex is a poison to communal harmony. This is why, when a hunter returns with a great prize, the tribe does not worship him; they playfully belittle the catch to ensure his ego remains disciplined and his spirit remains tethered to the group. ‘That skinny thing’s all bone!’ As documented by anthropologist Richard Lee, this practice serves a singular, beautiful purpose: ‘We cool his heart to make him gentle.’
In a world currently scorched by status anxiety and the ‘heat’ of dominance, perhaps the ultimate ‘favour’ we can do for ourselves is to adopt this ancient wisdom—cooling our own hearts to rediscover the quiet joy of belonging, laughing at our own swollen egos, even as we playfully giggle at those of others.
Astronaut Christina Koch, encircling the Moon, radioed home while viewing Earth from a unique perspective; ‘You’re all one!’
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