Stages of Equanimity
This table shows how various aspects of experience tend to change as equanimity develops—from temporary states that depend on circumstances, through persistent but partial access, to complete equanimity where inner peace is always in the foreground.
| Aspect | Temporary | Persistent (Partial) | Persistent (Complete) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fundamental Okayness | The sense of feeling okay is dependent on circumstances, environment, and practices. | The sense of feeling okay is ever present, but stress / conflict often pushes the sense of okayness into the background. | Even deep stress and conflict (outside of deep, complex trauma triggers) don't push the sense of okayness into the background; it's just there, all the time, in the most obvious way. |
| Qualities of Experience | Experience and awareness is mostly dependent on circumstance and practice. | Would have to shift into exclusive perspectives where certain qualities were possible or in the foreground (love, emptiness, etc) | All qualities are just present and available, no shift in perspective required |
| Fullness and Emptiness | Dependent on circumstance and practice. | One may be at the foreground depending on the position or region, but it's difficult if not impossible to fully sink into both in one sitting, without shifting perspectives | Able to fully sink into the full / life side of things and also sink into the empty / void side of things in a single sitting |
| Narratives | Fully embedded in and personally identified with narratives | Decrease in the ability and desire to engage with narratives (fiction, nonfiction, personal narratives, etc) | Narratives can be engaged with and even enjoyed again (though without personal identification) |
| Preferences / Desires | Usually are fully identified with preferences and desires, even if you practice getting some distance from them. | "Normal" human desires tend to decrease, the further you progress. | Very normal, even trivial preferences and desires come back, and don't disrupt the sense of peace. |
| Stability of Experience | Dependent on circumstances / practices. | Even if the contents of reality / awareness are moving and shifting, awareness itself doesn't seem to change without an explicit shift in perspective / position. | People stop trying to describe their experience because the nature of their experience seems to shift so much |
| Reactivity | Reactivity must be controlled or suppressed, but the reactivity and the control are both identified with. | Reactivity tends to go down, the further you progress. | Reactivity starts to come back, but in an unattached / non-identified way. |