Notes on equanimity from the inside

In a LessWrong post, user nonplus describes a ten-day meditation retreat where they experienced a profound state of equanimity that shattered their previous understanding of inner experience. They contrast this with Lukas Gloor's tranquilism—a theory that defines well-being as freedom from cravings—noting that equanimity doesn't fit the standard pleasure/suffering scale. While ordinary bliss triggers a "more please" reaction, equanimity has a subtle draw that doesn't cling, and it changes how other sensations (like pain) are experienced. This suggests that classical hedonism may fail to account for states that are preferable without being more positive in the same direction.

The experience also unsettles consequentialist thinking. While meditating, images of friends dying horribly arose, but nonplus felt no urge to change or fix anything—just witnessing. This hints at a deeply non-judgmental space where nothing needs to be different. The author notes that consequentialism evaluates world states as better or worse, but equanimity offers a different relationship to tragedy: one of acceptance rather than reflexive action. For the rationalist and effective altruist communities, this raises profound questions about the assumption that maximizing well-being requires active intervention, and whether states of equanimity might themselves be ultimate values.