At Vipassana, before every meditation, Goenka says the same thing: “Start again, with a calm and equanimous mind.” And over ten days I learned that this isn’t just a warm-up instruction. It’s the entire practice. The only measure of a good meditation isn’t how focused you were, or how deep you went, or what you felt. It’s how equanimous you were through whatever came up. You move your attention slowly through the body, noticing whatever sensations arise. Pleasant sensation? Observe it. Don’t chase more. Painful sensation? Observe it. Don’t try to make it stop.
The warning this week about “overdoing equanimity” made me pause. I think there’s some nuance in this. In Vipassana terms, the trap isn’t suppressing your emotions or becoming too calm. It’s subtler. If you’re forcing yourself not to feel something, that’s just another form of aversion. You’re reacting to the reaction. You’ve just made it quieter.
The post about the trait this week had concern that one should not “mute the soul.” The two framings sound similar but they’re pointing at different things. Vipassana is about non-reactivity to what arises. The Mussar seems more concerned with not getting destabilized by what arises. You could be completely non-attached to a sensation and still fall apart when your life does. And you could be totally grounded and subtly clinging to the groundedness itself.
I did a Good/Bad meditation on the beach in the Dominican Republic, sun already gone, water still warm. Then another one sitting by a volcano after a long hike, legs aching, everything quiet. What I found is that the Vipassana training made the Good/Bad meditation feel more natural. If I can sit with whatever comes uninvited, sitting with something I’ve intentionally called up doesn’t feel as hard. One trains the muscle. The other helps you understand what you’re training it for.