Equanimity and indifference. I think that's the worst of the near
enemies, the most corrosive. Equanimity is balance. When something
overwhelming happens in our lives we feel it strongly but we also have
an ability to overcome it. People who somehow survive the loss of a
child or a spouse. Unbelievable grief and sorrow. But deep down inside
people find a core. That's called equanimity. An ability to accept
things and move on. How's that like indifference? Think about it. All
those stoic people. Stiff upper lip. Calm in the face of tragedy. And
some really are that brave. But some are psychotic. They just don't feel
pain. They don't care about others. They don't feel like the rest of
us. They're like the Invisible Man, wrapped in the trappings of
humanity, but beneath there's emptiness. The problem is telling one from
another. People with equanimity are unbelievably brave. They absorb the
pain, feel it fully, and let it go. They look exactly like people who
don't care at all, who are indifferent. Cool, calm and collected. We
revere it. But who's brave, and who's the near enemy?
-- Louise Penny. [edited extract from]
The Cruelest Month: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (2008) Chapter 31.