Ability to react evenly in any situation ensures lesser
extremity of reactions, thereby ensuring easier recovery from a situation.
Aparigraha means “hands off” or “not seizing opportunity.” On an
extended scale, it can mean equanimity. The human safety system is designed to
evaluate any situation on the basis of “Do I like this or not”/“Is this good
for me or not”/“Is he friend or foe”. This evaluative system then takes a
position based on the data available and prepares a coping action. In many
cases, the brain decides based on previous information available with it, and
this may not be appropriate to the situation. This is why equanimity is
important.
Equanimity is the non-judgmental attitude that we take to ensure
that we are fair to ourselves and others when taking a decision. It removes
bias, hasty, ad hoc and ill-considered decisions
Anecdotes, experiences
and situations to help understand…
(Wikipedia extract) Maximilian Kolbe was born in January 1894 as
the second son of Julius Kolbe and Maria Dabrowska. His father wasethnic German
and his mother Polish. In 1907 Kolbe and his elder brother Francis joined the Conventional Friciscans and junior seminary in Lwow.
In 1910 Kolbe entered the novitiate.
In 1918 Kolbe was ordained a priest.
During the Second World War he provided shelter to
refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi
persecution in his friary
in Niepokalanow.
He was also active as a radio amateur, vilifying Nazi activities. On 17 February
1941 he was arrested by the German Gestapo
and imprisoned in Pawiak
prison, On 25 May he was transferred to Auschwitz.
In July 1941 a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, prompting the
deputy camp commander, to pick 10 men from the same barracks to be starved to
death in order to deter further escape attempts. One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out lamenting his
family, and Kolbe volunteered to take his place.
During the time in the cell he led the men in songs and prayer.
After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others
were still alive. He encouraged others that they would soon be with Mary in
heaven. Each time the guards checked on him he was standing or kneeling in the
middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered, while the others
lay moaning and complaining on the ground around him. Finally he was killed
with an injection of carbolic acid. Some who were present at the injection say that
he raised his left arm and calmly waited for the injection. He died soon after.
Father Kolbe was beatified as a confessor by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 10 October 1982.
Equanimity in difficult situations is not easy, but each of us
has an experience where we kept calm in difficult circumstances. Write about it…
Share your opinion and
experiences
- How do you keep your equilibrium in any situation?
- How do you recover your equilibrium if you lose it?
- Is it possible to remain calm in any situation?
- Is ability to remain calm hereditary?
- Why are some people naturally calm?
- Can prayer help our ability to remain calm? Why?
- What is the impact of equanimity on others?
- Equanimity and emotional intelligence - How are they related?
- How do you maintain your position without offending others?
- How do you handle fear when opposing authority?
- How do you reconcile to the reality of any situation? How do you know when to stop pushing?
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