Embodiment · “Being Precedes Having”
The High Indifference
Rest in a poised equilibrium that is not pulled to either pole of the opposites — pleasure/pain, gain/loss, even nirvana/world — without falling into apathy.
The High Indifference: Notice which pair of opposites is pulling you — pleasure/pain, gain/loss, praise/blame. Instead of chasing one pole and resisting the other, rest at the point of balance between them, giving neither more weight. Keep it warm and fully aware: this is equilibrium, not coldness or non-interest in others. Abide from the poise rather than concluding “nothing matters.” Carry it into the day — unmoved by wins and losses alike, yet still feeling, still acting, still caring.
What it is
Following his first realisation, Merrell-Wolff records moving into a still loftier condition he named the High Indifference: a perfect equilibrium that gives no more weight to one pole of any opposition than to the other.
It is “a lofty state of Consciousness that can look upon these pairs of opposites unattached and aloof. a condition of aloofness, of complete balance or equilibrium, where one is not oriented either to the positive pole of the lofty values nor to the negative values of the opposite side.” At its furthest reach it does not even prefer liberation to the ordinary world: it “does not give any more valuation to nirvana than to the universe, and recognizes no ultimate difference between the two.” As a practice for ordinary practitioners, this is rendered as a cultivated equanimity / non-attachment — resting in a centred poise that meets pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame without being captured by either.
Wolff is emphatic about what it is not: “it was not indifference as apathy, nor. indifference in the sense of a personal non-interest in the suffering of creatures.” The aloofness is balance, not coldness.
The Method
A faithful, practitioner-level rendering of Wolff’s High Indifference:
- Name the opposites at play. Notice the pair currently pulling you — pleasure/pain, gain/loss, success/failure, praise/blame, even spiritual “high states” versus dryness. Wolff’s insight is that these come in pairs and we are habitually oriented to one pole.
- Decline both poles equally. Rather than chasing the positive and resisting the negative, let attention rest at the point of equilibrium between them — giving “no more valuation” to one side than the other. The aim is poise, not preference.
- Distinguish balance from numbness. Check that this is equilibrium, not shutdown. Genuine High Indifference is fully aware and warm; it can still feel and respond. If you have gone flat or cold, you have slipped into apathy — re-open to clear seeing.
- Rest in the equilibrium as a state, not a verdict. Let the balanced poise become the felt tone of consciousness — “poised in Equilibrium, completely neutral between all pairs of opposites.” It is a place to abide from, not a judgement that nothing matters.
- Carry it into life. Extend the stance off the cushion: meet the day’s wins and losses from the same centred aloofness, neither inflated by the good nor collapsed by the bad, while still acting and caring. (Sourcing note: quoted phrases are short attributed renderings from Pathways Through to Space; the numbered protocol adapts Wolff’s account into a practicable equanimity contemplation.)
Source & Lineage
The High Indifference is recorded in Pathways Through to Space (1944) as a state Wolff entered after his initial 1936 recognition, and reflected on further in his shorter writings (e.g. “Reflections on the High Indifference,” 1936).
Its lineage is the Advaitic / jnana-yoga transcendence of the dvandvas (the pairs of opposites) and the broader contemplative ideal of upeksha (equanimity) — here given Wolff’s distinctive, philosophically exacting framing as an equilibrium “superior to the state of Satisfaction” itself.
Common refinements
Mistaking it for apathy. The most common error, which Wolff explicitly forecloses: this is not coldness or non-interest in others’ suffering. If you feel numb, you have lost it.
- Suppression dressed as equanimity. Pushing feelings down is not balance; genuine poise includes clear feeling without being swept by it.
- Using it to disengage. “Nothing matters more than anything else” can become an excuse to stop acting or caring. Equanimity is a stance from which to respond well, not a reason to withdraw.
- Refinement: practise first with mild opposites (a small win, a small annoyance) before bringing the stance to charged ones; equanimity built on easy cases steadies the hard ones.