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"A lover of wisdom came to one who secluded himself in meditation and asked to be accepted as one of them.
The master of meditation replied, "My son, may you be blessed from heaven, for your intention is good. But let me know: Have u attatined equanimity or not?"
He responded, "Master, clarify your words."
He explained, "My son, if one person honors you and another humiliates you, are the two equal in your eyes or not?"
He answered, "By the life of your soul, my master! I do feel pleasure and satisfaction from the one who honors me and pain from the one who humiliates me - but I am not vengeful nor do I bear a grudge."
The master said, "My son, go away in peace. For as long as you have not attained equanimity and still feel humiliation from something done to you, you are not ready for your thought to be linked on high. You are not ready to come and seclude yourself in meditation. But go and humble your heart further, genuinely, until you attain equanimity. Then you can experience aloneness."
-Rabbi Avner..."The Essential Kabballah"
This is liked to ones heart being weighed on the scale, balanced by the feather of Ma'at. If the heart balanced with Ma'at, then the person would be able to complete their transition to the afterlife.
Equianimity = temperance = form of Ma'at.
Temperance is one of the 4 cardinal virtues in christianity and one of the 5 Icepts of Buddhism.
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