The first quality of the mind necessary for inner warriorship is equanimity, and the first theme unpacked in sound by producer Howie B. Listen along to the guided soundscape below, and consider the inner dichotomies that face us all.

Equanimity is a state of balance, a middle ground between the opposites and competing forces of our own mind.

The mind which responds with conditioned, automatic likes and dislikes is dominated by reactive pleasure and pain.

Such a mind is at the mercy of its environment, and is said to be turbulent, hard to control and concentrate. It is inconstant in purpose and direction, and insensitive in perception and insight.

With training, this conditioned reactivity and elaboration of strong affective responses is reduced, and the mind gradually becomes less reactive and more calm. As such, it becomes more easy to control and remains unperturbed in the face of an increasingly broad range of experience.

Finally, it is said to be able to encompass all experiences and to allow “the one thousand beatific and one thousand horrible visions” to pass before it without disturbance.

Of such a mind, it is said that pleasure and pain, praise and blame, fame and shame, and loss and gain are all the same.

Producer Howie B reflects on the varied inner dichotomies in the first of ten meditative soundscapes, tracing the journey of a seesaw and how it relates to the reality of the mind.