We can begin to imagine a hypothetical society of practicing Buddhists, faithfully carrying out their conceptions of "equanimity" by observing their various thoughts and impressions peacefully and letting them pass by in their consciousness, as these things typically do if one just sits and watches them without attaching. What would probably end up happening - all other factors remaining constant - is that everyone would simply orbit their given spheres, perhaps swaying to and fro occasionally with the rhythms of the world, but largely staying in place, like peaceful strands of seaweed swaying on the ocean floor.
Certainly not what we have now - though the hypothetical seems vastly preferable at this point. But holding the spiritual workings of our society in contrast to this hypothetical, an alarming pattern begins to appear. What we practice collectively - at least in the mainstream - is something which is almost the opposite: a relentless focusing and intensifying attachment to thoughts and impressions.
The concept, and the impressions which interact with that concept, are as we know, limited, lower resolution artifacts that can be very useful for navigating the infinite reality. But now they are held up as eternal, even as they are destroyed and cast aside at an ever-accelerating rate with ever-increasing contempt and scorn. The political and media organs are all too happy to push, push, push, and push some more for good measure.
Nuclear fission comes more readily to mind than the seaweed swaying on the ocean floor. And not the kind of controlled fission surrounded by massive walls of concrete, but more the mushrooming kind.
