equipoise

In the ancient world, the Epicureans valued a state of self-containment and autonomy, freedom from strong passions (whether positive or negative). To them, this was "happiness," properly understood. Equipoise, or something like it. For them, this was something always attainable by the human person even under extreme pressure, and yet it seems to me (an ordinary person) pretty hard to achieve and fleeting. It's also linked pretty closely with events and how they turn out. Perhaps I'm just a bad philosopher; I know I'd make a pretty bad Buddhist for this reason (because as hard as I try, I can't think of appetites and desires and fears as something that can reasonably gotten rid of).