onderful article, thank you. I remember reading this story back in the late '80s about the Chinese farmer and his good news/bad news. Although I may have already been heading that way, I felt it was the tipping point for changing my worldview (though the word "worldview" was slowly becoming inoperable); "The Turn," as Jesus would put it, and kensho (I am fairly certain) for the Buddhist. My whole attitude and outlook upon life had significantly shifted.
What seems a characteristic (or gateway trait) of equanimity is the ability to hold ambiguity without the rush or even concern to find a side or solid ground. When this started happening to me, where I had once been so sure about everything, it felt all wrong and I thought I was losing it. Yet at the same time there was this quiet assurance things were exactly as they should be. I did not try to fix it.