Also called the brahmaviharas — the divine abodes — because the texts say practicing them is what living as a god would be like. They are trained in a deliberate order and a deliberate direction: begin with yourself, extend to a benefactor, then a neutral person, then a difficult one, then all beings without distinction. Equanimity comes last because it is not indifference but the balance that keeps the other three from curdling into sentimentality, pity, or exhaustion.