I began my adult life with the hypothesis that it would be possible to become a Stone Age native. For over 30 years, I programmed and conditioned myself to this end. In the last 10 of it, I would say I realistically experienced the physical, mental, and emotional state of the Stone Age. But to borrow a Buddhist phrase, eventually came a setting face-to-face with pure reality. I learned that it is not possible for human beings as we know them to live off the land. Rosellini appeared to accept the failure of his hypothesis with equanimity. At the age of forty-nine, he cheerfully announced that he had “recast” his goals and next intended to “walk around the world, living out of my backpack. I want to cover 18 to 27 miles a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”

The trip never got off the ground. In November 1991, Rosellini was discovered facedown on the floor of his shack with a knife through his heart. The coroner determined that the fatal wound was self-inflicted. There was no note. Rosellini left no hint as to why he had decided to end his life then and in that manner. In all likelihood, nobody will ever know. (75)

In context, the word “equanimity” can best be interpreted to mean
A.
distress
B.
regret
C.
disgrace
D.
ambivalence
E.
composure