Sometimes Equanimity falls into indifference when we fall into idealism and judgment, without having enough Compassion to balance the understanding that everybody is the owner of their own Kamma. We still want to care about people. For example, perhaps a person is asking our help for things and we get a little bit tired of it. In the beginning, we try to have Compassion; we try to help that person, but they don't seem to be able to understand how to be helped, so then we step back to Equanimity. Understanding that we have limited ability to help, we reflect that they are the owner of their own Kamma. Then we may fall into judgment and aversion, thinking, "Don't they know everything's impermanent? Can't they see it? It's obvious. Get with it. I did," and similar types of thoughts. And then it falls into indifference - "Ah well, I don't care about them anymore. I'm going to protect myself and not have anything to do with them." This is falling into indifference.
We want to keep our heart open and continue to have Compassion for them. We don't have to stop having Compassion for them when we practice Equanimity. Equanimity and Compassion need to be balanced. It's just that we don't suffer with them. We don't have to suffer with them and we don't have to be their judge. I have a saying that I like to use: "Let Kamma be the judge." We don't have to be the judge. If we start judging and putting our ideals onto them, then we're suffering with them. We don't have to do that.
We also need to fall back onto Lovingkindness to protect our Equanimity. That's having unconditional love - learning how to wish them well even if they stay the same, and giving them the freedom to decide what they want to be in their life and which path they wish to walk, even if it's different to ours. That does not mean we condone unskillful actions; it just means that we understand that some things are beyond our power to control. Because our Equanimity is supported by Compassion and Lovingkindness, we are also able to see the good qualities of this person. But when we've gone into indifference, we've just forgotten about that person and we've stopped caring. When a lot of judgment comes, we usually know that we've gone too far one way. We've stopped caring.
And it's difficult, sometimes, to not slip into judgment and indifference when there's a lot of Dukkha coming towards us. The hindrances in ourselves are Dukkha and when the hindrances arising in others are directed at us, it's also Dukkha. The usual response is to turn away from that Dukkha, but in the turning away, we have a danger of falling into aversion and indifference. When this happens, we don't want to hear about anything; we don't want to understand their difficulties of being a human being, having their ignorance and the conditions of their life.