Have you ever read The Tao of Seneca?

It’s a collection of Seneca’s writings that Tim Ferriss offers for free on his site.

If you don’t have it feel free to grab yourself a copy here.

I’ve got the audible version and I enjoy listening to it on my morning walks.

This morning, I was listening to Letter 89 - On The Parts of Philosophy.

Here are a couple of excerpts I felt were relevant to reflect on today:

“It is a useful fact that you wish to know, one which is essential to
him who hastens after wisdom—namely, the parts of philosophy
and the division of its huge bulk into separate members. For by
studying the parts we can be brought more easily to understand
the whole.

I shall therefore comply with your demand, and shall divide philosophy into parts, but not into scraps. For it is useful that philosophy should be divided, but not chopped into bits. Just as it is hard to take in what is indefinitely large, so it is hard to take in what is indefinitely small.

The people are divided into tribes, the army into centuries.

Whatever has grown to greater size is more easily identified if it is
broken up into parts; but the parts, as I have remarked, must not
be countless in number and diminutive in size. For over-analysis
is faulty in precisely the same way as no analysis at all; whatever
you cut so fine that it becomes dust is as good as blended into a
mass again.”

There’s a lot more to reflect on throughout the letter, but to keep this brief I’ll stop with Seneca’s writing here.

It’s interesting to consider:

“Whatever has grown to greater size is more easily identified if it is broken up into parts”

This part’s fairly straight forward.

Success and what it takes to achieve it is easier than you think. But success as a whole is so vast that it’s easier to understand when broken up into parts.

Prime Directive —> Direct —> Adapt —> Iterate

But consider this next part:

“Just as it is hard to take in what is indefinitely large, so it is hard to take in what is indefinitely small…

“…For over-analysis is faulty in precisely the same way as no analysis at all. Whatever you cut so fine that it becomes dust is as good as blended into a mass again.”

If the “over-analysis” Seneca is referring to is analysis paralysis, I agree.

But, I find myself reflecting on this question - are there any areas in your life that you're cutting so finely that it's become dust? And is it even possible to do so?

Maybe, maybe not. But it’s interesting to Reflect on.

Death - Before - Dishonor

To your success,

Nate

​P.S. If you’d like to share your reflections with me, feel free to email me at reflections@mindvaultllc.com as I’ll be happy to hear your thoughts. This email goes directly to me and is reserved only for those who read these Reflections.