Seneca, Moral Letters 65.8

To return to our subject; this freedom will be greatly helped by the contemplation of which we were just speaking. 

All things are made up of matter and of God; God controls matter, which encompasses him and follows him as its guide and leader. And that which creates, in other words, God, is more powerful and precious than matter, which is acted upon by God.
 
God's place in the Universe corresponds to the soul's relation to man. World-matter corresponds to our mortal body; therefore, let the lower serve the higher. 
 
Let us be brave in the face of hazards. Let us not fear wrongs, or wounds, or bonds, or poverty. 
 
And what is death? It is either the end, or a process of change. I have no fear of ceasing to exist; it is the same as not having begun. Nor do I shrink from changing into another state, because I shall, under no conditions, be as cramped as I am now. Farewell. 

—from Seneca, Moral Letters 65 

If I want to be happy, then I should first understand something of what this means. If I have a hunch that such happiness demands freedom, then I should learn more about when to bind and when to lose. If I want to find my proper place in this wide world, then I should get a sense for the lay of the land. Why am I hacking away at the limbs, when I need to get to the roots? 
 
Far from being a shameful extravagance, a reflection on who I am, why I am here, and where I am going is an absolute necessity of life. Without it I will be completely adrift, and no amount of tinkering with the nuts and bolts will make a spot of difference. 
 
And for the job to be done thoroughly, it ought to offer the fullest account possible, where the effect is bound to the cause, and the proximate is perceived within the context of the ultimate. 
 
While bullies and snake oil salesmen might pay their lip service to God, we know quite well how they are only thinking of themselves. No, if we are completely honest with ourselves, we realize we are uncomfortable with the very concept of God precisely because it requires us to cease believing we are the center of everything. If we continue to find fault with the Absolute, we still aren’t thinking big enough. 
 
All creatures are formed by Being, and all purpose is driven by Mind. To approach the Divine, however weakly and imperfectly, is finally to be looking at the grand scheme of things. 
 
Going to the source is always the best bet, which is why any philosopher who puts his money where his mouth is must become a seeker of God, whatever words he may use to describe that greatest Measure. They way my body is made to be in service to my soul is but a faint mirroring of how all creatures are in service to their Creator. 
 
Such an awareness, in turn, will strengthen my commitment to a good life. What can hardship, or deprivation, or even death itself do to me, when I know what it is really about? 

—Reflection written in 7/2013 

IMAGE: Jan Bruegel the Younger, God Creating the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (c. 1650)