That which leads to a general agreement, and likewise to a perfect one, is an assured belief in certain facts; but if, lacking this assurance, all things are adrift in our minds, then doctrines are indispensable; for they give to our minds the means of unswerving decision.
Seneca, Letter __:62.
From this I deduce the following guideline: it’s easy to know what to do when the facts are clear. When the facts are unclear (e.g., when contemplating what happens tomorrow or the next day), you need “doctrines”, or deep guiding principles.
Yesterday’s facts are relatively clear. I’m not being clever there. Yesterday is a matter of memory only, therefore malleable depending on your mood and other facts. Yesterday can be altered. You can change the past, and in fact I would guess that history changes all the time.
Spiritual principles are needed when considering the past, too. But that’s not what caught my eye today.
The question of “what do I do now?” is what matters. How do I act, right now? And because facts are barely known about the now (how much can I really know?) and no factual knowledge is possible about the future, the only answer is deep spiritual principles.
So if you really look at it, reliance on facts is probably misplaced: we reinterpret the past to suit ourselves, the now is inherently only partially perceived, and the future is wholly unknown.
That’s why a kit of three or four or possibly five ideas, constantly in mind, can guide me to better choices. This is analogous to the Jocko “four laws of combat” method of operation.
Seneca, in this letter, seems to be overly complex but maybe that’s because he is making a collateral argument (precepts, doctrines, etc.).
I don’t know explicitly what my personal equivalent is for the four laws of combat.
Keep it simple is a start. Let’s explicitly adopt that as the first guiding principle of my life, shall we? (I am addressing the busload of little “me” brains that constantly talk to me haha. I am a committee of legion and they are an unruly and contrarian bunch.)