Place in the book. A brief triadic formula of the "view from above": remember the three totalities — substance, time, fate — and your minute share in each. It stands beside 05-23: there the flux, here the smallness of the portion. The discipline of desire.

The three totalities. (1) The whole DOGMAsubstance (οὐσία), of which you are the tiniest part (ὀλίγιστον): one matter of the cosmos, and you a grain of it. (2) The whole of time (αἰών), of which "a short and momentary interval" (βραχὺ καὶ ἀκαριαῖον διάστημα) has been marked off for you — a point between two abysses (05-23). (3) The whole TERMfate (εἱμαρμένη), of which you are how small (πόστον) a part: the coherent chain of the causes of the Whole, in which your lot (μοῖρα) is vanishingly small.

The therapy. The threefold diminution (μικρόν) knocks the prop from under pride and complaint: one who knows his true measure in substance, time, and fate has nothing to be puffed up about and nothing to bewail. To know one's lot is to accept it (DOGMAamor fati): the portion measured out to me is inscribed in the Whole and so "could not have been otherwise."

Discipline and parallels. The principal discipline is desire (the view from above, acceptance of one's lot); the secondary is assent (dispelling an inflated self-estimate). Parallels: Med. 05-23 (the abyss of time), 03-10 (the threefold μικρόν that shrinks life, the "corner of earth," and fame), 12.32 (how small a part of time, of substance, of soul is yours); 02-02 (be not vexed at your lot).