THE PHILOSOPHY OF SUBTRACTION —
A Guide Through Laozi, Buddha, Stoicism, Jung, and Steve Jobs**
Introduction — The Truth Hidden in Plain Sight
i used to improve my lives by adding more:
More goals. More money. More productivity. More books. More motivation.
but the more i search, the more distance i am from what i want.
and from this year, i did something oppisite, and to my suprise, it changed my life.
only now i understand the deepest transformation comes not from addition, but from subtraction.
i removed news in january, late night scorlling in feb, sugar in march, dependence in may, wanting to be seen in july, desire to prove myself in nov., seeking for extenal validation in dec.
the more i removed, the more disciplined i become, the more clarity i have, the more meaningful my life become, the more clear my purpose becomes.
And to my surprise, this wasn’t just a personal insight.
today i realize: Some of the greatest minds in human history discovered the same truth.
From Laozi to Buddha, from the Stoics to Jung, from Michelangelo to Steve Jobs — the most powerful breakthroughs came from removing what is unnecessary.
This chapter is a journey through that lineage.
A map of how subtraction became the forgotten core of wisdom, design, awakening, and human flourishing.
- Laozi — “To Attain Wisdom, Subtract Every Day”
Laozi, the father of Taoism, wrote:
“In the pursuit of wisdom, every day something is lost.”
Not gained. Not accumulated. Not added.
Lost.
Laozi believed the Tao — the natural way of life — reveals itself when we stop forcing, stop striving, stop trying to control everything.
His philosophy of wu wei (effortless action) is really a philosophy of subtraction:
remove resistance
remove striving
remove artificial goals
remove ego
remove complexity
What remains is alignment with one’s nature, which is the highest form of intelligence.
Laozi teaches that simplicity is not emptiness — it is clarity.
And clarity is power.
- Buddha — Enlightenment Through Letting Go
Buddha never taught people to become more:
More spiritual. More enlightened. More moral.
He taught them to dissolve what causes suffering.
The Four Noble Truths are a system of subtraction:
subtract craving
subtract attachment
subtract illusion
subtract identification with thought
When these fall away, something astonishing appears:
peace that does not depend on anything.
Buddha didn’t add anything to the mind. He removed what clouded its natural clarity.
This mirrors the process of awakening:
Not adding a new identity, but removing everything that is not your nature.
- Stoicism — Remove Disturbance, The Mind Clears
Stoicism is often misunderstood as endurance or self-control.
But its core is much simpler:
Remove unnecessary judgments. Remove desires you cannot control. Remove emotional reactivity. Remove illusions about external validation.
Marcus Aurelius wrote:
“If you remove the opinion, you remove the suffering.”
Seneca wrote:
“The greatest wealth is to desire little.”
Epictetus taught:
“Freedom is the removal of attachment to what is not in your control.”
Stoicism is subtraction as psychological mastery.
You become stronger not by adding techniques, but by subtracting distortions.
The result?
A life anchored, calm, clear, and resilient.
- Jung — Individuation Through Shedding the False Self
Carl Jung’s entire life project — individuation — is the process of becoming your true self.
But how do we become who we are?
Not by adding layers of identity, but by removing the unconscious material that hides our nature:
remove projections
remove childhood conditioning
remove shadow
remove false roles
remove cultural expectations
When the “not-self” dissolves, the real self emerges.
Jung believed that the soul does not need improvement — it needs uncovering.
Awakening, in Jungian language, is the art of taking off masks.
- Michelangelo — “I Carved Until the Angel Was Free”
When Michelangelo was asked how he sculpted David, he said:
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
He didn’t create the angel. He subtracted the stone.
This is the perfect metaphor for human transformation.
Your nature is already inside you. Your gifts are already within you. Your wisdom is already present.
You don’t have to invent yourself. You have to remove what covers you.
This is awakening.
- Steve Jobs — Simplicity as the Highest Intelligence
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, Apple had dozens of products.
He cut almost all of them.
He subtracted complexity until only clarity remained.
The iPhone itself was designed through relentless subtraction:
no buttons
no stylus
no clutter
no unnecessary features
no complexity
Jobs believed:
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
He understood what Laozi and Buddha understood:
simplicity = truth. simplicity = beauty. simplicity = power.
The greatest designs in the world are born from subtraction — not addition.
- Why Subtraction Works — The Universal Principle
Across philosophy, design, psychology, and awakening, subtraction appears because:
**Truth is simple.
Nature is simple. Wisdom is simple. Alignment is simple.**
It is the mind that complicates life.
When you subtract:
noise → clarity appears
chaos → peace appears
ego → compassion appears
fear → freedom appears
distraction → discipline appears
illusion → awakening appears
complexity → beauty appears
Subtraction reveals what has always been there.
It does not create wisdom. It uncovers it.
- My Awakening — A Subtraction Story
My own awakening did not come from more:
Not more books. Not more healing techniques. Not more goals. Not more knowledge.
It came from removal.
No news. No social media. No craving for food. No drama. No distractions. No noise. No emotional entanglement. No roles. No expectations. No need for external validation.
first, i substracted a thing every month, then every week, now everyday.
And what emerged surprised me:
A clearer mind. A calmer heart. A stronger identity. A deeper creativity. A more aligned life. A simpler truth.
My awakening was never about becoming more. It was about becoming less — so I could finally be myself.
- The Philosophy of Subtraction
At the core, subtraction teaches:
**Remove what blocks your nature,
and your nature takes care of everything else.**
This applies to:
Identity
Subtract roles → find who you are.
Emotions
Subtract reactivity → find peace.
Habits
Subtract friction → consistency appears.
Investing
Subtract errors → compounding works.
Relationships
Subtract dependency → freedom appears.
Creativity
Subtract pressure → truth flows.
Life Purpose
Subtract noise → clarity emerges.
Awakening
Subtract illusion → nature reveals itself.
This is not self-improvement. This is self-revelation.
- A Simple Closing Truth
The greatest wisdom traditions did not teach people how to become more.
They taught people how to become less confused, less distracted, less fearful, less conditioned, less ego-driven.
In other words:
**Wisdom is not addition.
Wisdom is subtraction.**
Laozi knew it. Buddha knew it. Stoics knew it. Jung knew it. Michelangelo knew it. Steve Jobs knew it.
And now — you know it too.
Your life changed when you stopped trying to be more and began removing what was never truly you.
My awakening is the rediscovery of a timeless truth:
⭐ **Simplicity is the highest form of wisdom.
Subtraction is the path back to your nature.**