An Insight I had on Theory vs Practice

[Vision]

I realized that theory is to practice as Lego blocks is to creating things out of those Lego blocks.

 

You can conceptualize it like this:

Theory = building your collection of Lego blocks, making it broader and more diverse.

Practice = using your arsenal of the various Lego blocks you have, and creating something out of it.

What use are Lego blocks if you're not creating anything out of them? In worldly terms; What use is theory if you're not putting it into practice? 

 

If you don't have a broad theoretical foundation, you don't have a broad collection of Lego blocks, which limits your capacity to create. 

So when researching, we can ask ourselves: What am I really creating out of this Lego block?; What am I really practicing by learning this theory?

 

Some Lego blocks might not take effect until 10-20 years ahead of your life. It can still be useful to add them to your arsenal but make sure you get your priorities straight and dynamically balance your focus on which Lego blocks you are collecting. A skyscraper needs a solid foundation. 

[Leo Gura]

21 minutes ago, Vision said:

Theory = building your collection of Lego blocks, making it broader and more diverse.

Practice = using your arsenal of the various Lego blocks you have, and creating something out of it.

Yes

Without theory, how would you know what to practice, why to practice, and how to practice?

Practice without theory is extremely limited. Which is why doctors spend 10 years learning theory before doing surgery.

Quote

What use are Lego blocks if you're not creating anything out of them? In worldly terms; What use is theory if you're not putting it into practice?

Sort of, but you have to be careful here not to let theory become a slave to pure utility or pragmatism.

Not everything you learn should be practical. Some stuff you learn has no direct practical application. The practical implications can be very oblique or indirect. For example, what was the practical application of learning about the French Revolution? Nothing immediately comes to mind, but it is still important to learn such things because of how they shape your worldview.

Also, sometimes things are learned just for the sake of knowing them, not for any practical purpose.

Much of learning is not obviously practical, so be careful not to limit learning to that.

[Hello from Russia]

20 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Yes

Without theory, how would you know what to practice, why to practice, and how to practice?

Practice without theory is extremely limited. Which is why doctors spend 10 years learning theory before doing surgery.

Sort of, but you have to be careful here not to let theory become a slave to pure utility or pragmatism.

Not everything you learn should be practical. Some stuff you learn has no direct practical application. The practical implications can be very oblique or indirect. For example, what was the practical application of learning about the French Revolution? Nothing immediately comes to mind, but it is still important to learn such things because of how they shape your worldview.

Also, sometimes things are learned just for the sake of knowing them, not for any practical purpose.

Much of learning is not obviously practical, so be careful not to limit learning to that.

There are huge practical applications to that, imo. Napoleon was a strategic genius, there is so much inspiration that can be taken from his actions both in revolution and his domestic and foreign policies and conquests

[Vision]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Practice without theory is extremely limited. Which is why doctors spend 10 years learning theory before doing surgery.

What are your thoughts on initially spending 2 years just studying theory to form an overarching strategy for your life? Still doing spiritual practices and retreats, but for contrast I'd think these are cornerstone practices. Whereas a business venture can be temporary.

How many hours a day of theory is too much? Or until it gives diminishing returns? You can finish a book in 2-3 days reading 3 hours a day.

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

what was the practical application of learning about the French Revolution?

50 minutes ago, Hello from Russia said:

but it is still important to learn such things because of how they shape your worldview.

I think that can still be applied here. 

In this case, the Lego block is the French Revolution, what the Lego block is creating is a shift in your perspective/worldview. 

Thus, the purpose of learning about history is opening yourself to new perspectives, further building your big picture. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Vision

[Vision]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Also, sometimes things are learned just for the sake of knowing them, not for any practical purpose.

Much of learning is not obviously practical, so be careful not to limit learning to that.

Yes, that's true. Sometimes we'll come across dead ends but it's worth it.

Though in the first few years of doing this work I think it's better to lean towards the pragmatic end to get survival needs met.

I like to think of it as research and development, but for our own lives. Like how businesses and companies spend 15% (for example) of their profits on research and development for innovation. 

[Hello from Russia]

@Vision Yeah, but what I am saying is you can literally copycat Napoleon's strategies to get better results in whatever you're doing. It requires some micro-macro abstract thought management, though, for sure

Edited March 11, 2021 by Hello from Russia

[Leo Gura]

What is practical is what your ego needs for its survival. This is not to be trusted.

What is practical is never holistic.

[Carl-Richard]

On 28.2.2021 at 8:55 PM, Carl-Richard said:

"Perspective training" is not a straightforward concept. You can't separate perspective from content. Training your perspective also involves accumulating content which can be contrasted with other content. In other words, the muscle of perspective needs food in order to grow. A perspective cannot be expressed before it's manifested in something concrete, and the particular language you learn can be a part of that.

You could say that how large your perspective is depends on the way you compare and contrast different content, and as the amount of content increases, the amount of potential connections, combinations, comparisons and contrasts increases exponentially. This is why it's important to balance theory and spiritual practice, because they compliment eachother. Spiritual practice flexes the perspective muscle and theory feeds the muscle.

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Carl-Richard

[StarStruck]

Practice is making the connections between the Lego blocks. That is why they say you need 10k hours to build something solid.