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Theory comes from the greek theorei, which is the same root for theater--which comes from the same idea: to detach and watch. watching is prerequisite to understanding, says one theory. as assumes most of classical western philosophy (which forms so many core assumptions learned implicitly through years of schooling, and by just living in the modern world). Sanctioned by the assumed noble-ness of all this detachment, it’s possible to detach away giant sections of one’s life this way. For example, in theory X seems like the best thing to do with my life, this or that the best kind of person to marry, etc. Reject everything else. Things left to chance are reduced to a minimum. There are even theories for that element of chance. The central limit theorem for example. A more sophisticated theoretical person might make provisions for the 99% range of possible occurrences, which lie in the middle of the bell curve.

It happens to everyone, though: sexual preferences congeal into “types”, strangers into stereotypes, interests into, so very unglamorously, into what I should-be-interested-in because it’s the path I’ve chosen. In such a state of affairs, I think, living in the theoretical cloud that accounts for everything, the only things that are directly and truly experienced are curveballs. And only things that are really and truly experienced can produce (psychological) growth (or degeneracy) in the thing doing the experiencing. It's the difference between a theoretical punch in the face and an actual (practical) one. It’s why major events are so important. Everything up until point X is already accounted for intellectually and thus inert. Like how the stock market follows a random walk because all information up until point X, facts as well as theory about the future, is already summed up into stock prices. Completely unforeseen events are what really changes things.

[Still, there's a vulnerable core in there, vulnerable to certain things, some things more than other things. Maybe that's what should be understood. One's vulnerabilities more than anything. Because the world is unpredictable. Jung's archetype theory is appealing. Events derive their power from the ability to activate certain proclivities. such proclivities in the collective unconscious, humanity at the most basic, and then one’s more unique proclivities. Matching modern empirical psychology with one’s own background and experience can illuminate that. The things it predicts, they might not ring true yet or even ever, but watch out! You might even become a homo, if the circumstances are right.]

Daoists sit and forget for the sake of richer experience. Forgetting all details, especially the mundane ones in order to experience them again, like for the first time. A return from detachment back into one’s animal core, the one that is always fully immersed in one’s surroundings. This, too is powerful. Everyone speaks better chinese when they are drunk. A (deliberate/non-deliberate) obliteration of the self-reflecting rational intellect. It’s what western psychology appropriated recently and called “flow”. Maybe it’s possible to live one’s entire life in that flow state. Daoist sages do it, maybe. But they were never known to be very productive--the tendency is to live intensely but with no value added (you can't learn Chinese while drunk). So, using the rational intellect to harness that subterranean spring, directing and channeling that explosive mess--at its best and most mature, a deft corrective…