A thinker fantasies about temples, and enslaves laborers to build them. But it is the laborers who fantasize about pulleys, geometry, and then new forms of governments. If necessity is the mother of invention, then the laborer, always just 2” from necessity, is her channel. The thinker builds material from clouds, and so has no needs; But the laborer brings reality to the effort, and, discovering true needs, has the opportunity to bear true thoughts.
Our religions tell us that the thoughts of God are very subtle, very spiritual, very close to God. His acts, we are told, are corrupted through interaction with the material world, and so somewhat crude; clearly very far from God. Result: We imagine thinkers “see far,” but laborers “do grunt work.” Imagining thinkers see far, we strive to be like them, and reject action.
Scientist’s cybernetics tells us the same story in different dress: The thinking cyberneticist holds the rudder of the boat. What does this suggest? Put more time into thinking; Let “action” engage the messy interactions with the world.
The error comes from not recognizing that the world itself actually thinks.
Action is blood, nourishing thought.
The left leg is thought, the right leg is action. Thought directs action, and then action directs thought. We are wrong to think that it is only thought that evolves the mind. Action is not a “little sister,” but rather, an equal partner.
When we see straight, when we properly value action, there can be no more dismissing the world of action, to leave to the “higher” world of thought. There is no such “higher world.” It’s not only that we are TestingTheoryThroughAction; More than merely a place to test a model, action is a living teacher and originator of thought.
This isn’t a trick, to get you into action. You must see that it’s actually true, by reflecting on your life with the intuitive eye.
How amazing! A thinker merely needs to see this, and he will transform into an actor. No effort is required at all.