I used to think theory was useless, I was wrong

For the longest time, I have spent collecting and reading research on niche social science disciplines : critical theory, feminist philosophy, philosophy of education, critical pedagogy, anarchism, philosophy of science, process philosophy, cybernetics, cognitive science. I have retained very little, mostly have known translating my own thoughts and concerns and questions into the specialist vocabulary academics of these disciplines have used and in the journey of doing that have arrived at almost 80k links of interdisciplinary research across intersections of the above.

As I start my journey in learning practical skills for a job, the process of skill acquisition has made me realize how easy it was in forming associations & connections FAST using borrowed intelligence of others whereas when you are learning how to make a thing, there is nothing but your hand and your mind. No intermediary and you come to terms with how slow developing a skill is compared to conceptualization and it makes you think really theory is useless.

A recent experience made me realize differently, My father is very genuine with his emotions, he hugs a lot. I remember reading about the term "somatic" it simply means bodily. That sometimes being there for someone with your presence, with your emotions is more than enough if not economically. Its a very pure kind of love, this can be described simply without using the word somatic, but it helps knowing it if only to remind myself of a way to value different forms of love

Sometimes knowing few concepts from academia does help you make sense of the world. I already knew that his hugs meant something. I didn't need academic theory to experience his love. The concept didn't create the experience but it did register a deeper valence to an experience I was already familiar with