and now what?

[Peter Kropotkin]

as I continue my study of eastern philosophy...I have noticed that
in the east, that they practice certain techniques.. but in their
practice, they are trying to achieve a goal of some sort... to learn to
concentrate for a long time for example, or to learn to control
one's breathing... these are common practices in the east.. but
these practices are not just random goals, but very specific goals..
and that is what the west is missing.... we study philosophy and that
is great, but to what end are we studying philosophy? why or to what end
is the goal of our studying?

and that is what is missing from philosophy in the west... why am I studying
philosophy? what am I going to do with that knowledge? we are missing the goal,
or the point of engaging in/with philosophy...

ok, Kropotkin, I am studying philosophy to.... discover my place in the
universe/world... but frankly, that goal is pretty vague..

but Kropotkin, I am studying the effect of experiences on me... ok, better,
but to what end, are we engaged in this studying of experiences..
what is the value of experiences? some have suggested that the path
to wisdom is through our experiences.. we become wise through our experiences,
both positive and negative experiences...that is why the old are wiser than
the young.. we have more experiences to base our knowledge on...
and we can connect our experiences into some sort of collective
knowledge which can be called philosophy...

but we can gain knowledge through the study of philosophers...
we study Kant and through that study, we can gain knowledge about
the traditional philosophical knowledge... that of metaphysics,
that of ethics/morality, of epistemology, of aesthetics, political science,
of logic... but then once again, we hit that wall of, what is the goal of,
the point of the study of political science? why have that knowledge?
and that leads us back to gaining knowledge for the sake of practical
experience... to use....

if we do not use philosophy, then what is the point of studying philosophy?

around here, I see much arguing over the technical aspect of philosophy...
but rarely do I see any engagement with how to use that philosophy...
what do we do with philosophy and the knowledge we learn?

part of the current failure of philosophy come from that very point, we
don't do anything with our studying of philosophy but to have pointless
discussions on website like this...

so, the question becomes, how do we turn intellectual knowledge like
the stuff we study, into practical application?

Kropotkin

[Walker]

if we do not use philosophy, then what is the point of studying philosophy?
Kropotkin

Some animals see the world in slow motion. To them, we move as slowly as a turtle moves to us. A small bird can fly through a dense tree canopy without touching a leaf because the world moves in slow motion. Their awareness is energized to full bird capacity.

In humans, thought is an energizer of awareness. Philosophy prevents thought-atrophy, keeps you closer to design specifications, but more than thought is required to realize full human capacity.

If like a human, a small bird was burdened with delusional thoughts siphoning into its full capacity for awareness, Tweety-Pie might crash head-on into a tree.