There are phases in which a given practice is constantly improved upon in relation to the practice itself. There is a constant tinkering to make a given practice better. So the practice becomes self-referential.
There are also times in which one's entire world outlook is transformed, and this in turn must be transferred to the practice to improve it not for the sake of usefulness, but for the sake of harmony with the worldview.
So for example, one may be raising plants and animals in order to consume them, but that is not all that one is doing. When one is making one's food, and building one's shelter, one is also exercising an entire worldview in which one relates to the universe through mediums of labor and reproduction.
