Rubato

I can agree with you that approaching a new composition with theory rather than your ear will yield nothing more than a collection of musical facts that will most likely sound rather artificial, but the purpose of theory isn't to create music by following where things should/could go, it's about developing your sense of form so your ear is better equipped when you need to rely on it. Relying on an untrained ear to compose will produce very simple works and seeking to enrich will always prove difficult.

You could of course put ignorance on a pedestal and go about it your own way relying only on your own judgment and undeveloped sense of form, learning from pitfalls along the way but even if you were naturally gifted enough to reach the same level as those that took formal training you would have gotten there a hell of a lot faster had you of taken up music theory, So if you did have the interest in music why would you ignore an integral part of it and choose a more taxing, risky route that offers fewer rewards?