it's all in the experience

I have come to realize that the word 'experience' is one of those oft used, but poorly understood terms. Like 'love' and 'trust' and 'good', there are certain words that are very common but lack a common meaning. This can be a main contributor to the problem of communication.

The trend in business now is to focus on the consumer's and customer's EXPERIENCE. We are learning that its not the features of the product a consumer uses that matter, but the experience they receive from using the product.

Similarly, in epistemology (the philosophy of knowledge) there is the role of EXPERIENCE in determining WHAT REALLY IS. It's an important word in many schools of thought. So, take a minute and define EXPERIENCE as you understand its meaning.

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There are a variety of definitions if you look at different sources. The common theme seems to be "knowledge or awareness by participation." However, there is no distinction between the two types of knowledge. So, if we use our understanding of knowledge, we may get a better understanding of experience.

There is knowledge we gain through our physical senses. As we participate, such as drinking coffee or playing sports, we EXPERIENCE sensory stimulation. This is to some degree satisfying to our body or not. We then learn that certain activities result in favorable or unfavorable satisfaction of our physical senses. We can say that 'experience has taught us' blah, blah, blah.

We also have knowledge we gain through non-sensory stimulation. This is the awareness we gain about how participation has satisfied our soul's longings. We go to Starbucks. While we may have an opinion about their coffee, we actually judge our participation in this activity as to the degree we "scratched the itches of our soul." We ask ourselves, "did I satisfy my need for purpose, or freedom, or hope (certainty), or joy, or importance, or acceptance?"  We can say the same about a romantic dinner. Is it how pretty someone looks or how good the food tastes, or is it something we gain through means other than our physical senses that touches our soul?

Different people place different priority on which satisfaction is the most important to them, body or soul. Based on this, people come to different conclusions about participation, about the EXPERIENCES they desire, about truth itself.

This is the human condition. making sense of ourselves and the world around us is ALL IN THE EXPERIENCE.

Becoming a Christian totally blows up this model. It totally reverses the order. EXPERIENCE is no longer the source of understanding truth. Sensory sensations of the body no longer have priority on satisfaction. Through an intimate relationship with Jesus, God reveals through His Spirit non sensory based knowledge to our soul. This knowledge is the truth that tells us how to interpret our EXPERIENCE.

There is a scene in the movie "Paul: an apostle of Christ" where the Christians are being sent into the Roman Circus. Here they will be mauled by animals for the amusement of Nero. Luke reminds them that the physical EXPERIENCE will be momentary pain, BUT that they know they have an eternal place with God. Truth informs the EXPERIENCE for them, not vice versa.

We can no longer say, "it's all in the experience." This is one way we are different from the world. It may be one way we are NOT "ONLY human."

Certainly worth pondering .....