Just a Thought: This “Thought” series was preceded by a brief series titled “Half Truths.” Today I have been thinking about another half-truth: “experience is the best teacher.” I have no idea where this adage originated. It certainly is consistent with the Enlightenment’s commitment to empiricism, which led to the idea that experience is the only teacher. Experience does teach and it is a critical component of all learning. But it is not the only teacher and is seldom the best teacher. It may be best at teaching us what pain and pleasure are, but it has little power to communicate the value of those sensations. The best teacher is the one who helps us make sense of our experiences, the one who coaches us through experience so that we neither see ourselves as victims of experience or masters of experience. They teach us how to monitor and navigate our experiences for good. The best teachers are those who help us understand that experience does not just happen to us like an uncontrolled force. Experience is the point at which we engage life, i.e., all that is within and beyond us. It is the portal of engagement. Thus, experience is fundamentally a relational concept. Experience is then the opportunity to learn, to know, to be connected with that which is outside of us. The best teachers are those persons who help us discern the meaning and significance of our experiences by helping us see beyond the experience to the source of the experience, the Person behind it all. JDJ # 473
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 19:47:39 +0000
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