The Limits of Our Responsibility

We can learn and adapt. We can govern ourselves. We have even begun to understand rules and laws of Earth and beyond. But our control over the movement of and changes of the Universe, the Solar system, and our very Earth. We have begun to gather evidence of happenings of perhaps 5 million years ago, but our interpretations of it sometimes seem like silly guesses.

                Scientists have been helpful. They have learned that is difficult for humans to understand everything at once. They also find that we can learn a lot from samples of reality. They have also learned that we have a lot to learn about the quality of  samples. They have also learned that we are capable of many slip-ups in our interpretation of the information we gain from our samples.

                Even so we have the ability to learn and do have the will to learn correctly, truly, and even approach reality. Knowledgeable scientific interpretation of high quality is becoming available and we can learn to judge it, but it does take learning. Learning form which we may benefit. 

                We have learn that some happenings are cyclical in nature. Not perfectly so, but recognizably so.

                We have learned that we are sensitive and are beginning to learn just how sensitive trees are.

                We are learning that we have a lot responsibility. We know that our responsibilities are not infinite, but seem to have plenty to learn about the limits of our responsibility.

                                                                                                                 rcs       

The Word Is "experience":

Definitions can point to meaning and lead to understanding 

                Synonyms for the earliest usage "experience" include: attempt, trial, try, and test. It looks like each of these synonyms is about the purposeful action of a learner. Each seems to be about a person initiating a process. The action continues with an intention in mine.

                    Each of these early synonyms may be seen as a name for the type of process initiated. An attempt an intention to try something tempting. A trial could begin with the intention to try try something that might test the limits of one's ability or capacity. A try could be an intent to separate or sift some ideas, materials, or abilities to better understand that particular set of things, capacities, or ideas. A test could be the intent to simplify or purify something to better understand it.

                    So a happening isn't much of an experience unless we are paying attention to it and giving it some thought.

                    From its beginnings "experience" has been about learning, about finding out for oneself, checking it out, about awareness with hope of understanding.

                    My red dictionary first defines "experience" as apprehension or perception of an object, thought, emotion, or event through the senses or the mind. So a happening in our life may not be an experience until we have identified it and thought about it. The definition that I am looking at now says that the way to experience is through the mind or through the senses. I find that interesting. Mor directly it says that apprehension and perception are through the senses or the mind. I wonder how one might perceive or apprehend without the mind.

                    The compilers of my red dictionary believed that we can experience in our minds without concurrent uses of our senses. That seems right. But could not experience be sensual without conscious awareness. Could our body possible learn from an experience that did not reach the conscious mind? Sometimes it is difficult to draw an exact line between doings or happenings.

                    We have a lot to learn about the mind. We can learn more of value about learning. We may be called on to relearn where to buy good ice-cream. 

                    The same red dictionary also calls experience, active participation in events or activities leading to the accumulation of knowledge or skill. That sounds right to me. I do notice that wisdom is not mentioned. I suspect that our awareness must be engaged during "the active participation" mentioned.

                    My blue dictionary calls experience "the usually conscious perception or apprehension of reality of an external, a bodily, or psychic event." Reality seems to be important here. I may have to check the definitions of "perception" and "apprehension" to see if they are mutually exclusive. A psychic event is a mental happening. It is beginning to look as though experience is really a big deal.

                    Experience may be necessary to learning and not just helpful! It also seems that we can get some experience just by thinking! There seems to be a difference between an experience and a learning event, but I am not very sure of the nature of that diference. I seem to remember hearing someone say that "learning entails movement and experience entails action," but that does not help me. Could an experience and a learning event be the same happening? Could any learning event be an experience? Doesn't it appear that an experience, or a learning event can both include one's thought and that perhaps it must?

                    Can perception and apprehension get us from sensing to approaching reality? Could they also lead us astray? Luckily we can compare one experience with other experiences.

                    My Dictionaries and the internet all refer to perception and apprehension in  their definitions of experience. In psychology, education and elsewhere there are books devoted to each of these terms. It sometimes seems difficult to keep things simple. Let me try for a simple understanding that retains much of its power. We might call both perception and apprehension both ''a taking a hold of an event" or as "taking a snapshot of a process." This makes both terms the noting and registering of a sight, sound or other sensing How about as describing the progression of a process? I give up the idea of simplicity for now, but I have been giving these two words and their relationship some consideration. It would be nice to say I have seen the reality, the whole reality, and nothing but the reality. 

                    I do suspect that you now have a better understanding of  "experience" than you may believe.

                    My blue dictionary also simply calls "experience" "direct participation in events." The quality of that participation including your awareness of seems important.

                    A synonym for "apprehend" is "understand." As that is true, it is also true that to truly experience we need an understanding of that which is going on or has happened. So, to experience, and hopefully to really learn, we need to consciously in the doing and happening, note some of the sequence or order of action, and to remember some of that order or sequence related to that event or sequence of events. We probably ought to have the intent to discover pattern, order, and sequence.

                    We are better able to approach truth and reality with our mind than with our eyes. When you get dizzy consider relaxing for a while. 

                    We may say that we are experiencing while we are acting on our intention to actively and consciously participate in a happening or doing and allowing ourselves to understand that which is occurring. Experience be a beginning to learning and a way to meaning and knowledge. We may also say that our understanding is growing as we observe similar patterns in similar events.

                    Our experience can be our powerful teacher. It is an activity we best do in active awareness. It can be a process which we consciously carry out. We participate in the action and note its pattern or order.

                    Oh! Its fair to learn from the experience of another. In doing so you may be helped by your realistic imagination.

                    Observation, and its quality, is a powerful aid to the quality of your experience. Good philosophers and scientists tell us that observation is an important part of the participation needed in gaining powerful experience.

                    We can learn to be appropriately relaxed in our experiencing. There are degrees of participation, degrees of awareness, degrees of understanding and we do not always benefit from being fully engaged. A relaxed experience can be a very good one. 

                    Experiencing is a process. We can get some useful understanding  by standing under the bull. We might learn more of bovine sex from our observation of a field of cattle. Still we can learn while standing under the bull. And if it is a cow we stand under, that's no bull. Even so such standing may be more like taking a snapshot than it is like filming a process. Observing the process is often the more useful experience.

                    Observation is an excellent first step, but often the better part of an experience takes place in our mind. We benefit much by thinking over that which we have observed. We can reach out with our senses and our mobility, but our grasp on learning, understanding, and knowing is mental, psychic. Think it over can move us closer to the power of reality.

                    Has reading this been an experience? 

                    Thank you for reading and congratulations!       

             

                                                                                                        rcs  

The Word Is "knowledge"

 There is know in knowledge

                It seems likely that there is knowledge in know. "Know" is of the same family as is as "can" and ''ken;' and from its latin form we get ''cognition'' and "note." It has similar forms in most Indo-European languages. Wonder of wonders!

                    "Cognizance" has been a common synonym for "knowledge."

                    The condition of knowing through familiarity gained by experience is a useful definition of knowledge; as is the understanding of a science, an art, or technique.

                    Other meanings include: the range of one's understanding or information; awareness of certain doings, happenings; or processes; apprehending truth or fact; and the condition of having information or being learned.

                    Your knowledge is the stuff that you know. It can be specific information.

                    When one is knowledgeable, one may be said to be erudite.

                    An old time usage was "sexual intrcoures or comunion."

Wisdom:

                    "Wisdom" is much like "knowledge," but may imply a deeper or higher understanding than does knowledge. Knowledge can be imparted, but wisdom most often cannot.

                    The core meaning of knowledge is ''that which is known,'' which may refer to only that with which one is acquainted, while wisdom includes examinde experience which implies more understanding.

                    So, for example, one can gain a lot of useful information and knowledge from university and one's friends, while wisdom comes from reconsidered learning or experience.

                Now you have two for one! Now you have both knowledge and wisdom. That's two for the price of one.

                    Thank you for the visit.

                                                                                                rcs

The word is "learn"

 A True Vocabulary Is Good For You

                    Learning carries our culture into the future. We are humans, you are too. Learning is a good way for humans to support their own survival, yours too. Teachers are important and we are often our own best teachers. We learn from observed experience, our own and that of others. Pay attention to yourself and you can see that learning happening. We tell each other that experience is the best teacher, but often forget that experience must be observed for that learning to occur.

                        We learn from an experience of ours when we attend to it, reflect upon it. Observation is also a good word to be more aware of. Does it not seem that "to observe" is very similar to "to attend to."  I hope that is not one to, too many.

                        Our own learning can lead us to a life which is more meaningful, understandable, and understood too.

                    So, "learn" has much to do with gaining experience by paying attention. Keeping one's mind open to reality helps. One can track or follow a trace to gain experience. And it is fair to gain experience from another. Much of the the experience of others is in our history and culture. Important bits of culture and learning can come from family a friends and is best when checked against our own experience and understanding. 

                        "Learning" is related to "knowledge" and "lore."

                        A dictionary can correctly tell you that to learn is to gain knowledge and understanding by study, instruction, and experience. Study includes analysis, interpretation, and experience.

                        "To Ascertain" and "to find out" are very similar to "to learn" in meaning.               

                        A nice short definition for "learn'' is to gain knowledge, comprehension, or mastery, through study and experience. We can learn much about a man by following his tracks. We can learn much about ourselves by retracing our own tracks.

                        Many of us have learned that we have too often learned incorrectly; too often learned to believed was so, was not so. We may have learned from lies. We may have learned from distorted or faulty observations. We have learned that unlearning was often more difficult than earning. Our analysis of our own past learning may be very important. We have learned that important parts o f our past learning needs to be reinterpreted in the light of new information. We finally learned that such reinterpretation was an ongoing activity.

                        Memorizing can be an important part of learning, but understanding is the better part.

                        One ma become erudite through observation and reflection. That's learning. Reflection is like looking it over again and rethinkinking it. That is learning. Learning can be the acquisition of wisdom when we continue to analyze our observations. To be called learned (two syllables) has been considered an nice compliment, to be called understanding can be a better one.

                        Taking a good look at that which you can really do and that which you really know can be a useful learning experience. Paying attention to your observations can too.

                                                                                            rcs