Experimental Learning

At one point in time, Professor Jensen was helping one of his students find a journal were they could submit research. He was surprised to find one called, "The Journal Of Experimental Education". After he published the article, he realized that this kind of learning is the basis of what we refer to as common sense. It is important to call this learning to your attention. It should not be overlooked. 
  
Same daughter: Mom, how much help were those books you read and the classes? 

Same mother: Of course they helped but, experience or learning from day to day has proven to be the most valuable kind of learning.
Do you think there were no good parents or marriage partners before there were classes and books on understanding each other? 

Daughter: But, is this kind of learning reliable and valid? 

Mother: Well, thousands each day make life and death decisions based on this kind of knowledge ans do so with equal or more confidence than decisions based on academic information. I use this knowledge first and even doubt other information if it is not in harmony or consistent with what I know from my years of experience. 

Daughter: Do you think that what you said is a little self aggrandizing? 

Mother: Now that you mention it, yes, it sounds that way. Sorry, but wasn't it you who told me that Dad thought I understood him best? I never found your dad in anything I read!

There is a kind of knowledge which comes from experimental living. This is the living we do from infancy to death. We live and interact with people. We learn from meeting them and accepting them in a way which they become part of our experiential world.
  Experiential refers to the way that we interpret everyday objects. events, and people as they appear and as they present themselves to us. This is definitely informational learning. Perhaps it is the most important type of learning that brings about an understanding of others and our self. 
 In addition tot he direct experiential living we have, one on one with the objects of the world and other people there are interactions with the knowledge and truth statements that exists in our culture. Here we find information by reading literature,listening to wise people, reflecting and introspecting on our daily observations, paying attention to our traditions, recalling and observing interactions of people with each other, reading, religious practices and instruction, and all the other ways we learn in our jobs, schools, churches, and private lives. 
These interactions and learning gradually accumulate to tell us much about who we are and the people we live with. We come to know individuals directly, but we also acquire certain abstractions and concepts about people in general. Some of us are much better attuned, interested, and intellectually capable of benefiting from this kind of learning, and usually such people share what they have learned. Thus we learn from one another and from our own experiences a type of truth and knowledge which is unequaled and irreplaceable for optimal understanding in your relationships.  
 

HOW DO WE LEARN ABOUT OURSELVES?

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), philosopher of science, explains that the color, texture, and shape of a table may be very different from what we actually receive thru the senses and yet we always know it to be the same table. We usually admire the man who says, “Show me or prove it to me first.” Prove it, usually means provide evidence that is sensory.
 And yet, there are many times in our existence where we must act without this kind of sensory knowledge to survive and to prosper. We sometimes need to make conclusions based on reasoning and circumstantial evidence. We need to be aware that our hard to observe feelings are also part of reality.  Un-observables can, do, and should guide us. Thus, while a high level of observable objectivity is of great value, it alone cannot answer life’s questions about our  spirit, feelings, and emotions. Sometimes we must make subjective judgments in the absence of sensory data. It is necessary to add reasoning and other methods of knowing to go beyond what we observe.

BELIEF THREE: I AM NOT DETERMINED BY MY PAST

Of course your past influences you. But it does not determine you. Our social logic is one of cause and effect saying that your past determines your behavior and who you are. But if your spirit existed before your past and independently influences your present behavior then it is incorrect to belief that you are determined by your past. Furthermore, logically the past cannot touch your present except in your mind/ body memories and memories can be profoundly influenced by the present. So not only is it wrong to belief that you are determined by your past but it is also results in a reduction of optimism, hope, self-control, and taking personal responsibility for present personal behavior.

The past can influence the present but so can a lot of other freeing elements. For example present perceptions can also be influenced by music, drugs, information; training, support groups, feelings of love, new teachings, and yes that free and everlasting inner spirit or soul.

Thus by knowing or having the belief that the past does not control you or by considering the big picture of causality it is just too simplistic to say our past determines who we are and what we choose to do. It is perceptions at the very moment or action that determines our behavior. This belief was strongly voiced by many behavioral scientists in the mid twentieth century but was brushed or buried under move voluminous writings focusing on determinism.

But another way of expressing this same belief is to say we are really, at the core, free spirits. Our bodies and brains may have a powerful influence on us but unless weakened, ignored, or in other ways diminished the free human spirit is more powerful than the past. This means that you are free to choose and become what you are.

So when seeking change or self growth this is good news.




   SELF-INSIGHT QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICAL             APPLICATIONS

                            LESSON THREE

1. How strongly do I feel that I am free of my past even to the extent that I can control what I do, say, and think?

2.  When I think or talk to myself is it my brain or my spirit that speaks and who listens?

3. Do I feel better or worse when I feel my past determines who and what I am?

4. Am I a more responsible and better person by believing that the past does not determine my behavior?

5. When I have present perceptions that are negative or false can I change them and their influence on my actions?




6.  Why is it better to live in the present?


7. What is the most important belief I am taking away from this lesson?