Transthought

Experience the Gerund

"There is no substitute for experience." That is what I found myself saying this morning in a conversation about television newscasters. The trend today is for the "Barbie-doll" types and the "studs" to be on screen. But have you noticed? When they want to do an in-depth report or something or analyze something of historical or interntional significance, they call in the older guys. Television sees itself too often as a visual medium only, but I, and I should hope countless others, see it primarily as an informational medium. I am not impressed by the appearance of the reporter as much as by the content of what is offered. I listen for news, I do not look for beauty.

Experience counts. There has never been a young Pope that I know of. There is even a minum age for the President, as there is for the right to drink or vote, or serve in the Military. I learned more from older teachers when I was in school. And so I believe experience counts. Who is old enough to have learned from experience, asks Thoreau, and so ask I. Is all my experience pedagogic? Or am I still learning?

We operate on the assumption that a diploma signifies educational accomplishment, but not education itself. No one is ever fully educated. We often ask others, where did you get your education, when we should ask what do they know. One of the problems in the religious world is that confirmation is often interpreted as the license to quit attending worship. As if being confirmed is the equivalent of learning all there is to know about the particular religion. I have learned far more about religion since I was confirmed than ever I knew at the time.

And so with all departments of learning. Graduate studies in the university do not guarantee the acquisition of knowledge. Post-graduate studies are requisite to that, and they should continue on an independent basis long after any advisor or Dean has anything to say about what we are learning. Learning is life-long and far more involved than teaching. The teacher can only impart what has been learned up to that point, but if the teacher is likewise a learner, then next semester's lesson will be much richer for the student than the one just completed.

There is no substitute for experience. One gets experience only by living, doing, being, practicing, studying, and otherwise being involved in the human adventure. One is never fully experienced, but is forever experencing. The gerund is the most telling grammatical feature. Take away the "ing" and you find a static finality that corresponds to death. A corny phrase has it exactly right: "Keep on keeping on!"

Wayne's Words for July 25, 2006

posted by Wayne Olson @ 3:15 PM