Are You Experienced?

Writes James Poniewozik, “We are all born solipsists; we begin life thinking that our perceptions define reality. Gradually we learn perspective: that there’s a difference between how we see ourselves and how others perceive us.” Because I fancy myself a process existentialist, I find Poniewozik’s words to ring true in a theological context. It seems to me that Reason is fundamentally couched in Experience. All I have ever known in this life is sentience, and so I really can’t say if it is possible for Reason to function independently of Experience or not. Jimi Hendrix struck the chord with his question, “Are you experienced?” I perceive experience which I then, by reason, interpret. With all due respect to those who vouch for the primacy of Tradition (as Roman Catholic theology does) or Scripture (as evangelical Protestant theology does), I would argue that neither of those facets of the Wesleyan quadrilateral would have any meaning absent Experience and Reason. It is in this context, then, that I have formed my opinion that a basic theological dichotomy exists between believing that God exists and knowing that God is. I know that God is from personal experience, and for my money that trumps whatever anyone believes.