Moving Right Along

As far as I can tell, there is a distinct difference between existence and experience, that being sentience. Both existence and experience are grounded in the something that negates the nothing. The example I have found helpful is that of a rock. A rock exists, to be sure, but to the best of my knowledge it does not experience. A rock on Earth is subject to gravity just as is a human, but I cannot argue that a rock experiences that law of physics, or certainly not in the same way that a human experiences it by employing perception, interpretation, reason, etc. Both the rock and the human are subject to the same physical law, but the former exists while the latter experiences. I understand that it is time to move beyond the experience issue with regard to theology, but I hope that I have set the stage for distinguishing the difference between belief and experience. While both result from sentience, it makes a great deal of difference to me, anyway, that experiencing God is more genuine than believing in God. Put another way, someone who believes in God but has not experienced God runs the risk of placing her/his “faith” in something that is inauthentic.