The goal of learning is to bring the unknown into the known. The mere act of embracing the unknown as the truth requires a degree of faith. When we limit ourselves to believing for the known — or what we have already proven to be true — we also limit our results to those we have experienced. While we can move beyond our own experience by learning from somebody else’s experience, we are still operating in the known — albeit it “unknown” or new to us.
So, is experience really the best teacher? It depends on what you want to learn. Is the past really the best predictor of the future? It is if you want to be able to predict the future. Expanding into the unknown means not being able to predict the future; but it also means ensuring that the future does not equal your past.
I embraced a belief as a little girl that “faith without works is dead.” And it has seemed to me a valid belief. I have spent my life wanting to do all that I knew to do, believing that then I could trust God to do his part. For the last several years I have tried to balance doing my part with letting go.… More