Experience, as defined by Iain McGilchrist, is the rich, immediate, and often ineffable encounter with the world that transcends mere sensory data or intellectual abstraction. It embraces the full spectrum of consciousness, encompassing not only the factual interactions with the external environment but also the profound and often elusive inner life that includes emotions, intuitions, and the sense of connectedness. Experience is inherently subjective and embodied, rooted in the lived reality of being a sentient organism intertwined with its surroundings. It is through experience that we engage with the fullness of existence, not merely through detached observation but through a participatory act that shapes and is shaped by the very fabric of our being. In essence, experience is the tapestry of living reality, woven from threads of perception, feeling, and meaning.
See also: human experience, right hemisphere, left hemisphere, brain, mind