Estudiar vs. Exper-i-encia

We’ve studied so much that we can’t go back. The questions surge up by the dozen, some days more than others. The folks who live without books or letters begin each day in a different way. They take a breath and hear the sounds, they feel the weight of their feet on the ground. Experience, it’s called, a life of activity, not analyzed with symbols but with feelings and intuition. My tico grandpa takes what he knows of religion from the myriad relationships, hopes, fears and decisions. He sends signals and messages through the sounds of his mouth, moves his hands all around, chews tobacco, spits it out. Where does that leave us, the studied and learned? We ask questions of depth and ‘importance’ without living the answers. Often we don’t want to hear the answers, but our logic and curiosity compels us to continue. Escaping to a simpler frame of mind, where questions deserve to remain unanswered can seem like giving up. But who’s to say we didn’t trick ourselves to begin with, out of the obvious. Without studies and questions we live the answers, answering the questions before they’re even asked. Or just as they surge up we pluck fruit from a tree, and the sweetness hits our lips.