Experience

Any event through which one has lived;

Observation, participation, or learning derived from one's prior history or personal background that results in enhanced knowledge;

one's immediate subjective perceptions;

and in a sense related to ‘experiment’: the phenomenal world of events or facts sampled through the senses, and the knowledge which can be acquired through such observations – in contrast to abstract reasoning. (see also: empirical)

(see also: background)