What is experience?
First let us see ourselves as organisms in an environment. The organism is a biophysical energy system very much like a machine. There are five senses in the body consisting of the eyes, ears, the nose, tongue and the entire body. When this organism is placed in an environment, the senses are stimulated by the environment, and the organism reacts to the stimulus. Perception is the reaction of the organism to stimulation of the senses, by the environment. An experience is a product of this process of perception.
The reaction of the organism is a chain reaction that takes the form of a series of reactions. The first reaction is perception such as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. What is perceived is carried to the brain by nerves, and the thinking part of the brain, called the cerebral cortex, or neocortex, gives meaning to what is perceived by the senses. This meaning is a concept about the percept. This giving meaning or conception is called cognition.
According to the meaning given by the process of cognition, an emotion is aroused, which is a reaction of the organism to the cognition, in the form of a desire, hatred, fear, or worry. According to the emotion aroused, an action results: to obtain what is desired, to get rid of what is hated, to run away from what is feared, etc. This action along with the emotion aroused is called kamma. Before this action (kamma) takes place, the human being has the ability to delay this action, to get sufficient time to decide what to do in this given situation, and is able to stop the emotional action or go on with it. It is this decision that is called cetanā which is the real kamma. If the decision is to act emotionally, it becomes a bad action (akusala kamma), but if the decision is to act rationally, it becomes a good action (kusala kamma). This decision to act rationally is due the interference of the emotional or affective process by the rational or cognitive process.