There was a famous lama I once spoke with in a Buddhist monastery in northern India. He was one of those lamas with the last name “Rinpoche.” I’ll butcher the first name, so I’ll just call him Mr. Rinpoche.

He said:

A bird needs two wings to fly, and humans need two wings to fly.
One is wisdom, and one is experience.

Wisdom is the intellectual understanding we develop about ourselves and spirituality through teachings and scripture.
Experience is when we put it into practice, when we sit down to meditate or become fully present in our daily activities.

The more we practice and learn the correct way of thinking, the correct way to see reality beyond opinions, judgments, and labels, the more we make real spiritual progress.