As an assignment for a creative writing class, my wife has to come up with a list of things that must be explained (like science, math, politics, etc) compared to things that must be experienced (like love, swimming, rainfall, laughter, facial expressions, etc). We came up with a decent list ourselves but I figured it would make an interesting topic of discussion and wanted to see what other ideas you all could come up with.

Ready... Go!

Light, photons, wavelengths, etc = explained
Color = experienced

If you're talking about activities in creative writing, off the top of my head then I'd say horseriding is one you'd have to experience. I've read so many books where the characters ride across the land for days on end, and no mention is made of how much concentration it requires, how tired it makes you or how sore you can get. I'd recommend that every writer have a few horseriding lessons if they really want to accurately portray the riding experience.

War. You can tell someone about having a mortar dropped on a building next to you or being shot at but it never equals what you feel in the real thing.

Explained: Economics, history, plumbing
Experienced: Skydiving, skateboarding, sports in general, etc.

Science needs to be explained? No love for the empirical method?

The wiki article on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualiamay be relevant?