The event of learning is the Achilles heel of the “discourses” or “language[s] of learning” dominant in education today (Meyer-Drawe 2008; Biesta 2012). We have almost no empirical access to or control over this event. It can’t be caused or guaranteed, and its occurrence is visible (if at all) only post facto, e.g. as learning results. For phenomenology, however, learning-as-experience forms a key moment in lived experience (Erlebnis). It appears as something that occurs and can be fostered through the variation of experience known in phenomenology as the epoché or reduction. In describing learning-as-experience, this paper sheds new light on contemporary discourses of learning—from the intricacies of the learning sciences to the effortful learning advocated by the growth mindset.