By Mariellen Gilpin
My very first experiences with Quaker worship occurred in my freshman year at Earlham College. There were two periods of worship, one an early morning worship with Clear Creek Meeting, followed by donuts and coffee, followed by All-College worship. I quickly began attending both on most Sundays. During one of those early-early worships with the deep elders of Clear Creek Meeting, a man I didn’t know stood and quietly said, “I have decided that prayer and scientific experimentation are the same in spirit if not in practice.” He sat down.
I thought during the ensuing silence, “You mean, prayer doesn’t have to be just one prayer that fits absolutely every situation? Does that mean that I can try things in prayer, and observe the results, and learn to pray better next time by learning from mistakes? Does God actually not mind if I try things in prayer, and if I do and then make mistakes, God won’t get mad and give up on me?”
Much of my life since that pivotal worship in 1958 has been spent applying scientific method in my prayer life — sometimes with good results, and sometimes with less-pleasant outcomes that have taken years to un-learn and recover from. But God has never given up on me, and indeed has become Guide, Teacher, Friend, Physician, Intimate Companion. I’ve decided that God is a great deal more comfortable with the scientific method than some of His followers imagine.
It occurs to me that possibly I am not the only Friend who has tried to learn from her prayer experiments. I am imagining an important conversation Friends could be having in this blog is sharing one of our own prayer experiments with one another:
Tell us about your prayer experiments. Why did you make the experiment? Have you made mistakes in prayer experiments? What have been the results, both inwardly and outwardly?
What Canst Thou Say? 
Interesting … http://www.experiment-with-light.org.uk/ … the Experiment with Light community is meeting at this very moment in Birmingham, England.
Thanks so much, Johan, for connecting us with “Experiment with Light.” It seems quite a divine synchronicity that they are meeting right now! I have always held to Fox’s original word “experimentally” as I am a biomedical scientist. I thought my scientific side and my spiritual side were two very disparate parts of myself. A comment I read in the Preface to Friends for 300 Years (in the Preface to Friends for 300 Years by Howard Brinton in the 1980s — now 350 Years) showed me the connection, that both science and mysticism depend upon experience rather than authority, That allowed me to pull these disparate sides of myself together. I have been doing prayer experiments ever since..
from David Blair
My spiritual life is calmer than it used to be. Fewer highs, fewer lows, less drama, fewer moments of brilliant illumination – more a soft, warm light that I feel most of the time.
I sometimes miss the “peak experiences” of 15 years ago, when I was finding my way to God. Am I not fervent enough? Have I become complacent? Is God inviting me to new adventures and am I not listening well enough to hear?
Or has my spiritual life matured in a way that does not require the peaks and valleys? Adult and adolescent love for a person are so different. Maybe it is the same with love for God.
If I am patient and attentive, might I again encounter ecstatic experiences? Perhaps this is an interlude.
I have no answers to these questions. I know they are shared by others. A spiritual friend and adviser shares with me her yearning for moments like that when all of creation spoke to her of God’s love, when everything she saw – flower and rock and cow – radiated that love. She thirsts for that intensity of connection.
We are both waiting in the upper room.
from Mariellen Gilpin
It’s always good to hold open the door to the possibility that we need to walk through the Valley of the Shadow once again, so that we can also experience the fervor of coming into the Light again. But an analogy that helps me, David, to accept these plateaus in my relationship to God is this:
In my relationship to my husband, there are peaks and valleys, and long stretches of plateau, and that’s the Way It Is — I don’t worry because a whole day goes by without a peak experience, nor should I. I watch for opportunities to give him an extra hug and pat, or a special thank you for a kindness he’s done. It’s called maintenance, right?!
In the same way, I don’t worry when I haven’t had a peak experience during prayer time today, or this week, or this month. I just try to watch for opportunities to say a special thank you for kindnesses (like not getting that four days of freezing rain they told us to watch out for!) If I’m watching and listening…doing my maintenance work…the relationship with God will be more resilient the next time the Valley of Despond yawns beneath my feet.
Mariellen, I just read your article (A Very Small Meeting Funds Traveling Ministries) in Friends Journal, March, 2014 pp. 19-21, which led me to this blog.
Back in mid-1970s at CERL, UIUC, you fully assisted me (and colleague Roy Walker) in bringing about the first use of the PLAT system to teach law enforcement personnel in Report Writing. This was via the Police Training Institute at the University.
Subsequently, you assisted with our other efforts at computer assisted instruction, and along with Al Avner, your expertise was not only helpful, but greatly appreciated.
I’m now retired many years (emeritus professor) and a mid-octogenarian living in Oregon. Although not a Quaker, I do read the Journal and other Friends publication, as well as supporting the efforts of the American Friends Service Committee (Co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize in the late 1940s).
Know of my enduring thanks for your earlier efforts, and I’ll keep your Meeting in my prayers.
Sincerely, Chris Flammang
A blast from the past, Chris! I saw your name on this message and immediately remembered you and Roy, and how much I enjoyed working with you both. Remember the cartoon of the cop blowing his whistle when he first sees the PLATO terminal…and then pretty soon he’s using it?And to think we share this Quaker connection, too! Small world, huh? Thank you for keeping our meeting in your prayers. I’ll say a special thank you to God for this re-connection tonight. Thanks to you, too, of course! Blessings, Mariellen