Published in Western Friend, March / April 2024
Golden marigolds and brilliant spices lined the streets
as we wandered through cities and villages across
five states of Northern India. Our Friend Tracy Davis
was leading us on a tour of religious exploration. We were
a group of seminary students from Earlham School of
Religion, traveling in 2019 with our beloved professor
Lonnie Valentine and his wife Genevieve.
From the Friends Meeting in New Delhi to the Root
Institute in Bode Gaya to the Dalai Lama’s community
in the foothills of the Himalaya, we explored various
dimensions of prayer and meditation. We found many
similarities, many differences, but in every one of the
religious traditions we encountered, we found a deeply
held commitment to meditation and prayer.
In every one of the religious traditions we encountered,
we found a deeply held commitment to meditation and prayer.
This journey deepened my prayer life as a Quaker. It
opened me up to new groundings of faith for my daily
practices. I was raised as a Friend of Jesus. I love Jesus.
And the guidance I receive from my Friend assures me
that Christ has come to teach me himself. It’s personal. And it’s universal. My inward guide directs me as I practice yoga throughout each week and as I pray throughout
each day. The substance of my prayers varies widely –
Hindu chants, songs by Friend Carrie Newcomer, Quaker
Plainsong with Paulette Meyers. Throughout all of it, the
faith that upholds me remains the same.
My seminary experience was terrifying at first. I was afraid
that by learning an academic approach to religion, my
thinking mind might grow to separate my faith from my
intuition, which is my spiritual wellspring. But my teachers
at Earlham guarded my spirit, cherished my intuition,
and guided my walk. Now I serve as a minister myself, a
spiritual nurturer to Friends and to people self-described
as “spiritual but not religious.” From what I see through
my ministry, I can assure you that a hunger for spirituality
is growing in the general public.
I love prayer, and I love teaching others to pray. As I
wander under nature’s blue dome, I speak continuously
with the Mystery that surrounds me. Whether in stillness
or in movement, my prayers tap into the eternal. This has
supported my spirit in times of discernment, times of
grief, times of celebration and tribulation. As I serve other
people in my community, prayer is a channel that joins us;
powered by our breath, our hearts, and minds; celebrating
beauty; offering compassion to ones who suffer; pleading
for health and strength and daily bread; and praising the
Source that gives us health and strength and daily bread.
Prayer enables us to connect with the universe. As Pixie
Lighthorse writes, “I see an overwhelming need to
connect humanity to the disappearing natural world, and
to appease the animate and spirit world with offerings
and promises that people are willing to take notice and do
their part to return harmony to a system which is out of
balance.” (pixilighthorse.com/how-i-got-here)
This is quite the challenge that Lighthorse places before
us. In the face of a world out of balance, I sometimes
despair of being able to pray, especially during those
times when the world seems entirely heartless. And yet,
the more I pray and meditate, the clearer and calmer I
feel amid the storms. One of my mentors from seminary
days, Phil Gulley, used to say that we should pray, but
then we should put some muscle into our prayers and go
help others. In this formulation, prayer is faith in action,
and it takes the form of vigils and protests, feeding the
hungry, offering shelter, and speaking up against slander
and abuse. Prayer is walking through the world in a way
that makes it a better place for everyone.
Prayer is an expression of surrender to the powerful
force of Love, which loves us all unstintingly. This force
of Love asks us to surrender our limited egos and open
our hearts to the Holy. I often find that I must check my
thinking mind at the door before I can open myself to
the spaciousness of love, the playfulness of love, the
tenderness of love.
We are enabled to do great things through the Spirit,
especially once we are strengthened, chastened, and
humbled by prayer. We just might be able to stumble
our way forward together toward unity with one another,
through our strife and conflict with each other, by joining
in truly open-hearted prayer together. Often, I find that
the only way I can move through a conflict is with a soft
and open heart, and the main way I open my heart is
through prayer, which is frequently the embodied prayer
of yoga.
It is through Friends’ characteristic stillness,
our standing still in the Light,
that we are enabled to let the truth set us free.
It is through Friends’ characteristic stillness, our standing
still in the Light, that we are enabled to let the truth set
us free. This is a life-giving and illuminating freedom,
sometimes even an illumination that sets us on fire – for
Truth’s sake, for Love’s sake. In moments like these, I lift
up songs of delight for all creation. I send beams of love
and light to all who suffer. And I plead for guidance to
find the most loving ways to afflict the comfortable, to
wake them up from the torpor of self-serving greed.
For prayer is all about waking up and giving and creating.
A life of prayer is a life of art. My Friend Dwight Wilson
is writing Psalms, and here are a couple lines of his that
I love: “We sing a song not of goals but of healing. May
each arrival be at a higher ledge as our spirits climb the
mountain of life.” Dwight prays through poetry. My
spouse sometimes prays through photography. Our
marriage prays through the shared rhythms of our daily
lives. To pray without ceasing is the highest intention of
any religious life. The world requires this highest intention
from all of us – now more than ever.
Jaimie Mudd (also known as Jeanne-Marie, her given name, to
some) is a member of Pima Friends Meeting, serves Intermountain
Yearly Meeting in both Ministry & Council and Faith & Practice
Committees. In her private practice she serves as a Quaker Spiritual
Nurturer and Director. She and Daniel Mudd, her spouse, lead
Dream retreats and coordinate the North America Experiment
with Light Network. In the broader community she serves as
a Senior Spiritual Wellness retreat leader for Canyon Ranch in
Woodside California
