Embodiment · “Being Precedes Having”
The Experiment of Prayer
To pray a small, specific prayer, then honestly observe the result — building faith experimentally, like a scientist testing a law.
The Experiment of Prayer in 5 lines: Pick one small, definite, checkable thing. Pray it clearly, then thank instead of asking again. Watch honestly what happens — wins and misses alike. Adapt like a scientist learning the laws, in “perfect meekness.” Let small confirmed wins build faith for the next, slightly larger try — and never test it against a serious illness.
What it is
This is Agnes Sanford’s distinctive attitude toward prayer in The Healing Light (1947): treat prayer as an experiment. “One decides upon a definite subject for prayer, prays about it and then decides whether or not the prayer-project succeeds.” Sanford explicitly framed this as the scientist’s method — “the method of the men who have discovered and harnessed the forces of God’s world.” Rather than vague, sweeping petitions, you pick a small, specific, checkable thing, pray for it, and watch.
Successes build faith; faith makes the next prayer steadier. It is less a step-by-step ritual than a stance: humble, curious, expectant, and willing to learn the “laws of God” by testing them.
The Method
- Choose a definite, small subject. Not “make everything better,” but one concrete, observable thing. Sanford urged starting where belief comes easily, so doubt doesn’t fight the prayer.
- Pray it specifically — then accept and give thanks. Make the prayer clear, ask once, then shift to thanksgiving (her rule: after the first time, say “Thank You” instead of “Please”).
- Observe the result honestly. “Then decides whether or not the prayer-project succeeds.” Note what actually happened, including when nothing did.
- Adjust like a scientist. “A wise scientist studies the laws of nature and adapts his experiments to those laws. And a wise seeker after God had better study the laws of God and adapt his prayers to those laws.” Sanford’s “scientific attitude” was “perfect meekness… an unshakable faith in the laws… combined with perfect humility toward those laws.”
- Let small wins build faith. Each verified result lets you attempt a slightly larger one — faith compounds through experience rather than being demanded up front. (Sourcing note: quoted phrases are short excerpts from Sanford’s text as reproduced in published excerpts; the numbered shape is a faithful organization of her stance.)
Source & Lineage
Agnes Sanford (1897–1982), a founder of the Inner Healing movement, opened The Healing Light with this empirical, “test the law of love” framing — part of why the book read as “scientific and metaphysical” to its audience.
The “prayer is a law you can test” idea runs through New Thought (Troward’s “mental science,” Holmes’ “Science of Mind,” Wattles’ “Certain Way”) and the 19th-century habit of casting metaphysics as exact law. Sanford’s contribution was to make it practical and pastoral: start small, observe, build.
The Traditions' versions
New Thought “mental science” — treating spiritual principles as reliable laws to be applied and verified.
- Behrend “faith with works” / first sprout — acting on a small belief and watching it confirm.
- Wattles’ “Certain Way” — a definite, repeatable method held to produce results.
- WOOP / hypothesis-testing mindset — set a concrete aim, test, review (the secular cousin of “observe whether it succeeded”).
- Gawain’s “start where belief is easy” — choosing believable goals so doubt doesn’t undercut the practice.
Common refinements
Testing it on something huge. Begin with low-stakes, non-medical experiments; don’t stake a serious illness on it.
- Only counting the hits. Keep a fair record of misses too, or the “experiment” is just confirmation bias.
- Concluding causation from one result. A single success isn’t proof; treat results as suggestive, not conclusive.
- Faith-blame on failure. A failed “experiment” is data, not a verdict on the person’s worth or belief. Sanford’s “meekness” cuts against self-condemnation.
- Vague prayers. The whole value is in definiteness — pick something you could actually check.