What is progress?

I don't want my faith to be founded upon experiences. If I were to sum up the general trajectory that I think God puts us on, I would say that he is fashioning us into beings that know Him completely enough to not need intense experiences to know Him. When I think of many people whom I consider prominent spiritual figures in my own life (St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, Richard Foster, Oswald Chambers,) they all experienced a certain silence from God that increased as they moved along in their spiritual journey. I believe this is a part of what Paul meant when he called himself "the greatest of all sinners," not merely trying to emphasize his humanity, but revealing what true growth is with God -- that is, characterized by silence. Human relationships move towards this as well, as the people who truly know each other don't need to say anything. This is similar to my thoughts on lowness during my last post. It's so hard to become truly insignificant. Alec put it well in relating it to James, that we should rejoice in suffering, because then God is making progress with us.
I am not implying that God neither shapes us nor reveals Himself to us through intense experiences; indeed, He does for me, and when I think of just how hard this would be, it's pretty scary. However, I hope that I can someday I can take God's silence in exactly the same way I take his intensity.