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THE
CLOUD
OF
UNKNOWING
A NEW TRANSLATION
OF A CLASSIC GUIDE
TO SPIRITUAL EXPERI-
ENCE REVEALING THE
DYNAMICS OF THE INNER
LIFE FROM A PARTICULAR
HISTORICAL AND RELI-
GIOUS POINT OF VIEW.
THE
CLOUD
OF
UNKNOWING
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY
AND TRANSLATION BY
IRA PROGOFF
A
A DELTA BOOK
A DELTA BOOK
Published by
DELL PUBLISHING CO., INC.
i Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10017
Copyright 1957, by Ira Progoff
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form or by any means without the
prior written permission of The Julian Press, Inc.
New York, New York 10011, excepting brief quotes
used in connection with reviews written specifically
for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper.
Delta Cg) TM 755118, Dell Publishing Co., Inc.
ISBN: 0-440-5 1357-X
Reprinted by arrangement with The Julian Press, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America.
Sixth printing February 1981
This is a book of contemplation called
The Cloud of Unkno'wing
in which a soul is united with God.
Ira Progoff is the author of
THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING (a modern rendering)
THE DEATH AND REBIRTH OF PSYCHOLOGY
DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY AND MODERN" MAN
JUNG*S PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS SOCIAL MEANING
THE SYMBOLIC AND TOE REAL
CONTENTS
Introductory Commentary 1
Table of chapters of classic text 39
Prologue 53
Text of The Cloud of Unknowing 57
INTRODUCTORY
COMMENTARY
MORE THAN ANY OTHER, the present period of history
should have a humble and open-minded attitude toward
all possible sources of knowledge. Modern man has lived
to see the most productive discoveries drawn from previ-
ously rejected materials. Under the hand of science, fungi
and molds have been found to be sources of healing sub-
stances. Again and again in a variety of ways we are
reminded of the saying of Jesus that the stone which has
been cast aside will become the cornerstone. The experi-
ence of modern man has shown this to be the case on
many different levels of existence, reinforcing an old rab-
binic interpretation of the remark attributed to Bang
David, "From all my teachers have I gotten understanding";
for wisdom may be drawn even yes, especially from the
simplest events and from the least respected persons.
I begin with comments like these because I am about to
ask the modern scientific individual to regard seriously,
in order to learn from, a class of literature that has long
been rejected. This type of literature, I must warn in
advance, has even been labeled with that nasty epithet of
the rationalist era, "mystic" as though man's reason has
The Cloud of Unknowing
any greater goal than to penetrate the clouded mysteries
of human existence. That epithet, however, should not stop
our turning to such a source for information and insights
of an objective and productive kind; especially since this
kind of material will eventually contribute significantly to
the modern, rational attempt to build a science of man.
The particular text that is presented in this volume in a
new translation a translation, that is to say, from archaic
English to modern English is derived from a medieval
manuscript written in fourteenth century England. It is
generally classified within a special genre of medieval re-
ligious literature; and up until now, partly because of its
archaic language and style, its readership has consisted
mainly of individuals with highly specialized tastes and
interests. Those who know of The Cloud of Unknowing
and treasure it are to be found, however, within all shades
of Christian opinion from the Quaker to the Catholic. On
the one hand, we see its mark in the writings of Rufus
Jones and Howard Brinton; and on the other hand, reach-
ing into the literary realm, we see its significant influence
upon T. S. Eliot in the "Four Quartets."
At the present juncture of modern thought, however,
for reasons which I shall soon explain, it seems highly de-
sirable to make The Cloud of Unknowing available to a
more general public than the small group of admirers who
have valued it in the past. We now possess, thanks to the
new insights emerging from the study of depth psychology,
an approach to "outdated" manuscripts such as The Cloud
of Unknowing that makes them alive again with meaning
and usefulness for man not limited by the times and circum-
Introductory Commentary
stances in which they were written. The Cloud of Un-
knowing, for example, proceeds in terms of symbols and
concepts that are, at least on the surface, far removed from
the ways of thinking of the modem mind. But, underneath
the seemingly vast differences between the medieval and
modern images of the universe, we find an underlying
sameness of searching and experience that can significantly
enlarge our areas of awareness. A first step is to make texts
of this kind available in more easily readable form, re-
phrased in the language of modern speech. This is a neces-
sary preliminary step. With such texts at hand, it should
be possible to proceed in the further experiencing and
evaluation of the doctrines contained in The Cloud of
Unknowing and in comparable manuscripts of other
cultures and traditions.
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND
THE SPIRITUAL NEED OF MODERN MAN
The past two generations have witnessed an ever-growing
desire to develop a science of psychology. This desire has
been symptomatic of many things, especially of the pro-
found social and spiritual restlessness that has become one
of the main characteristics of the present period in western
civilization. What has been called the historical "crisis of
our age" makes its presence felt in many ways, but its most
immediate and most intensely felt effect is the oppressive
sense of personal confusion that it visits upon individual
human beings. Individuals in modern times are beset by a
feeling that they do not know 'who they are or what they
are. And they have in the background of their minds a
3
The Cloud of Unknowing
vague feeling, which is also a true intuition, that their lives
are deprived both of meaning and of pleasure because they
are without this knowledge.
Seeking this understanding of themselves, many have
turned with great hopefulness to the young science of
psychology. There is indeed a strong possibility that
eventually when it has attained its maturity as the science
and art dealing with the full magnitude of human person-
ality, psychology will truly fulfill the great expectations
with which modern man has turned to it. But meanwhile
we should not permit the flurries of enthusiasm engendered
by its early achievements to lead us into thinking that
psychology is yet in a position to carry out even the main
part of what the human situation in our time requires of
it. A very great deal of work that is fundamentally new
both in content and point of view remains to be done. In
fact, one of the main reasons for presenting and comment-
ing upon The Cloud of Unknowing is to indicate an
important and suggestive source of the materials that
psychology should study in its search for more adequate
insights into the nature of the human personality.
Modern man has turned to psychology out of the full-
ness of a serious personal need; and it is a need that is more
than personal but historical and spiritual as well. In certain
areas of its development, psychology has recognized the
large dimensions of the spiritual need of modern man; but
the overwhelming tendency has been for it to drift in
another direction.
Freud set the predominant tone of psychological work
with his neurological emphasis on pathology, and with his
reductive, self-analytical procedure. In the course of the
Introductory Commentary
first half of the twentieth century, this attitude of ana-
lytical self-consciousness has seeped into the mentality of
our time to a degree that has led more than one author to
refer to the modern period as a predominantly "psycho-
logical era." When we consider the situation in perspective,
however, we realize that the absorption of the psycho-
analytical point of view into the thought of our times
represents only an early and transitory phase in the de-
velopment of modern man's knowledge of himself.
Man's psychological awareness in modern times began
with psychoanalysis; but it does not end with that. There
are many indications that Freud, as an originator of a way
of thinking, led the way into fields of study that will
eventually yield fruits he did not know were planted
there. This work of harvesting new understanding belongs
to the second half of the twentieth century. It leads beyond
the conceptions with which psychoanalysis began; and
now that Freud's intimate life story has been disclosed,*
we have convincing evidence that, had Freud known the
full richness of the field he had discovered, he would have
been as interested in its spiritual exploration as the new
generation of psychologists is bound to be.
The contemporary interest in psychoanalytical types of
thinking is to be understood, in the first place, as a spon-
taneous effort to locate and understand the Self of the
individual human being in the historical flux of modern
times. It is an attempt at self-knowledge; but more than
that, and very significantly, it is a seeking for knowledge
that will be presented within the frame of reference of
*See Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigtmmd Freud, New
York: Basic Books, 3 volumes.
The Cloud of Unknowing
science. The modern individual Is pressed by his inner need
to venture toward an understanding of his psychological
depths. But he wishes to achieve this self-understanding
upon a basis that will beor will at least seem to be as
solid and as secure as the knowledge of his body that the
medical doctor brings him by the light of biochemistry,
Modern man comes with deep human problems to be
answered; and he wishes to have his uncertainties resolved
by an understanding of himself that will have the authority
of science behind It.
Psychologists as a whole have not only acknowledged
the validity of this desire, but they have also felt it very
strongly in themselves. As a result, psychological studies
in the twentieth century have taken special pains in
attempting to satisfy the requirements of scientific method
as a standard for objective truth. In rather self-conscious
ways, psychologists have often gone to great extremes in
this regard. In their efforts to carry out laboratory pro-
cedures to the ultimate of correctness, they occasionally
give the impression that they are performing scientific
method in ritual detail and with religious overzealousness.
Anxious to demonstrate that they are at least as "scientific"
as anyone, they lean over backward in their terminology
and in the way they structure their research. And leaning
over backward sometimes makes intellectual somersaults
unavoidable.
Any impartial observer must recognize the fact that
there are major obstacles now preventing a scientific ex-
ploration of the full dimensions of human personality with
the scope and flexibility necessary for such investigations.
It is a problem that is inherent in the subject matter itself.
Introductory Commentary
The components of human psychology axe exceedingly
difficult to study in a dispassionate and verifiable way with-
out missing subjective nuances that are of crucial im-
portance. The great task which stands as a major challenge
before modern psychology is to bring about a harmonious
union of methodology and subject matter.
On the one hand, a full commitment to scientific method
and objectivity is a prerequisite for an attempt to under-
stand the nature of the human personality in modern times,
and the spirit of science must be held to unswervingly.
On the other hand, we are faced with the objective fact
that man's mind and emotions, both conscious and un-
conscious, are such intangible, mercurial entities that they
persistently elude intellectual grasp and scientific study.
It is more than coincidence that, in certain psychological
treatises of prescientific times, mercury was taken as a
symbol of the depths of human personality.
Because of the difficulty in studying the unconscious
processes of the mind objectively, some have claimed that
the hope of developing a scientific psychology is ultimately
an unfulfillable aspiration. Psychology can be scientific, it
has been said, only at the cost of its subject matter. It can
be scientific only if it eliminates from its sphere of study
those subjects of investigation that elude laboratory experi-
ments and statistical correlation. But if it does that, it
will be omitting the very problems that psychology is
called upon to solve. If it would become scientific at that
cost, psychology would be reneging on its obligation to
modem man. It would be giving up the goal just at the
point where it was looked to most expectantly for signifi-
cant help. It would fail to bring to modern man the insight
The Cloud of Unknowing
into the intangible depths of personality that is essential
for renewed human development in our time.
It would seem that psychology can fulfill its role in
modern civilization only if it manages to meet both sides
of this apparent dilemma in a constructive and integrative
way. Psychology must retain its commitment to science,
conceiving it as a dedication to objective study. At the
same time it must address itself without hedging and with-
out retreat to the full range of issues that arise in the study
of the magnitude of the human personality, no matter how
difficult and delicate those issues may prove to be.
There are a number of steps that can be taken in meeting
this twofold requirement of psychological study. Here,
however, I would like to make one main suggestion. It is
that while psychology maintains its adherence to high
standards of objective scientific study, it should at the same
time significantly expand its range of subjects.
The spirit of science requires that every disciplined
striving for knowledge must include all the data relevant
to its field of investigation. It is therefore essential that
psychologists study the nervous system, the patterns of
habit formation, learning procedures, and all the other
aspects of human behavior. But it is also essential to re-
member that psychology is the science devoted primarily
to the study of the psyche, that is, to the processes that
operate within the human personality.
These processes may be described in terms that fit the
sciences that deal with more tangible factors and in which
"cause" and "effect" are more readily observed; sciences
such as biology, physics, and chemistry. A very large part
of modem psychological theory represents an attempt to
S
Introductory Commentary
apply the explanatory principles of these sciences in the
study of psychological phenomena. We see this, for
example, in the conception of the "mechanisms'* underly-
ing conscious thought and unconscious emotionality. Such
descriptions, however, apply only to a particular level of
human functioning. They do not describe the more creative
and also self-directive processes by which individuals, in
nonmechanistic ways, seek to achieve a fuller development
and realization of the capacities of the psyche.
The self -directed development of the faculties of the
inner life has been almost entirely neglected in the modern
study of psychology. The fundamental reason for this
neglect, it would seem, is that the disciplines of personal
psychological development have mainly been carried
through within the frames of reference of various religious
or philosophical ideologies. Those who seek to find the
objective "mechanisms" of the psyche and who follow,
consciously or not, a personal ideology of materialism in
one variation or another, feel something alien in such
procedures. They react against them emotionally, castigate
them as "spiritual," and dismiss them as nonscientific. The
profound psychological significance of the many and varied
disciplines of personality development is thus altogether
missed. The evidence is dismissed peremptorily, simply by
disdaining to discuss the subject. Thus, in the name of
science, a most unscientific act is committed; and the
science of psychology is deprived of a source of informa-
tion and insight that can contribute greatly to the task of
understanding the dynamic processes at work in the inner
life of man.
We must consider this last point very seriously. Until
The Cloud of Unknowing
- now, the advance of psychology as a science has been
seriously impeded by the fact that it has not been able
to deal scientifically with the subtle, seemingly subjective
- experiences of the human person. The experiences of the
spirit, the creative moments of religion and art, are in-
tangible and difficult to analyze. They are strange and
frightening to the temperament, the "psychological type,"
and intellectual habit of mind of the dedicated laboratory
experimenter and statistic-gatherer.
Nonetheless, temperamental aversions placed to one side,
we should not overlook the striking fact that experimental
work has been going on for many, many centuries in the
understanding and channeling of the dynamic processes
of man's inner life. These experiments have not been
"controlled" in the modem sense; nor have they provided
quantitative data. But, by a persistent, cumulative gathering
and testing of personal experience, through individual trial
and error over the years, by reflecting, reconsidering, and
reatteinpting the work, a process of experimentation in
the disciplined development of the personality has been
carried on and a body of knowledge has been accumulated.
This knowledge is scattered in many traditions and is
both concealed and conveyed in the symbolism of many
religious and cultish doctrines. Because of the diversity of
its symbolic forms, it is a knowledge that is not easily
available to modern man; but it could be made available
to him, intelligibly and usefully, if the science of psy-
chology in whose province it belongs would take the
trouble to study it, interpret it, and apply its findings
scientifically.
If modern psychologists would turn their attention to
10
Introductory Commentary
studying some of the early records of disciplined psycho-
logical undertakings, they would soon realize that those
prescientific men were working in a spirit of science not
unlike their own, imbued with a high regard for the
empirical testing of objective psychological truth. The
modern psychologist would then see that those early ex-
perimenters in psychological development were engaged
in the immediate and personal kind of experimentation that
is a necessity peculiar to the subject matter of psychology,
Le., the psyche or inner life of man. We could then find
that those men, often labeled "mystics," were actually pre-
cursors and models for the development of a modern
scientific psychology dedicated to the Inner growth of
personality. And when the modern work of interpretation
would be far enough advanced, we would find that we
had drawn from the hard-won "spiritual" knowledge of
the centuries the basis for new psychological conceptions
that would provide a more ample and more realistic aware-
ness of the capacities of human personality.
THE MODERN RENDERING
OF THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING
It was with this purpose in mind that I undertook the study
of The Cloud of Unknowing. It had been called to my
attention as a particularly sensitive, realistic, and objective
description of the experimental work of the inner life, as
dealt with from a particular type of historical and religious
point of view. The text at first reading impressed me as
being most significant for modern psychological under-
standing. As I went more deeply into the work, I found
that many words that I had thought I understood in the
ii
The Cloud of Unknowing
fourteenth-century text had acquired different meanings
since the day when the book was written. Words that are
still in existence and are even in common use today were
used with radically different connotations in the original
text. Since these meanings had long been obsolete I did
not know of them; and I assume that the same is the case
for most other modern readers. Because these words are
in use today I attributed their modern meaning to them;
and I was often in error where I least suspected it.
Considering these things, I came to the conclusion that
if my study was to lead to an intelligible and valid inter-
pretation of the text, a first and essential step would be to
render it into modern language, if only for my own use.
It appeared also that it would be quite desirable to work
out a modern rendering of the text for the benefit of the
general reader who might turn to The Cloud of Unknow-
ing with something other than a psychological interest.
The original text of The Cloud of Unknowing was
written in the language of daily life in fourteenth-century
England. The purpose of the book was to provide practical
advice for all individuals interested in achieving a direct
knowledge of God that they might verify by their own
experience. Accordingly, the author addressed himself
neither to the academic men nor to the clergy, but he
spoke rather to the generality of mankind, to all persons
whatever their station or condition in life, whether male
or female, learned or illiterate, whoever might read the
book or have it read to them.
The author's one requirement of his readers was that
they feel a strong and sincere desire for a direct meeting
with God in the spirit This contact with God was not
12
Introductory Commentary
understood as something transcendent or removed from
daily life. It was sought, rather, as a content of immediate
experience, and it was thus described and referred to in
the language of everyday affairs with colloquial expressions
and pungent phrases, indicating that though the author
was a monk he was in close touch with the secular life
of his times. He was interested in reaching people on all
levels of society. He therefore used the terms of ordinary
speech so that he might strike the largest common de-
nominator by speaking of man's relation to God in words
that everyone would be able to understand.
In order to be true to the original text, it has been
essential that this modern version be rendered wherever
possible into the colloquial language of everyday speech.
Otherwise one could get an entirely erroneous impression
of The Cloud of Unknowing. It was addressed to every-
one, to everyone, that is, who felt a desire for personally
proved religious conviction. Its language, therefore, was
full of the tang and saltiness of everyday life.
It is certainly true that there are today a great number
of persons who enjoy reading old texts in their original,
archaic styles. Perhaps the outstanding example of this is
the case of those who prefer to read the Bible in the
original King James version rather than the various revised
and modernized renderings. Such individuals are usually
well aware that the early King James version contains
many misleading and erroneous translations, but they are
primarily interested in something else. They want to make
an affirmative religious use of the fact that the outmoded
language and style of that version of the Bible carries for
them many rich associations with their childhood. They
The Cloud of Unknowing
want to restore the memories attached to their early read-
ing of the Bible and to experience again the beauty of
its literary rhythms. And this certainly has great merit
and validity in its own right. It is obviously not, however,
an approach to the Bible in terms of the intrinsic content
of the text.
The case of The Cloud of Unknowing is altogether
different from this, for The Cloud of Unknowing is by
no means a center of family worship as the Bible is for
many persons. It is a profound text with many veiled mean-
ings that have to be understood as deeply and as clearly
as possible if the point of the book is to be grasped and
if the personal experience it seeks is actually to be achieved.
In fact, the essential aim of the spiritual work that
The Cloud of Unknowing describes requires that the in-
dividual be led beyond the associations and emotionality
of childhood to the most mature religious experience pos-
sible. While it demands great fervor of spiritual feeling,
The Cloud of Unknowing moves on a level that is beyond
emotional dependence on childhood memories and family
traditions. It appeals to our mature understandingnot
merely to our intellectual, but to our spiritual understand-
ingand for this a keen discernment in language is neces-
sary as a tool of knowledge.
In working out this modern rendition, I have made use
of three main versions of the original text published in
recent times. They are those of Evelyn Underbill, pub-
lished by John M. Watkins in London; by Abbot Justin
McCann, O.S.B., published by The Newman Press, West-
minster, Maryland; and by Phyllis Hodgson, the closest
co the original manuscript, published under the auspices
14
Introductory Commentary
of The Early English Text Society of London. To each
of these editors and to their publishers, I tender my great
and sincere appreciation.*
These three versions provided me with a kind of con-
sensus against which to check my modem rendition. In
general I have held to the original text of The Cloud of
Unknowing as closely as possible while replacing old words
with new ones to convey the author's meaning. I have
also restructured the sentences wherever necessary in order
to make certain that the free flow of the thought would
not be hindered by archaic syntax. At various points in
the text, however, the reader will find that obsolete words
have been deliberately retained. These are words that have
gone out of currency but which have a special pungency
and impact in the form in which the author employs
them. Wherever possible, I have left the original phrases
in such cases, and my criterion has been to see whether
the meaning of the word becomes clear from the imme-
diate context in which it appears. In such cases I have
substituted another word only when the phrase was used
in a different sense or in a different context. Throughout,
the aim has been to capture and convey the spirit of the
original document so that the modern reader can feel
sympathetically, and perhaps experience for himself, what
the author was trying to say and trying to do.
One innovation in this version that should be noted
* The Cloud of Unknowing, Edited and with an Introduction by
Evelyn Underbill, London: John M. Watkins, 1912; The Cloud of
Unknowing, edited by Abbot Justin McCann, O.S.B., Westminster,
Md.: The Newman Press, 1924; The Cloud of Unknowing, edited by
Phyllis Hodgson, published for The Early English Text Society by
Oxford University Press, London, 1944.
The Cloud of Unknowing
particularly is the numbering of the paragraphs. The text
consists of seventy-five chapters, and I have numbered
the paragraphs within each chapter, sometimes breaking
the long paragraphs into two or three shorter ones. It has
seemed to me that to number the paragraphs will provide
a convenient and practical way to refer to particular sec-
tions of the text for study and comment. For example,
without reference to page number, the fourth paragraph
in the thirty-eighth chapter may simply be referred to for
standard reference as XXXVIII: 4.
THE AUTHOR AND THE GOAL
OF HIS WORK
The information available to us concerning the author
and background of The Cloud of Unknowing is lacking
in detail. The best scholarship on the subject indicates that
it was the work of a monk who lived in England, prob-
ably in the east central part, during the middle of the
fourteenth century. He wrote anonymously, and in all
likelihood he did so not out of modesty but out of
prudence.
In the fourteenth century, the ecclesiastical authorities
were sedulously in search of heresy; for a number of
small, unorthodox, highly individualized spiritual groups
were active throughout western Europe during that
period. Perhaps the most significant step was taken in the
year 1329 when the conceptions set forth by Meister Eck-
hart were officially condemned by the Pope. Eckhart's
writings and sermons represented the most advanced ex-
pression of the antiformalistic point of view in that time.
His approach to religion emphasized the importance of
16
Introductory Commentary
Independent inquiry and individual experience; and this
was a point of view to which the author of The Cloud of
Unknowing was also strongly committed.
The underlying attitudes of Meister Eckhart and the
author of The Cloud of Unknowing have a great deal in
common; and it is perhaps just because of this closeness
and the consequent nearness of the Inquisitor as well that
the author of The Cloud of Unknowing constantly avows
his horror of all forms of heresy. We do not know whether
he was ever formally charged with heresy himself; but, at
the very best, he must have lived a precarious existence
if his authorship was known during his lifetime. It was
only in later generations that the Roman CathoEc Church
recognized the legitimacy of this direct, personal approach
to religious experience and gave it official sanction and
encouragement.
The thirteenth century with its encompassing synthesis
of reason and faith as composed by Saint Thomas Aquinas
had brought everything into order. Religious knowledge
had reached its highest point according to the official pro-
nouncement of the time; but the interesting fact is that
the period directly after the generation of Saint Thomas,
in direct contrast to the systematized, reasonable orderli-
ness of Thomas's integration, was a time of spiritual tur-
bulence in which the most varied mystical movements
mushroomed all through Europe from England to Italy.
The system that the Scholastics had proclaimed does
not seem to have sufficed for many of the Roman Catholic
^brethren of the time. They felt a pressing need to come
close to God directly and spontaneously in terms of the
intense immediacy of their individual religious promptings.
17
The Cloud of Unknowing
This aspect of the fourteenth century has been referred
to aptly by Rufus Jones as "the flowering of mysticism/'
and while it was strongest in the German-speaking areas
of Europe, it was actively developed in England as well.
The author of The Cloud of Unknowing seems to have
been one of the most energetic, and certainly one of the
most competent figures in this period of spiritual ferment
and controversy in medieval Christianity. He wrote sev-
eral tracts, all of which are anonymous, but which we
nevertheless are able to identify with confidence because
of their distinctive style and point of view. The Cloud of
Unknowing stands out, however, as his most important
work. It is the one that expresses most articulately the
principles of his teaching and in which the meaning of his
personal "experiment with truth" is most impressively
conveyed.
It seems certain that our unknown author was a monk
of some denomination; but there is no agreement as to
the specific order to which he belonged. The fact that he
spent the last years of his life in monastic seclusion seems
to be indicated by the tone of his writings; but it is con-
sidered probable that he was a secular priest, and that
perhaps in his younger years he was not a priest at all.
One of the most intriguing aspects of The Cloud of
Unknowing and the other writings of its author is their
blunt and earthy tone. They were obviously not the work
of a man who had confined himself to a monastic ivory
tower. Quite the contrary, they seem to have been written
by a person who was particularly familiar with the frailties
of human nature, and who was capable of accepting people
as they were.
18
Introductory Commentary
The author of The Cloud of Unknowing impresses the
modem reader again and again with his sharp, profound,
amazingly perceptive insights into man's psychological lim-
itations. He was by no means a tender-minded individual,
as the authors of mystical treatises frequently tend to be.
Just the opposite, indeed. The Cloud of Unknowing was
written by someone who was exceedingly tough-minded
in the sense in which William James used the phrase. He
was most unsentimental, matter of fact, and down to earth;
and he regarded this habit of mind as a prerequisite for
the work in which he was engaged. He proceeded upon
the belief that when an individual undertakes to bring his
life into relation to God, he is embarking upon a serious
and demanding task, a task that leaves no leeway for self-
deception or illusion. It requires the most rigorous dedi-
cation and self-knowledge. The Cloud of Unknowing is
therefore a book of strong and earnest thinking. It makes
a realistic appraisal of the problems and weaknesses of
individual human beings, for it regards man's imperfections
as the raw material to be worked with in carrying out the
discipline of spiritual development.
The author states that the specific purpose for which he
was writing The Cloud of Unknowing was to provide
guidance for a young man twenty-four years of age who
was seriously considering taking a step that would commit
him to a life of religious dedication as a Contemplative.
Ostensibly the book is written for this young man per-
sonally to help him reach a decision by indicating the
kinds of persons who are capable of leading such a life,
and what it involves for them in practice.
One feels, however, that this situation was used largely
19
The Cloud of Unknowing
as a literary device to provide a frame of reference for
the theme. The necessity of giving this piece of advice
presented a convenient occasion for describing in detail a
point of view with which its author was deeply involved.
Also, in the course of rendering his "advice," the author
has described various experiences of his own, indicating
that he was doing something more than set forth the
psychological outlines of a religious discipline. He was
satisfying a need of his own for a personal confession con-
cerning the unconventional, highly individualized, and
certainly lonely work in which he had been engaged. It is
this personal confession, inadvertently revealed, that gives
The Cloud of Unknowing its impressive tone of sincerity
and spiritual intensity; and it also provides a main reason
for our believing in the personal authenticity of the work.
As the life of contemplation is referred to in the text,
It seems to imply complete withdrawal from the world.
The author indicates, however, that there is no rigid
requirement. A wide flexibility Is possible In the work, for
there are several levels at which the life of the contempla-
tive can be experienced. He makes the more basic point as
well that it is not the physical withdrawal from the secular
world into the cloister that is the essential thing. What is
more important is the withdrawal of psychological attach-
ments from Individual entities, objects, and relationships.
The implication then is present in the text that the life of
contemplation and union with God may involve the fully
isolated monastic life, or it may not. Either path may lead
to the ultimate goal, and in varying degrees. Grace and
the spontaneous love of God are more important than any
of the physical conditions of life. The author develops
20
Introductory Commentary
this point in the most subtle ways, and occasionally with
remarkable brilliance, even at several points reminding us
of the elastic strength and wisdom found in the Japanese
masters of Zen and the Hasidic Zaddiks who appeared in
European Judaism a few centuries after The Cloud of
Unknowing was written.
The term contemplative carries overtones of passivity
and of withdrawal from the vortex of life; but it has a
much more active meaning in The Cloud of Unknowing.
To speak of undertaking to live as a Contemplative as
was the young man to whom the author was addressing
his instructions referred, in the frame of reference of the
fourteenth century, to a special way of life. The Contem-
plative was a person who undertook, either within a mon-
astery or in secular living, to control his thoughts and
feelings by means of special disciplines in order to become
capable of a closer relationship with God. Far from being
passive, then, the contemplative life is decidedly active,
for it involves a most ambitious spiritual enterprise.
There are, however, several obstacles that hinder the
modern reader who tries to conceive within the terms of
his present situation what the contemplative life would
mean in practice. For one thing, the descriptions of this
way are presented in The Cloud of Unknowing within
the frame of reference of the medieval view of the world;
and many of the conceptions that It takes for granted are
strange indeed to the modern mind. It was, after all,
before the day of Copernicus and Gallileo, before the ap-
pearance of the modern forms of economy and political*
life, when western culture was still in a rudimentary stage.
It was a time also when Europe was steeped in religiosity,
21
The Cloud of Unknowing
when Satan, the Saints, and the Sacraments were ever-
present realities of daily life for practically everyone.
In those days, whatever else one would do, the religions
forms and observances had to be included, and a certain
degree of deference had to be accorded them. The secular-
ization of western society, which was to bring a radically
different style of thinking to modem man, had not yet
begun to show itself. It is necessary, therefore, if we wish
to understand the creative activity expressed in the con-
templative life as The Cloud of Unknowing describes it,
to divest ourselves temporarily of our habitual mode of
thinking and see the world from a premodern point of
view.
This transformation of mentality from the modern to
the medieval is not as difficult as might be expected, at
least not where The Cloud of Unknowing is concerned.
The reason is, I think, that it works toward its spiritual
experience on psychologically neutral ground, where the
modern and medieval individual can meet and understand
each other not in terms of their historical differences, but
in terms of the sameness of their essential quest. All that
is necessary to keep this common ground in view is a
recognition that the author's central aim was to achieve a
unity with God that would transcend time, place, and
social circumstances.
This meeting ground is established in a significant way.
The author of The Cloud of Unknowing describes the
discipline of the contemplative life within the framework
of the Christian orthodoxy of the fourteenth century; but
it soon becomes apparent that he does not consider the
formal observance of ritual to be dominant. He cautions
22
Introductory Commentary
his young student not to relax Ms obedience to the teach-
ings of the Church, but that seems to be mainly a pre-
cautionary measure. He does not want the neophyte to
lose his connection with the traditional practices and insti-
tutions before he is ready to sustain himself by individual
work.
In this we can see a clear indication of the role that the
teachings of The Cloud of Unknowing are to play in the
individual's development. The principles and practices
described are to be followed in the advanced stages of
religious study. They are not a substitute for regular
religious observances, but they are the next step forward
for those who seek a higher degree of development. Thus,
with respect to the formal observance of prayer, he writes,
"Those who truly practice this work do not worship by
prayer very much. They pray according to the form and
the law that has been ordained by the holy fathers before
us; but their special prayers always rise spontaneously
to God without having been planned in advance, and with-
out any particular techniques either preceding them or
accompanying them" (XXXVII: 1).
The author, like most of his religious contemporaries,
lived within the frame of reference provided by the Bible.
The incidents of its stories were familiar facts to him, and
the figures in its pages were persons with whom he had
an everyday contact. As he develops the point of his
argument, therefore, he refers to these persons and events
as examples, and especially as prototypes, of the disciplines
and experiences he is discussing. He elaborates often on
the sayings of Jesus and on the life of the Virgin Mary;
and he interprets the acts of Saint Stephen, Saint Martin,
The Cloud of Unknowing
Martha and Mary, Moses, Bezaleel, and Aaron, and various
doctrines of the church concerning the nature of God.
These are a necessary part of his work of instruction.
But soon we realize that the references to the Bible, to
Jesus, and to the nature of God have only a transitory
significance. The aim of the work is to lead beyond all
theological conceptions and doctrines, and beyond all
attachments to religious objects and observances.
"Indeed," the author writes, "if it will be considered
courteous and proper to say so, it is of little value or of no
value at all in this work to think about the kindness or the
great worth of God, nor of our Lady, nor of the saints
or angels in heaven, nor even of the joys in heaven. It is
of no value, that is to say, to hold them intently before
your mind as you would do in order to strengthen and
increase your purpose. I believe that it would not be help-
ful at all in accomplishing this work. For, even though it
is good to think about the kindness of God, and to love
Him and to praise Him for it, nevertheless it is far better
to think about His naked being and to praise Him and
to love Him for Himself" (V:3).
The ultimate goal of the work of The Cloud of Un-
knotting is union with God, not as God is thought of or
as God is imagined to be, but as God is in His nature.
And though this statement may seem to suggest a dogmatic
and absolutist attitude, it is actually reasonable and flexible
in its meaning. It refers to an experience in which man
seems to be transcending himself, but is in fact discovering
himself as he is. He is coming into contact with his own
"naked being," and, by means of this, it becomes possible
for him to come into contact with God as He is. This
24
Introductory Commentary
experience, which takes the form of various degrees and
levels of "union" with God, is psychologically exceedingly
difficult to achieve; but it is nonetheless held to be attain-
able by man in principle with practice as The Cloud of
Unknowing describes.
The author begins with the observation that, before a
person can reach the ground of "naked being" that is at
the core of his own nature and of God's, there are many
obstacles within his mind that he must overcome. Idle and
misleading thoughts, chains of habit, and the stream of
unconscious association must be systematically pressed
down; the wanderings of the curiosity must be held in
check; and the strong promptings of the imagination must
be resisted. All these and more the author discusses in
practical terms, suggesting a number of procedures that
had been found effective in the past. He never recommends
that a given technique be taken over as a whole and
applied in a fixed form, but rather that it be tested by the
individual and adapted to meet the needs of his special case.
The aim of these practices, which must be described as
essentially psychological, is to break through the bonds
that attach the individual to the world of his senses and
separate him from his eternal nature. These bonds are of
many kinds; but whatever their content, essentially they
are thoughts, and their effect on the person is through the
mind. Most especially, according to the author of The
Cloud of Unknowing, it is Memory that separates man
from his true self; for Memory has in the text an encom-
passing meaning as the dynamic and all-inclusive force in
man's mental life that binds the mind to objects of past
experience. It is, therefore, the attachments of memory
25
The Cloud of Unknowing
that must be overcome before the individual can reach his
"naked being" (LXffl:l,4; LXVII).
The attachments of memory may be of various kinds.
They may be personal and principally derived from the
individual's experience, both his pleasures and his pains.
And they may be the products of a nonpersonal or group
memory that fasten the individual's mind to symbols and
doctrines preserved and extolled by religious tradition.
Such images and beliefs, the author of The Cloud of Un-
knowing tells us, should not be rejected in themselves.
They may be retained as the contents of conventional re-
ligion. But the individual who wishes to reach God as He
is in Himself must overcome his attachment to all such
beliefs, even the most hallowed. The author specifically
extends this to the Sacraments and to meditations upon
the life of Christ. Sacred objects are not to become stop-
ping places, lest we remain with them and forget that our
one goal is God as He is in Himself.
This teaching of The Cloud of Unknowing is reminis-
cent of one that is expressed in a rather strong form in
Zen Buddhism. There, it is said, "When you have spoken
the name Buddha, wash your mouth out!"
This was by no means intended as a sacrilegious state-
ment, for the Buddha in Buddhism is as holy and revered
a figure as Christ in Christianity and the Messiah in
Judaism. Its significance is rather to emphasize that attach-
ment to the symbolic forms and sacred figures of man's
religions can easily become an impediment in the ultimate
quest of the spirit. This quest involves each individual
alone in the privacy and tension of his love and need of
God. It reaches in each person from the deep core of his
26
Introductory Commentary
being to the "naked being only of God Himself"; and it
does so in varying degrees, depending upon how fully one
has persevered and how much one has achieved in the
work.
DYNAMICS OF THE SEARCH FOR GOB
One main characteristic of the goal of this work is that
it cannot be attained in the ordinary condition of human
consciousness. The spiritual disciplines of many religious
traditions bear testimony to this fact, in Yoga, in Zen,
Hasidism, Sufism, and especially in The Cloud of Un-
knotting. In fact, the special purpose of the author was
to give his disciple an understanding of the particular
quality of consciousness that is required, so that he might
know how to adapt to his own use the various techniques
of achieving it.
The normal tendency of consciousness is to move out-
ward toward the environment in terms of sensory contacts,
social feelings, ideological beliefs, emotional attachments,
and so on. This outward movement necessarily involves a
spreading of attention with a consequent dissipation of
the energy available to the mind (psychic energy). The
first requirement of the work described in The Cloud of
Unknowing is then to call a halt to this squandering of
energy by outward diffusion; and it undertakes to accom-
plish this by means of disciplined attention to the activities
of the mind.
Its first step is to curtail, with the aim eventually of
eliminating, all the various distractions that play upon the
mind. This means the control of thoughts arising from
contact with other persons and objects; and the control of
The Cloud of Unknowing
thoughts arising from within, fantasies and imaginings,
desires and beliefs. It calls for a drawing back of all attach-
ments or, in psychological language, of all projections
whether they are valid or false, so that they will no longer
be able to serve as avenues for the expenditure of energy
in the world. It involves in principle a recall of all energy
that is invested by the individual in objects and in thoughts
of every kind.
We are reminded in this connection of Sigmund Freud's
observation regarding some equivalent psychological proc-
esses. "Certain practises of mystics," he wrote, "may suc-
ceed in upsetting the normal relations between the different
regions of the mind, so that, for example, the perceptual
system becomes able to grasp relations in the deeper layers
of the ego and the id which would otherwise be inacces-
sible to it." And Freud added, "We must admit that the
therapeutic efforts of psycho-analysis have chosen much
the same method of approach."* The difference between
Sigmund Freud and the author of The Cloud of Unknow-
ing is that, while Freud recognized intellectually the
validity and importance of the mental processes involved,
the author of The Cloud investigated them still further in a
practical way, experimenting with them within his own
personality to see empirically what would happen.
From a psychological point of view, the control of
thoughts and other psychic contents together with the
withdrawal of the mental energy invested in the world
would inevitably result in an attrition of what Freud
called the "perceptual system"; and this would mean an
* Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis,
New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1933, p. 111-112.
28
Introductory Commentary
attrition of consciousness as a whole. This would then
bring aboutin the phrase of Pierre Janet, a great pre-
cursor of Freud and of modem depth psychology in
general an "abctissement du niveau mental" a lowering
of the mental level, with a corresponding intensification
of psychic activity at the subliminal depths of the person-
ality. C. G. Jung has referred to this in terms of his
conception of the "Collective Unconscious," indicating
that the "lowering of the mental level" on one side of the
personality results in a concentration of energy at the deep
unconscious levels that lie beneath the threshold of con-
sciousness. A temporary condition of mental unbalance is
thus created in which the individual experiences a great
intensity of psychic affect. He becomes subject, then, to
a generalized mental instability that results from the dis-
ordering and disturbance of psychic factors at deep mental
levels. Paradoxically, this troubled activity that is beyond
conscious control leads to experiences of heightened in-
tensity, enlarged areas of awareness, and a degree both of
perceptivity and of feeling far greater than the ordinary
condition of consciousness would make possible. Jung's
descriptions of these processes in terms of the various
"levels" of the "unconscious" provide very close approxi-
mations to what takes place psychologically in the spiritual
discipline set forth in The Cloud of Unknowing.
In the processes that The Cloud of Unknowing de-
scribes, the first step is a deliberate attrition of conscious-
ness; and this is balanced by greatly increased activity at
the subliminal levels of the personality. This new psychic
activity, however, is not related to the outer conditions
of life, and the individual engaged in this work may, at
29
The Cloud of Unknowing
tfcis point, seem to be out of touch with the realities of
society and of his fellow men. He then discovers that his
attitude of introversion all too easily leads him into con-
flict with other individuals who are suspicious of what he
may be doing when they see him sitting silent and with-
drawn. Particularly if these people are of an "extraverted"
type, and if they have not themselves felt a call to under-
take some inner discipline, they will feel either that he is
remiss in his obligations to others, perhaps just plain lazy;
or worse, since he has an attitude of personal abstraction
as though he has been distracted from life with his atten-
tion drawn far away from the objects immediately around
him, they will feel that he is mentally pathologic. It
would seem, to judge from the text, that the author of
The Cloud of Unknowing had considerable unpleasant
experience of this kind with his neighbors, for he discusses
with great feeling the problems of individuals who under-
take to carry out the contemplative discipline in the midst
of people who are not sympathetic to, and do not under-
stand the nature of, the contemplative life. The passages
dealing with Mary and Martha are particularly instructive
on this subject. They present a frank, unguarded expres-
sion of the author's feelings in a way that is personally
touching, and psychologically revealing of the problems of
hislife(XVII-XXI).
The author warns his disciple that he may experience a
temporary but highly inconvenient side-effect while carry-
ing on his work. He will, almost inevitably, display a
certain distractedness and lack of contact with his imme-
diate environment. This will be a difficult and distressing
30
Introductory CoTrnnentary
moment for him; but It is essentially a transitory condition,
if the disciple does not give up but perseveres in his work.
Eventually, contact with his surroundings will be re-
stored; and the author even assures his disciple that if he
carries the work far towards fulfillment, he will find "that
it regulates his conduct so agreeably, both in body and in
soul, that it will make him most attractive to every man
or woman who sees him." It will even make him "well able
to render judgment, if the need should arise, for people
of all natures and dispositions." And, in contrast to his
earlier distractedness, It will make him "well able to bring
himself into harmony with all those who come into contact
with him" (LIV:1,2). This promise of greater human
capacities for persons who carry out the work to its goal
is based upon the principle that whoever achieves union
with God will thereby manifest this unity in his personal
bearing among mankind.
The passing phase of the work, in which the disciplt
is distracted from life with his conscious orientation upset
is an understandable phenomenon when considered from
a psychological point of view. It reflects the fact that, with
the individual's psychic energy withdrawn into the sub-
liminal depths of the personality, the attention to life in
its outer, more conventional aspects is necessarily impaired.
From a psychological point of view, this pattern of
experience is highly similar to that undergone by the
disciple in Zen Buddhism who seeks to attain enlighten-
ment (Satori) by means of the Koan method. The Koan
is an imponderable conundrum, a mind-breaking problem
given to the Zen disciple by his master with the purpose
3 1
The Cloud of Unknowing
of shocking him into Safari through a realization of the
illogic and paradox inherent In life, and the unity of Being
underlying all things. An example of a Koan would be:
"What are your original features which you have even
prior to your birth?" or "Listen to the sound of one
hand."*
When he receives his Kom, the disciple directs himself
toward finding a solution. He has been instructed to pro-
ceed by means of his "abdomen" rather than his "head."
That is to say, the master advises him to seek to solve his
problem not by conscious or intellectual reasoning, but
out of the subliminal levels of his mind without the use of
consciousness. This advice, we notice, is the same as that
given by the author of The Cloud of Unknowing.
The Zen disciple then concentrates ever more intently
upon solving his Kom. He draws his energy down into
his abdomen (his unconscious), and by so doing he steadily
decreases the amount of energy available for his conscious
activities. A psychological condition of abaissement then
comes into effect; it is a lowering of the mental level, and
this causes the disciple's behavior to become dangerously
distracted and insecure. Viewed from the outside, he
seems to be out of touch with his surroundings and lost
in a schizophrenic state. Viewed from the inside, he is
altogether encased in his task of finding a solution for an
unanswerable problem. His entire being is concentrated
upon this single point, and he drives forward upon it with
such intensity that he is not aware of himself at all and
* See D. T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhism, New York: Anchor Books, 1956,
Chap. VI; see also D. T. Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism,
New York: Philosophical Library, 1949, Chap. VIII.
Introductory Commentary
does not know what he is doing. It is as though he is
covered over in a mist. His eyes are closed and he goes
forward blindly. Now he is walking across the proverbial
razor's edge without being able to see, without even think-
ing to look where he is stepping. On either side lies
psychosis; somewhere, wherever the interminable razor's
edge ends; there lies SatorL
Then, suddenly, there comes a shell-breaking insight, a
spontaneous outcry. Having been completely lost to him-
self and unaware of what he was doing, the Zen disciple
has found the greater Self he originally came to seek. He
can now return to his former station in life, the same
person, but altogether different.
From this brief description, we can follow the psycho-
logical parallel between the Zen disciple and person who
seeks enlightenment by means of The Cloud of Unknow-
ing. Both begin their work by withdrawing their atten-
tion from their surroundings and by concentrating their
energies within themselves. A psychological consequence
of this is that the social contacts that ordinarily stimulate
conscious development now dwindle.
The individual's conscious activities steadily diminish
and grow weaker at this point. His awareness of himself
grows dim. He continues in his work; that is, he continues
in his effort to solve the problem he has set himself regard-
ing the paradox of existence; to discover how man, sep-
arated by nature from God, can yet achieve unity with
God. But he goes about this difficult work as though he
were without any conscious guidance. He is, in fact,
hardly conscious at all that he is doing anything. He goes
on with his labors; indeed, he is altogether engaged in
33
The Cloud of Unknowing
them and he works with great Intensity, but he also is as
though covered by a mist, a cloud, a darkness that hides
everything he does and hides everything that takes place
within him. And "when I speak of darkness/' the author
of The Cloud of Unknowing says, it is not "the kind of
darkness that is in your house at night when the candle is
out." It is a darkness of a quite different kind. "I am re-
ferring," he says, "to a lack of knowing. It is a lack of
knowing that includes everything you do not know or
else that you have forgotten, whatever is altogether dark
for you because you do not see it with your spiritual eye.
And for this reason It is not called a cloud of the air, but
rather a cloud of unknowing that is between you and
your God" (IV:18).
This last phrase, "a cloud of unknowing that is between
you and your God," is of particular interest. The word
"between" has a twofold meaning here. On the one hand
it signifies separation; on the other hand, connection. What
is separating man from God is not any physical thing but
the state of his consciousness. More specifically, it is
man's consciousness of his separateness, of his existence
as an individual apart from God that keeps him separated
from God. To overcome this awareness of separateness,
he must place himself in a psychological situation that
weakens, and ultimately dispenses with, the conscious
guidance of his personal being. He must permit himself
to drop into a condition of unconsciousness, a condition
of total unknowing. This encompassing state of uncon-
sciousness is the cloud of unknowing that covers him in
darkness, dulls his awareness of his separate existence, and
34
introductory Commentary
provides the medium in which his union with God may
take place.
Once one is altogether covered by the darkness of the
cloud of unknowing, it may happen that a light unex-
pectedly appears. If it does come, the author tells us, it
will come "merely as a sudden stirring with no forewarn-
ing, instantly springing toward God as a spark from a coal.
And/' he adds, "it is wonderful to count the number of
stirrings that may appear within one hour in a soul that
is disposed to the work" (IV: 14).
It will be "a blind stirring of love" (IV: 16). "Blind,"
because its origin will have been in darkness, its movement
will have been unconscious, and no guidance will direct
it toward its goal Yet it goes toward God, and it does
so because ultimately it "is the work only of God"
(XXVI: 3). Despite its "blindness," it moves with love;
and this is most essential, for "God may be reached and
held close by means of love, but by means of thought
never" (VI: 3). Thus, this "blind stirring of love" that
springs "toward God as a spark from a coal" marks the
beginning of the experience of enlightenment that emerges
from the cloud of unknowing.
Out of the intensity of the disciple's striving within the
cloud of unknowing, a spontaneous prayer may be called
forth. It will not be an eloquent prayer, but a prayer of
one word, perhaps only of one syllable, such as, "God"
or "Sin." It is an involuntary outcry of a person in des-
peration. And since this one syllable "is prayed with a
full spirit, in the height and in the depth, in the length
and in the breadth of the spirit of him who prays it," it
35
The Cloud of Unknowing
reaches God and receives a reply. When It is born out of
the sincere intensity of spiritual need, "short prayer pierces
heaven" (XXXVII, XXXVIII).
The answer to die outcry of the disciple struggling in
the darkness of the cloud of unknowing comes as an
illumination. God sends him "a beam of spiritual light"
which pierces the cloud of unknowing in order to reach
him. And then God reveals "some of His secret ways of
which man neither can nor may speak" (XXVI: 5). After
striving in blind unconsciousness, the disciple at last be-
comes able to see; and what he sees gives him knowledge,
gained in his unknowing state, of a kind that no degree
of ordinary consciousness could have brought him before.
This is the culminating experience of his search. "The
higher part of the contemplative life," the author tells us,
"takes place altogether in this darkness and in the cloud
of unknowing with a loving striving blindly beholding
the naked being only of God Himself" (VIII: 9).
What transpires in this ultimate moment may not, how-
ever, be spoken of truly as a knowledge of God. Neither
can it accurately be called a feeling of God, nor even an
experience of God. It is rather a state of unity of being
that is suddenly established by which God and the in-
dividual human person are together as one. And this trans-
formation takes place in the briefest instant. "It Is the
shortest work that man can imagine. It is neither longer
nor shorter than an atom" (IV: 2 ) .
In this instant, out of the cloud of unknowing, a new
unity comes into being. And when it Is truly established,
it is not merely a composite of two separate entities such
36
Introductory Commentary
as God and the Individual human being; but it is a unity
in which the separateness of man is obliterated in God so
that oneness Is established as an actual fact of existence.
But this Is most difficult, and it seldom is fully achieved.
If ? for example, the individual -feels or experiences himself
as being in unity with God, that very feeling and aware-
ness of an experience indicates that real unity has not yet
been achieved. At such times, the author of The Cloud
tells us, "If you look truly you will find," that something
is still "between you and your God" (IX: 1). There is still
work remaining to be done.
The mere fact that the individual feds his presumed
unity with God as a personal experience indicates that he
is still separated from God. The individual who experiences
God thereby emphasizes the duality of his own individual
existence, his personal thatness, and the existence of God
as separate from him. In that case it cannot be said that
he knows God truly and intimately in oneness.
What the author of The Cloud of Unknowing seeks Is
thus not an experience or feeling of unity with God; but
rather the establishment of a fact of existence, a condition
of life, in which the individual is Godand vise versa
in actuality, even if only for the briefest atom of a moment.
At such a time, having overcome his attachments to the
objects of life, the memory of past experiences and present
desires, the memory and attachment to sacred figures and
traditional observances, having overcome all these and
whatever other thoughts of any kind may press upon the
cloud of unknowing, a man comes very close to the naked
being of human nature. And there, at that deepest ground
37
The Cloud of Unknotving
of Ms being, he Is no longer an Individual as such, but he
participates in the naked being that is God's ultimate
nature. Then oneness becomes indeed a fact of his exist-
ence; and he can say with Meister Eckhart, "the eye with
which I see God is the same with which God sees me/*
IRA PROGOFF
July 1951
New York
TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS
The Cloud af Unknoiving
Page
Chapter L Of the four degrees of Christian living and
the purpose for which this book was
written 57
II. A short stirring to meekness and to the work
of this book 59
III. How the work of this book is to be carried
out and its value beyond all other works 61
IV. On the brevity of this work and how it is
not to be achieved by curiosity of mind
nor by imagination 63
V. That when this work is being done, all the
creatures that ever have been, are, or ever
will be, and all their works shall be hidden
beneath the cloud of unknowing 70
VI, A short statement of the work of this book
treated by question 72
VIL How a man in this work is to turn himself
against all thoughts and particularly those
that arise out of his own knowledge and
natural mind 74
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The Cloud of Unknowing
VIIL A good statement of certain doubts that
may occur during this work, treated by
question, with respect to overcoming a
man's curiosity and cunning and natural
mind and distinguishing the degrees and
parts of active and contemplative life 78
IX. That when this work is being done the re-
membrance of the holiest creature that
God ever made hinders more than it helps 83
X. How a man shall know when his thought is
not a sin, and if so, when it is mortal, and
when it is venial 86
XI. That a man should weigh each thought and
each stirring according to its nature and
not to be careless as to venial sin 89
XII. That this work not only destroys sin but
engenders virtue 90
XIIL What meekness is in itself and when it is
perfect and when imperfect 92
XIV. Unless imperfect meekness comes first, it
is impossible for a sinner to reach the
perfect virtue of meekness in this life 94
XV. A short proof correcting those who say that
the main reason for humility is the knowl-
edge of man's own wretchedness 97
XVI. That a sinner truly turned and called to
contemplation reaches perfection sooner
by this than by any other work and re-
ceives God's forgiveness for his sins 99
XVIL That a true contemplative does not desire
to mix in active fife. He does not care
what is done or spoken about him, and
does not defend himself before his critics 102
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Table of the Chapters
XVIII. How all active persons complain of con-
templatives just as Martha did of Mary, but
ignorance is the cause of this complaint 105
XIX. A short defense of the author teaching that
all conteinplatives should excuse all active
persons of their complaining words and
deeds 107
XX. How Almighty God will answer those who
find excuses not to leave their business
for the love of Him 109
XXL The true exposition of the gospel word,
"Mary has chosen the best part." Ill
XXII. Of the wonderful love that Christ had for
man in the person of all sinners who were
truly transformed and called to the grace
of contemplation 1 14
XXIII. How God will answer and care in spirit for
those who do not care for themselves
because of their work in His love 116
XXIV. What charity is in itself, and how it is truly
and perfectly contained in the work of
this book 119
XXV. That a perfect soul gives no special attention
to any man in this life while engaged in
this work 121
XXVI. That without much special grace or the con-
tinued use of common grace the work of
this book is exceedingly difficult, for it is
the work of the soul helped by grace and
the work only of God 124
XXVII. Who should work in the gracious work of
this book 127
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The Cloud of Unknomng
XXVIIL That a man should not presume to work in
this work before he has been lawfully
cleansed in his consciousness of all his
special deeds of sin
XXIX. That a man should continue patiently in
this work, enduring its pain and judging
no man
XXX.
XXXI.
Who should criticize and condemn other
men's faults
XXXII. Concerning two spiritual devices that are
helpful for a spiritual beginner in the
work of this book
XXXIII.
this book
XXXVII.
XXXVIII
How and why short prayer pierces heaven
42
128
130
132
How a man should maintain himself against
all thoughts and stirrings of sin when he
begins this work 135
135
That in this work a person is cleansed both
of his special sins and of their pain, and
that there is no perfect rest in this life 137
XXXIV. That God gives this grace freely with no
special methods and that it may not be
achieved by means of them 139
XXXV. Concerning the three practices with which
a contemplative disciple should be occu-
pied: reading, thinking, and praying 143-
XXXVI. Concerning the meditations of those who
are continually engaged in the work of
145
Concerning the special prayers of those
who are continually engaged in the work
of this book 147
149<
Table of the Chapters
XXXIX. How a perfect worker is to pray, and what
prayer is in itself; and if a man prays in
words, which words are most fitting for
prayer 151
XL. When a person is engaged in this work, he
is to give no special attention to any vice
in itself nor to any virtue in itself 153
XLI. In all other works beneath this, men have
some leeway; but in this they have none 155
XLII. That by not varying in this work man shall
have freedom in all other things; and
otherwise none at all 157
XLIIL That all knowing and feeling of a man's
own being must be lost if the perfection
of this work is to be truly felt by any
man in this life 159
XLIV. How a soul is to destroy all knowing and
feeling of its own being 161
XLV. A good statement of some deceptions that
occur in this work 164
XLVL A good teaching concerning how a man can
avoid these deceptions and work with a
spiritual desire rather than with a boister-
ousness of body 167
XL VII. A slight teaching of this work in purity of
spirit, explaining how a person is to show
his desire to God, and on the other hand,
to man 169
XL VIII. How God will be served both with body
and with soul, and will reward men with
both; and how men shall know whether
the sounds and sweetness that come into
the body in the course of prayer are good
or evil 172
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The Cloud of Unknowing
XLIX. The substance of all perfection Is nothing
else than a good will, and all the comforts
that occur in the course of life are as
though they were nothing more than
accidents 175
L. What chaste love is, and how in some crea-
tures sensual comforts come but seldom
whereas in others they come often 177
LI. That men should take great care not to
interpret in a physical way a thing that is
meant spiritually, and particularly to be
careful in understanding the word "in"
and the word "up" 179
LIL How young, presumptuous disciples misun-
derstand the word "in," and the errors
that result 182
LIII. Concerning the various improper practices
of those who do not follow this book. 184
LIV. How, by virtue of this book, a man is regu-
lated by wisdom and is made excellent
both in mind and body 187
LV. How those who follow the fervor of their
spirits and condemn others are deceived 190
LVL How men are deceived when they incline
more to their natural knowledge and to
. the learning gained in the school of men
than to the common doctrine and counsel
of the Holy Church 193
LVIL How young, presumptuous disciples misun-
derstand the word "up," and the errors
that result
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Table of the Chapters
LVIII. That a man should not take Saint Martin
and Saint Stephen as his example and
strain his imagination physically upward
when in prayer 198
UK. That a man should not take the bodily
ascension of Christ as his example, to
strain his imagination upward physically
when in prayer; and that time, place, and
body should all be forgotten in this spir-
itual work 202
LX. That the high way and the closest way to
heaven is run by desires and not by paces
of feet 205
LXL That all physical things are subject to spir-
itual things and are ruled according to
the course of nature, and not contrariwise 207
LXIL How a man may know when his spiritual
work is beneath him or outside of him,
when it is even with him or within him,
and when it is above him and under his
God 210
LXIII. Concerning the powers of a soul in general,
and how memory in particular is a prin-
cipal power comprehending within it all
the other powers and all those things in
which they work 212
LXI V. Concerning the two other principal powers,
Reason and Will, and of their work be-
fore sin and after sin 2 14
LXV. Concerning the first secondary power, Im-
agination, its works and its obedience to
Reason, before sin and after sin 216
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The Cloud of Unknowing
LXVL Concerning the other secondary power,
Sensuality, its works and its obedience to
the Will, before sin and after sin 218
LXVH. That whoever does not know the powers
of a soul and her manner of working may
easily be deceived in understanding spir-
itual words and spiritual works; and how
a soul is made a God in grace 220
LXVIII. That nowhere physically is everywhere
spiritually, and how the outer man calls
the work of this book nothing 223
LXIX. How a man's affection is marvelously
changed in the spiritual feeling of this
nothing, when it is done nowhere 226
LXX. That just as by failing in our spiritual senses
we begin to come to a better knowledge
of spiritual things, so also by failing in
our spiritual senses we begin to come to
the knowledge of God, to the extent that
it is possible by grace in this life 228
LXXL That some may feel the perfection of this
work only in a time of ecstacy, while
others may feel it whenever they wish,
in the common state of man's soul 231
LXXII, That a man engaged in this work should
not consider another worker to have the
same experiences as he himself has 234
LXXIII. In a way similar to Moses, Bezaleel, and
Aaron mingling around the Ark of the
Testament, we benefit in a threefold man-
ner in this grace of contemplation, for
this grace is expressed in that ark 236
46
Table of the Chapters
LXXIV. How it is that the subject of this book is
never heard or spoken, nor heard to be
read or to be spoken, by a person well
disposed toward it without feeling a true
sympathy with the effects of the work;
and also repeating the charge that is writ-
ten in the prologue 238
LXXV. Concerning certain signs by which a man
may verify whether he has been called
by God to engage in this work 241
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THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING
Classic Text
THE PRAYER OF THE PROLOGUE
God unto whom all hearts are open and unto whom every
will speaks, and from whom no secret thing is hidden, I
pray Thee to cleanse the intent of my heart with the in-
effable gift of Thy grace, that I may perfectly love Thee,
and worthily praise Thee. Amen.
PROLOGUE
L In the name of the Father and the Son and of the
Holy Ghost. I charge you and I beseech you with as much
power and strength as the bond of charity will permit,
that whoever you may be who comes into possession of
this book, whether as your own property or by borrowing,
that you neither read it nor write it nor permit it to be
read, written, or spoken by any one who has not as far
as you can judge a full desire and intention to be a perfect
follower of Christ not only in his active life but in the
ultimate degree of contemplation to which it is possible
to attain by grace in this life by a perfect soul still dwelling
in a mortal body; and if you know that he does those
things and has done so for a long time before, so that he
has become capable of contemplative living by the virtuous
means of active life, you may permit him to read this book.
Otherwise, it is not for him.
2. And in addition to this, I charge you and I beseech
you by the authority of charity that if any such person
shall read it, write it, or speak it, or shall hear it be read
or spoken, that you shall charge him as I now do you to
take his time in reading it, speaking it, writing it, or hearing
53
The Cloud of Unknowing
it, and above all to consider It as a whole. For It may be
that there Is some subject in the beginning or in the middle
that is left hanging, unclear and still unresolved with no
clear statement of where It belongs. But if there is no such
statement there, there will be one soon afterward, or else
it will appear before the end. On this score, if a man saw
one subject and not another, he might easily be led into
error; and in order that such an error may be avoided,
both in yourself and in all others who may come to this
book, I earnestly pray that you do as I request of you,
for the sake of charity.
3. Sensual men who babble compliments and criticize
both themselves and others, all tellers of tales, whisperers
of trifles and covetous persons, I would prefer that they
never saw this book. My Intention was not at all to write
such a book for them, and I hope that they will not meddle
with it, neither they nor the idly curious, whether they
be learned men or not. Even though they may be very
good and virtuous men in their daily life, this subject is
of no relevance for them.
4. If, on the other hand, this book should come to those
men who follow the activities of an outward life, but who
are drawn nonetheless by an inward stirring toward the
secret spirit of God whose judgments are hidden, It is
good that they read the book if they are disposed to do so.
They should not read It continually as is proper for men
who are living the full contemplative life; but they should
read it now and then, so that they too may be perceivers
of this highest point of the contemplative act. If such men
54
Prologue
see it, they should by the grace of God be highly com-
forted by it.
5. This book is divided into seventy-five chapters, and
of these, the last chapter discloses certain signs by which
a sonl may determine whether or not he has been called
by God to practice this work.
55
CHAPTER I
Of the Four degrees of Christian living
and the purpose for which this book
was written
1. SPIRITUAL FRIEND IN GOD, understand well that I
find by general observation four degrees and forms of
Christian living. These are called: Common; Special;
Singular; and Perfect. The first three of these may be
begun and ended in this life. The fourth may be begun
here by grace, and it shall continue without end in the
bliss of heaven. Just as you see the order they are set in
here one after the other, Common, Special, Singular, and
Perfect, so it seems to me that the Lord in His great mercy
has called you and led you to Him out of the desire of
your heart in this same order and by the same degrees.
2. FROM THE FIRST you knew well, as it seems to me,
that when you were living in the common degree of
Christian life in company with your worldly friends that
the everlasting love of His Godhead, through which He
created you and formed you when you were nothing and
has since bought you with the price of His precious blood
57
The Cloud of Unknowing
when 7011 were lost in Adam, would not permit you to
remain so far from Him in form and degree of living.
Therefore he kindled your desire with the greatest grace
and attached to it a leash of longing, and led you by it
into a more special state and form of living, to be a servant
among His special servants, where you might learn to live
more excellently and more spiritually in His service than
you did or than you might have done in the common
degree of living before. And how much more besides?
3. IT SEEMS, nevertheless, that He would not leave you
so easily, because of the love of His heart which He has
forever possessed for you since you were created. What
did He then? Do you not see with what great care and
favor He has secretly drawn you to the third degree, the
third manner of living which is called Singular? In this
solitary form and manner of living, you may learn to lift
up the foot of your love, and you may step toward that
state and degree of living that is the perfect one, the last
state of all.
58
CHAPTER II
A short stirring to meekness and to the
work of this book
1. LOOK UP NOW, weak and wretched man, and see what
yon are. What are 700, and what have you done to deserve
co be called by the Lord? What weary wretched heart
asleep in laziness can help but be wakened by the draught
of this love and the voice of this calling! Beware of this,
wretched man, while you are still engaged with your
enemy. And do not esteem yourself as holier or better
because of the high worth of this calling and because of
the singular form of living in which you now are.
2. You SHALL BE, indeed, all the more wretched and
accursed unless you live according to your calling by grace
and by learning. You should be ever more meek and loving
toward your spiritual spouse who is the Almighty God,
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. For He has
made Himself so humble before you and before all the
flock of His sheep as to choose you graciously to be one
of His special ones, and accordingly set you in the place
of pasture where you may be fed with the sweetness of
59
The Cloud of Unknowing
His love while you earnestly seek your heritage, the
Kingdom of Heaven.
3. Go FORWARD then steadfastly. Look forward, and do
not be concerned with things that are behind you. Con-
sider what you lack and not what you already possess for
that is the best way to acquire meekness, to find it and to
keep it. And now it is necessary that all your life be
brought completely to one desire, if you are to advance
in the degree of your perfection. This desire is to be
formed within your will, by the hand of Almighty God
and with your consent.
4. BUT this one thing I must tell you. He is a jealous
lover and He will not be part of a fellowship. Unless He
alone is with you, He will not bother to work in your will.
He asks none to help Him, but only you. He wishes only
that you turn your attention to Him, and then let Him
alone. You must only guard the windows and doors for
flies and enemies who may intrude. And if you willingly
do only this, then you will need only to speak quietly
and humbly in prayer and soon He will help you. Go
forward then, and let us see how you carry yourself. He
is ready and He is waiting for you. But what will you do?
And how will you go forward?
60
CHAPTER III
How the work of this book is to be
carried out and its value beyond all
other works
1. LIFT UP YOUR HEART TO GOD with a meek stirring of
love, seeking God Himself and none of His created things.
Think of nothing but God Himself, so that nothing will
work in your mind, or in your will, but only God Himself,
You must then do whatever will help you forget all the
beings whom God has created and all their works. Your
thoughts and your desires are not to be directed toward
them nor to touch them in any way, neither in general,
nor in any particular case; but you are to let them be and
pay no attention to them.
2. THIS is THE WORK OF THE SOUL that is most pleasing
to God. All the saints and angels rejoice in this work and
they do all that is in their power to assist it. By contrast,
all the demons will be furious at your doing this work,
and they will try to defeat it in every way they can. All
of mankind living on earth will be helped by this work in
wonderful ways of which you are not even aware.
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The Cloud of Unknoiving
3. IN FACT, even the souls in purgatory will be eased in
their pain because of this work. And you yourself are
cleansed and made virtuous by no other work as much as
by this. And yet this is the simplest work of all, the easiest
and the speediest to accomplish, if the soul is only helped
by the grace of feeling a strong desire to do it. Otherwise
it is hard, and it is a marvel if you do it.
4. Do NOT SLACKEN, therefore, but persevere in the
work until you feel the desire. For, when you begin it,
you will find that there is at the start but a darkness;
there is, as it were, a cloud of unknowing. You know not
what it is except that you feel in your will a naked intent
toward God,
5. No MATTER WHAT YOU DO, this darkness and this
cloud is between you and your God and because of it
you can neither see Him clearly with your reason in the
light of understanding, nor can you feel Him with your
affection in the sweetness of love. Be prepared, therefore,
to remain in this darkness as long as must be, crying ever-
more for Him whom you love. For if you are ever to feel
Him or to see Him, it will necessarily be within this cloud
and within this darkness. And if you will work with great
effort as I bid you, I trust in His mercy that you will
achieve it.
CHAPTER IV
Oil the brevity of this work and how it
is not to be achieved by curiosity of
mind nor by imagination
1. IN ORDER that you do not err in this work and miscon-
ceive it to be something other than it is, 1 will tell you a
little more about it as it seems to me.
2. To DO THIS WORK PROPERLY does not require a long
time as some men believe; it is the shortest work that man
can imagine. It is neither longer nor shorter than an
atom; and an atom is by the definition of true philosophers
in the science of astronomy the least part of time. It
is so small, in fact, that it is indivisible and practically
incomprehensible.
3. IT is THIS TIME of which it has been written: of the
time that has been given to you, you shall be asked how
you have spent it. And it is certainly reasonable that you
give an account of it; for it is neither longer nor shorter,
but varies according to only one stirring within the princi-
pal working power of your soul, namely, your will.
63
The Cloud of Unknowing
4. THERE CAN BE just so many wiilings or desirings, no
more and no fewer, may be and are In one hour in your
will as there are atoms in one hour. And if you were
transformed by grace to the primary state of man's soul
as it was before sin, you would forever afterwards by
means of that grace be master of that stirring or of those
stirrings. None would then be lost, but they would all
stretch to the ultimate desirable, the highest willable thing,
which is God.
5. HE ACCORDS WITH OUR SOUL in terms of the limits of
His Godhead; and our soul accords to Him because of the
high worth of our having been created in His image and
in His likeness. And He by Himself alone is more than
sufficient to fulfill the will and desire of our soul; and
none but He may do so. Our soul by virtue of this trans-
forming grace then becomes altogether capable of com-
prehending God by love; and this, like knowing an angel
or a man's soul, is beyond the comprehension of all man's
created powers of knowledge. I mean by knowing and not
by loving, and that is why I refer to them here as powers
of knowledge, with another main effective power referred
to as the loving power.
6. WITH RESPECT TO THESE POWERS, God is the
creator of them. The first is the power of knowledge, and
to this God is incomprehensible. The second is the loving
power, and by means of this, God may be comprehended
fully by each person, but by each in a different way. To
the extent that a loving soul alone by virtue of its love
should comprehend Him within itself all the souls and
64
Chapter IV
angels that ever may be are filled to the full, and much
more still, beyond comparison. This is the infinite and
marvelous miracle of life whose effects go on without end;
forever shall He do it, and He shall never cease doing it.
Whoever has the grace to see this, see it; for the feeling
of this is endless bliss, and the contrary is endless pain.
7. FOR THIS REASON, whoever has been transformed by
grace so that he follows this way of obeying the urgings
of his will should not remain in this life without some taste
of the infinite sweetness; for, just as he is not without these
urgings in nature, so he may not be in the bliss of heaven
without the full food.
8. Do NOT WONDER, therefore, that I urge you on to this
work. For this is a work, as you shall learn in a little while,
that man would have continued to do if he had never
sinned. And it was for this work that man was made, as
all things also were made to help him and further him in
this work, so that by means of it man shall be made whole
again. And by failing to carry out this work, a man falls
ever deeper and deeper into sin and is drawn ever further
and further away from God. But by holding to this work
and working in it continually, a man rises ever higher and
higher away from sin and comes closer and closer to God.
9. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO TIME, therefore, and
consider how you spend it; for nothing is more precious
than time. In one little moment, as small as it may be,
heaven may be won or lost. Here is a token of the fact
that time is precious: God, who is the giver of time, never
65
The Cloud of Unknowing
gives two moments together, but only separately, each one
after the other. He does this because He does not wish to
reverse the ordered course of His creation.
10. TIME WAS MADE FOR MAN, and not man for time;
and therefore, God, who is the ruler of nature, will not,
as He gives time to man, go beyond the urges of nature
in man's soul, for these occur only one moment at a time.
Because of this, man cannot have the excuse when he
comes before God on the Day of Judgment to give an
account of how he has spent his time, to say, "Thou hast
given me two moments at once, and I have but one urge
at once."
11. BUT SORROWFULLY you now say, "What shall I
do? How shall I give an account of each moment separately
in the vterms that you have spoken? Until today when I
am twenty-four years of age, I never paid any attention
to time. If I were to change now, you know very well
because of things that you yourself have already written,
that it might very well be neither according to the course
of nature nor of common grace for me to pay attention
and act satisfactorily any more times in the future than in
the past. And moreover, I am quite certain that of those
times that are to come in the future, my weakness and
slowness of spirit will prevent me from observing more
than one in a hundred. For these reasons I am truly caught
and shut in. Help me now for the love of Jesus."
12. You HAVE SPOKEN WELL in saying, "For the love
of Jesus." It is from the love of Jesus that your help shall
66
Chapter IV
come. Love is such a power that it unites all things. There-
fore love Jesus, and then everything that He has will be
yours. He by virtue of His Godhead is the maker and the
giver of time. He by virtue of His manhood is the very
keeper of time. And He, by virtue of His Godhead and
His manhood together, is the ultimate judge, the ultimate
one to demand an accounting of how one's time has been
spent. Bind yourself to Him, therefore, by love and by
belief; and by virtue of the knot that binds you, you
shall perceive together with Him and with all who are
likewise bound to Him by love; that is to say, with our
Lady Saint Mary who possessed the highest grace in the
keeping of time, and with all the saints in heaven and on
earth who, by the grace of Jesus, take heed of time
properly in terms of love.
13. IN THIS LIES TRUE CONSOLATION. Understand
what is worth-while. You must be warned, however, of
one thing more than all other. No one can truly claim
community with this Jesus and His good mother, His
high angels, and His saints, if he is not a person who does
everything he can in making use of time with the help of
grace. He will then be seen to be one who uses his time
to advantage in improving himself, and making his con-
tribution to the community, as much as that may be, on
the same terms as each of the others offers of himself.
14. PAY ATTENTION TO THIS WORK, therefore, and to
its marvelous ways within your soul. When it has been
truly conceived, it comes merely as a sudden stirring with
no forewarning, instantly springing toward God as a spark
67
The Cloud of Unknowing
from a coal. And it is wonderful to count the number of
stirrings that may appear within one hour in a soul that
is disposed to the work.
15. AND YET, in any one of these stirrings every created
thing may suddenly and completely be forgotten. But
immediately after each stirring, because of the corruption
of the flesh, it drops down again to some thought or to
some deed that has been or has not been committed. And
what follows? Immediately it rises just as suddenly as it
had done before.
16. FROMTHIS, it may be seen in brief what the manner
of this working actually is, so that man can clearly know
that it is far indeed from being a fantasy or a false imagina-
tion or a quaint opinion; for these latter do not arise from
such a devout humility and a blind stirring of love, but
are the result of a proud, curious, and imaginative mind.
Such a proud and curious mind must always be borne
down and sternly trodden under foot, if this work is
conceived in full purity of spirit.
17. IF THERE is ANYONE who either hears this work
being read or spoken of and thinks that it can be compre-
hended by working with his mind so that he sits and seeks
with his mind to know how and what it may be; and if,
in his curiosity he uses his imagination perhaps against the
course of nature and pretends to a manner of working
which is neither physical nor spiritualtruly, such a man,
whoever he may be, is dangerously deceived. In fact, if
God in His great goodness does not soon show him a
68
Chapter IV
miracle of mercy to cause him to leave off his work and
become humble enough to take counsel from proved
workers, he will soon fall either into frenzies or into other
great mischiefs that are spiritual sins and devil's deceptions;
and through these, he may easily lose both his body and
his soul eternally. Therefore, for the love of God, be
careful in this work and do not by any means work in
it with your mind or with your imagination; for I tell
you, it cannot be achieved by working with them, and
therefore leave them alone and do not work with them.
18. AND DO NOT BELIEVE that because I call it a dark-
ness or a cloud that it is a cloud formed out of the moisture
in the air, nor that it is the kind of darkness that is in
your house at night when the candle is out. That kind of
darkness or that kind of cloud you can imagine merely out
of the curiosity of your mind, and you can carry it before
your eyes in the brightest day of summer, just as you can
imagine a clear and shining light on the darkest night of
winter. Leave such falsehoods alone. They are not what
I am talking about. When I speak of darknes^, I am refer-
ring to a lack of knowing. It is a lack of knowing that
includes everything you do not know or else that you have
forgotten, whatever is altogether dark for you because you
do not see it with your spiritual eye. And for this reason
it is not called a cloud of the air, but rather a cloud of
unknowing that is between you and your God.
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CHAPTER V
That when this work is being done, all
the creatures that ever have been, are, or
ever will be, and all their works shall be
hidden beneath the cloud of unknowing
1. AND IF EVER yon come to this cloud to dwell in it
and work in it as I bid you, then, just as this cloud of
unknowing is above you and between you and your God,
it will be necessary for you to put in the same way a
cloud of forgetting beneath you, between you and all the
creatures that have ever been made. You may think,
perhaps, that you are very far from God because this
cloud of unknowing is between you and your God. That
may well be true, but you are certainly much farther
from Him when you do not have a cloud of forgetting
between you and all the creatures that have ever been
made. And when I say all the creatures that have ever
been made I mean not only the creatures themselves but
also all the works and the conditions of these creatures,
whether they be good or evil. And briefly I say that all
should be hid beneath the cloud of unknowing.
70
Chapter V
2. EVEN THOUGH it may be quite worth-while to think
of certain conditions and deeds of some special creatures,
nevertheless in this work it is of very little help, or none
at all. Why is this so? Memory or thought concerning any
creature that God has made, or of any of their deeds, is
a kind of spiritual light; for the eye of your soul opens
upon it and becomes fixed upon it, as the eye of the archer
is fixed on the spot at which he aims. And one thing I
tell you, that whatever you think about is above you for
a time and is between you and your God. And to the
extent that anything is in your mind other than God, you
are that much further from God.
3. INDEED, if it will be considered courteous and proper
to say so, it is of very little value or of no value at all
in this work to think about the kindness or the great
worth of God, nor of our Lady, nor of the saints or
angels in heaven, nor even of the joys in heaven. It is of
no value, that is to say, to hold them intently before your
mind as you would do in order to strengthen and increase
your purpose. I believe that it would not be helpful at
all in accomplishing this work. For, even though it is good
to think about the kindness of God, and to love Him and
to praise Him for it, nevertheless it is far better to think
about His naked being and to praise him and to love Him
for Himself.
71
CHAPTER V!
A short statement of the work of this
book treated by question
1. BUT NOW you put a question to me asking, "How
shall I think about Him, and what is He?" And to this
I can only answer you, "I do not know."
2. WITH YOUR QUESTION you have brought me into
that same darkness and into that same cloud of unknowing
into which I would wish you to be in yourself. Through
grace a man can have great knowledge of all other creatures
and their works, and even of the works of God Himself^
and he can think of them all; but of God Himself no man
can think. I would therefore leave all those things of which
I can think and choose for my love that thing of which
I cannot think.
3. AND WHY is THIS so? He may be well loved, but
he may not be thought of. He may be reached and held
close by means of love, but by means of thought never.
And therefore, even though it is good occasionally to think
of the kindness and the great worth of God in particular
Chapter VI
aspects, and even though it is a joy that is a proper part
of contemplation, nevertheless in this work it should be
cast down and covered with a cloud of forgetting.
4. You ARE TO STEP ABOVE IT with great courage and
with determination, and with a devout and pleasant stirring
of love, and you are to try to pierce that darkness which
is above you. You are to strike that thick cloud of un-
knowing with a sharp dart of longing love; and you are
not to retreat no matter what comes to pass.
CHAPTER VII
How a man in this work is to turn him-
self against all thoughts and particularly
those that arise out of his own knowl-
edge and natural mind
1. AND IF A THOUGHT SHOULD ARISE and insert itself
continually above you, between you and that darkness,
and if it should ask you, "What are you seeking and what
do you wish to have?" you are to answer that it is God
that you wish to have. "Him I covet, Him I seek, and
nothing but Him."
2. AND IF HE* SHOULD ASK YOU, "What is that
God?" you are to answer that it is God who made you
and formed you and has graciously called you to your
present degree. "And in Him," you are to reply, "you
* [Occasionally the text uses the pronoun "he" to refer to an object
that would ordinarily be spoken of as "it" in modern speech. Here the
reference is to a thought, and the meaning of the text is best rendered
by "he" both because it conveys the active and independent quality of
thoughts that rise in the mind and because the author of The Cloud of
Unknowing identifies these thoughts with the "tempter" or antagonist
of God. IJPJ
74
Chapter VII
have no skill." And then you are to say, "Get down again,"
and you are to tread him down again firmly with a stirring
of love, even though he may seem to you to be quite a
holy thought that might even be of help to you in seek-
ing God.
3. IT MAY BE that he will bring to your mind a great
many excellent and wonderful points regarding God's
kindness, saying that God is exceedingly tender, full of
love and graciousness and mercy. And he wants nothing
more than for you to listen to him. And then he will
chatter on more and more until, as he brings you lower
and lower, he will eventually bring you down to the
remembrance of His Passion.
4. ONCE THERE, he wiH let you see a wonderful kind-
ness of God, and if you will listen to him he wants nothing
better. For soon afterward he will let you see your
wretched life of the past and perhaps while you are seeing
it and thinking of it he will bring to your mind some
place where you have lived before this time. Then you
will feel yourself to be scattered you know not where.
The reason for this scattering will be that at the beginning
you listened to him willfully, then answered him, received
him, and did not harm him.
5. DESPITE THIS, the things he said were both good
and holy. In fact, they were exceedingly holy, for any
man or woman who believed that he could come to con-
templation without first having had many meditations on
his own wretchedness as well as upon the passion, the
75
The Cloud of Unknowing
kindness, and the great goodness and worth of God would
surely be in error and would fail to achieve his purpose.
And yet, even though this is true, it is necessary for a
man or woman who has been engaged in these meditations
for a long time to discontinue them all the same and to
press them down and hold them far down beneath the
cloud of forgetting if he is ever to pierce the cloud of
unknowing that is between him and his God.
6. FOR THIS REASON, whenever you feel yourself drawn
to devote yourself to this work, and whenever you feel
by grace that you have been called by God to do it, lift
up your heart toward God with a meek stirring of love.
And understand by God the God who made you and
formed you and who has graciously called you to your
present degree; and do not accept in your mind any other
conception of God. And not even all of this is necessary,
but only if you are so inclined; for a naked intent direct
to God is sufficient without anything else.
7. AND IF YOU DESIRE to have this aim concentrated
and expressed in one word in order that you may be better
able to grasp it, take but one short word of a single syllable.
This is better than two, for the shorter it is the better
it accords with the work of the spirit. Such a word is the
word GOD or the word LOVE. Choose whichever
one you prefer, or, if you like, choose another that suits
your taste, provided that it is of one syllable. And clasp
this word tightly in your heart so that it never leaves it
no matter what may happen.
76
Chapter Vll
8. THIS WORD shall be your shield and your spear
whether you ride in peace or in war. With this word you
shall beat upon the cloud and the darkness, which are
above you. With this word you shall strike down thoughts
of every kind and drive them beneath the cloud of
forgetting.
9. AFTER THAT, if any thought should press upon you
to ask you what you are seeking, answer him with this
word only and with no other words. And if he should
offer you his great learning and oifer to expound that
word for you and to tell you all the conditions and modi-
fications of that word, you are to answer him that you will
have it whole and not broken apart or analyzed. And if
you wiU hold fast to this purpose, you can be sure that
he wiU not remain very long. And why is this so? Because
you will then not let him feed himself on such sweet medi-
tations of God as we described before.
77
CHAPTER VIII
A good statement of certain doubts that
may occur during this work, treated by
question, with respect to overcoming a
man's curiosity and cunning and natural
mind and distinguishing the degrees and
parts of active and contemplative life
1. Now YOU ASK ME, "What is he that thus presses
upon me in this work? Is it a good thing or an evil thing?
And if it is an evil thing, must we not wonder at the
fact that he increases a man's devotion so much? For some-
times it seems to me to be exceedingly pleasant to listen
to his tales. One moment he makes me weep with the
fullest pity of my heart for the Passion of Christ, and
another moment for my own wretchedness and then for
many other reasons so that it seems to me to be exceed-
ingly holy and to have done me much good. For this reason
it seems to me that he can in no sense be evil. And if
he is good and if in addition he does me so much good
with his pleasant stories, then I do not understand why
yon instruct me to press him down and away far beneath
the cloud of forgetting."
78
Chapter VIII
2. Now IT CERTAINLY SEEMS TO ME that this is a
very good question, and I shall try to answer it as best
I can. Firstly, when you ask what he is that presses so
hard upon you in this work while offering to help you
in it, I say that it is a sharp and clear perception of means
of your natural capacities expressed in your reason within
your soul. And when you ask me whether it is good or
evil, I answer that it must always be good in its nature.
The reason for this is that it is a beam of the image of God.
3. THE USE OF IT, however, may be both good and
evil. It may be good when it is opened by grace in order
to see the wretchedness, the passion, the kindness, and the
wonderful works of God in His creatures both physical
and spiritual. In that case it must certainly increase your
devotion fully as much as you say.
4. ON THE OTHER HAND, its use is evil -when it is
swollen with pride and with the curiosity of much learn-
ing and literary cunning as in scholars, and when it makes
them strive to be regarded not as meek scholars or masters
of divinity or of devotion, but as proud scholars of the
devil, and as masters of vanity and falsehood. In other men
and women, whether they be religious or secular people,
the use and working of this natural knowledge is evil when
it is swollen with the proud and curious skills of worldly
things and with sensual fancies coveting worldly fame and
riches, vain pleasures, and the flattery of others.
5. Now AS FOR YOUR QUESTION where you ask me
why they are to press it down beneath the cloud of for-
79
The Cloud of Unknowing
getting when It is good in its nature and does you so much
good, even increasing your devotion when it is well used.
In answer to this I say that there are two ways of living
in the Holy Church. One is an active life; the other is
a contemplative life.
6. THE ACTIVE LIFE is the lower one, and the contem-
plative life is the higher one. Active life has two degrees,
a higher and a lower; and the contemplative life likewise
has two degrees, a lower and a higher. Also these two
lives are so joined together that neither of them may be
had fully without some part of the other, although they
are quite different in their respective parts.
7. WHY is THIS so? The reason is that the highest part
of the active life is at the same time the lower part of the
contemplative life. Because of this, a man cannot be con-
sidered to be living fully the active life unless he is living
partly as a contemplative; and, correspondingly, a man is
not living fully as a contemplative unless he lives partly
an active life.
8. THE CONDITION OF THE ACTIVE LIFE is such that
it both begins and ends in this life; but that is not the case
with the contemplative life. It begins in this life, but it
continues thereafter without end. Why is this so? The
part that Mary chose shall never be taken away. Active
life is full of troubles and worries concerning many things;
but the contemplative person sits in peace with one thing.
9. THE LOWER PART OF ACTIVE LIFE consists in good
80
Chapter VIII
and honest bodily works of mercy and charity. The higher
part of active life and the lower part of contemplative
life consist in good spiritual meditations, the earnest ob-
serving of a man's own wretchedness with sorrow and
contrition, considering the Passion of Christ and of His
servants with pity and compassion, and considering with
thanks and praise the wonderful gifts, the kindness and
works of God in all His creatures physical and spiritual.
But the higher part of the contemplative life, as it may
be had here, takes place altogether in this darkness and in
this cloud of unknowing with a loving stirring blindly
beholding the naked being only of God Himself.
10. IN THE LOWER PART OF THE ACTIVE LIFE a man is
without himself and beneath himself. In the higher part of
the active life and in the lower part of the contemplative
life, a man is within himself and even with himself. But
in the higher part of the contemplative life, a man is above
himself and under his God.
11. AND WHY is IT that he is above himself? It is be-
cause he is seeking to attain by grace something that he
cannot attain by his very nature, namely, to be knit to
God in spirit, in unity of love, and accordance of will.
12. FURTHER, just as it is impossible, at least to our
understanding, for a man to come to the higher part of
the active life without first ceasing for a time to live on
the lower part; so also a man cannot come to the higher
part of the contemplative life unless he cease for a time
living on the lower part.
81
The Cloud of Unknowing
13. FURTHER, just as it would be unlawful and would
seriously hinder a man who was sitting in his meditations
to turn his attention to his outward bodily works, whether
they were those that he had done or those that he should
do, no matter how holy the works might be in themselves;
so also, unlikely a thing as that would be, so would it
hinder a man undertaking to work in this darkness and
in this cloud of unknowing with a passionate stirring of
love to God for Himself, if he would let any thought or
any meditation of God's wonderful gifts, kindness, and
works in any of His creatures physical or spiritual rise
upon him to press between him and his God, no matter
how holy these thoughts might be, nor how profound,
nor how pleasant.
14. THIS is THE REASON for which I bid you put down
such a sharp and subtle thought and cover him with a
thick cloud of forgetting, no matter how holy he may
be and no matter how much he may promise to help you
in your purpose. And this is because love may reach God
in this life, but not knowledge. And as long as the soul
dwells in this mortal body the accuracy of our under-
standing in perceiving spiritual things, most particularly
God, is mingled with some manner of fantasy that tends
to make our work unclean. And, were it not for a greater
marvel, it would lead us into much error.
CHAPTER IX
That when this work Is being done
the remembrance of the holiest creature
that God ever made hinders more than
it helps
1. BECAUSE OF THIS, the sharp stirring of your under-
standing that will always press upon you when you set
yourself to this work must always be borne down; and
if you do not bear him down, he will bear you down. You
will find, in this regard, that when your condition is such
that you believe yourself best able to abide in darkness
with nothing in your mind but only God, then if you look
truly you will find that your mind is not occupied in this
darkness but in a clear perceiving of something beneath
God. And if this is so, then certainly this thing that is
above you for the time is between you and your God.
2. BE DETERMINED, therefore, to press down such clear
perceivings, no matter how holy or how proper they may
seem. One thing I tell you: it is of greater value to the
health of your soul, more worthy in itself, and more
pleasing to God and to all the saints and angels in heaven
83
The Cloud of Unknowing
yes, and more helpful to all your friends, physical and
spiritual, living and dead when you have such a blind
stirring of love unto God for Himself and such a secret
pressing upon this cloud of unknowing. It is better for
you to have this and to feel it in your spiritual desires than
it is for you to have the eyes of your soul opened in
contemplation or in the perceiving of all the angels or
saints in heaven, or in hearing all the mirth and melody
they possess in bliss.
3. You SHOULD NOT MARVEL at this. If you would once
see it as clearly as you may come by grace to touch it and
feel it in this life, you would agree with what I say. But
you may be sure that man will never have clear sight here
in this life, although men may have the feeling through
grace when God permits it. Therefore lift up your love
to that cloud; or rather, if I would speak it to you truly,
let God draw your love up to that cloud and then strive
with the help of God's grace to forget every other thing.
4. CONSIDERING THAT the mere remembrance of any-
thing under God pressing against your will and against
your awareness draws you farther from God than you
would be if it were not there; and considering that it
hinders you, and makes you that much less able to feel an
actual experience of the fruit of His love; how much, do
you think, a remembrance that you knowingly and delib-
erately draw upon yourself will hold you back from your
purpose? And considering, too, that a remembrance of any
special saint or of any pure spiritual thing will hold you
back so much, how much do you think that the remem-
84
Chapter IX
brance of any man living in this wretched life, or any
other bodily or worldly thing, will hinder you in this
work?
5. I AM NOT SAYING that such a pure and spontaneous
thought, any clean and good spiritual thing under God,
pressing against your will or your awareness, or else
deliberately drawn to yourself with the aim of increasing
your devotion, is necessarily evil, even though it is a
hindrance in this type of work. No, God forbid that you
take it so! But I do say that even though it may be good
and holy, it will nevertheless hinder more than it helps in
this work. I mean at least temporarily; for certainly he
who is seeking God perfectly will not be finally content
with the remembrance of any angel or saint that is in
heaven.
85
CHAPTER X
How a man shall know when his
thought Is not a sin, and if so, when it
is mortal, and when it is venial
L IT is NOT THE SAME, however, for the remembrance
of any man or woman living in this life, or for bodily or
worldly things of any kind. When a simple thought of any
of them suddenly presses against your will and against
your consciousness although certainly no sin is to be
imputed to you because of it, for it is the pain of the
original sin of which you were cleansed by baptism
nevertheless, if this sudden stirring or thought is not im-
mediately pressed down it reaches the weakness of your
fleshly heart. It does this either with some form of delight,
if it is a thing that pleases you or has pleased you in the
past; or with something that causes you to complain if it
is something that grieves you, or has grieved you before.
2. THIS ATTACH MENT may be mortal for men or women
living carnally who have been in mortal sin before; but
for you and all others like you who have forsaken the
world with a true will and who have taken a vow either
86
Chapter X
secretly or openly for any degree of devout living in the
Holy Church, and who accordingly are governed not by
their own wills nor by their own powers of knowledge
but by the advice of their masters whether religious or
secular, for all such it is only a venial sin. The reason for
this is the grounding and the rooting of your intent in
God made at the beginning of your life in the state that
you are in, witnessed by some discreet father and with
his advice.
3. IF THIS PLEASURE or this complaint that has found a
place in your fleshly heart is permitted to remain with
nothing done to alter it, it eventually becomes attached
to your spiritual heart, that is to say, to your will with
your full consent. Then it becomes a mortal sin. This
comes to pass when you, or any of those of whom I speak,
deliberately draw to yourselves the remembrance of any
man or woman living in this life, or of any other bodily or
worldly thing. If it is something that grieves you or has
grieved you in the past, it will arouse in you an angry
passion and a desire for vengeance; and this is called
Wrath. Or else it will arouse a cruel disdain with a feeling
of loathesomeness for their person with spiteful and con-
demning thoughts; and this is called Envy. Or else it will
bring a weariness and a lack of desire for any good occu-
pation whether physical or spiritual; and this is called
Sloth.
4. IF, ON THE OTHER HAND, it is a thing that pleases you
or that has pleased you in the past, there will arise in you
a strong delight when thinking about that thing, whatever
87
The Cloud of Unknowing
it may be. If you remain with that thought and eventually
fasten your heart and your will to it, and if you feed your
fleshly heart with it so that you feel at that moment that
you desire nothing else but to live in tranquillity with the
thing of which you are thinking; and if this thought that
you draw in this way upon yourself or that you receive
when it is brought to you and hold with pleasure, if this
thought concerns the great worth of your nature, or your
knowledge, or your grace or degree, or your beauty in
appearance, then it is Pride. And if the thought is of any
kind of worldly goods, riches, or chattels, or whatever a
man may possess and rule over, then it is Covetousness.
And if the thought is of fine meats and drinks, or any kind
of delight that a man may taste, then it is Gluttony. And
if the thought is of love or of merriment, or of any kind
of carnal caressing, fondling, or flattering of any man or
woman living in this life, or of yourself either, then it is
Lust
88
CHAPTER XI
That a man should weigh each thought
and each stirring according to its nature
and not be careless as to venial sin
1. I AM NOT SAYING these things because I think that you
or any other people of whom I am speaking are guilty of
or are encumbered with such sins; but I say it so that you
will weigh each thought and each stirring according to
what it truly is. My wish is that you strive with the
greatest effort to destroy the very first stirring and thought
of those things in which you might possibly sin.
2. ONE THING I tell you: whoever fails to consider the
first thought that comes to him even though it is not a
sin in him or whoever considers it to be of little impor-
tance will not avoid venial sin. No man can completely
avoid venial sin in this mortal life. But carelessness with
regard to venial sin should always be avoided by all true
disciples of perfection. Otherwise I have no doubt but
that they would soon commit a mortal sin.
89
CHAPTER XII
That this work not only destroys sin but
engenders virtue
L IF YOU WISH to stand and not fall, therefore, never
slack in your purpose, but beat constantly with a sharp
dart of longing love upon this cloud of unknowing which
is between you and your God. As you do this, do not
think of anything under God, and do not let up no matter
what happens. For this is the work that destroys the
ground and root of sin.
2. No MATTER HOW MUCH you may fast; no matter
how long you stay awake; no matter how early you arise;
no matter how hard your bed and how unpleasant your
clothes. Indeed if it were permitted to do so, as it is not
no matter if you put out your eyes, cut your tongue out
of your mouth, stopped up your ears and your nose, cut
off your limbs, and inflicted upon your body every pain
of which you can possibly conceive all of this would help
you not at all. The stirring and rising of sin would still be
in you.
90
Chapter XII
3. YES, AND WHAT FURTHER? No matter how much you
may weep because of your sorrow for your sins, or for the
Passion of Christ. No matter how much you may think of
the joys of heaven. What will that do for you? Surely it
will bring you much good, much help, much profit, and
much grace; but what it does is very little when compared
with what may be accomplished by the blind stirring of
love. This by itself and without anything else is the best
part of Mary. Those who are without it gain little or
nothing. It not only destroys the ground and root of sin
as it may be here, but It brings additional virtues. When
it is truly understood, all virtues are fully and perfectly
felt and comprehended within it and no impure intentions
spoil it from without. For no matter how many virtues a
man may have without it they are always mingled with
some dishonest intention that makes them dishonest.
4. VIRTUE is NOTHING ELSE but a definite and measured
desire plainly directed toward God for Himself, for God
in Himself is the pure cause of all virtues. If a man is stirred
to a virtue by any cause mixed together with God, even
though God may be the chief cause, that virtue is imper-
fect. We can see in the example of one or two virtues what
is contained In all the others. Especially is this true of the
two virtues of meekness and charity. Whoever possesses
these two clearly needs no more. He has all.
CHAPTER XIII
What meekness is in itself and when
it is perfect and when imperfect
L LET us NOW CONSIDER the quality of meekness when
it is imperfect, when it is imperfect by virtue of being
caused by something in addition to God, even though God
may be the chief cause; and after that, let us consider it
when it is perfect by virtue of having been caused by God
Himself. The first question is what meekness is in itself,
if this matter can clearly be seen and conceived. From that
we can conceive more accurately in truth of spirit what
the cause is,
2. MEEKNESS IN ITSELF is nothing else than a true
knowing and feeling of a man's self as he is. Any man who
truly sees and feels himself as he is must surely be meek
indeed. This meekness has two causes. One is the filth, the
wretchedness, and the frailty of man into which he has
fallen by sin, and which he must always feel in some
degree as long as he lives in this life no matter how holy
he is. The other is the overabundant love and worth of
God in Himself, for in beholding this all nature quakes,
Chapter XIII
all scholars are fools, and all saints and angels are blind.
In fact, if it were not that through the wisdom of His
Godhead he had judged their beholding of Him according
to their ability in nature and in grace, I cannot say what
would happen to them.
3. THIS LATTER CAUSE is perfect, for it shall last without
end. The former, however, is imperfect, for it not only
fails at the end of this life, but very often it happens that
because of an abundance of grace in multiplying his desires
as often and as long as God makes it possible a soul in
this mortal body suddenly and completely loses and forgets
all awareness and feeling of his being and no longer cares
whether he is holy or wretched.
4. WHETHER THIS HAPPENS OFTEN or seldom to a soul
who is so disposed, I believe that it lasts only for a very
short while. In this time the soul is made altogether humble,
for it knows and feels no cause but the Chief One. And
if it knows and feels the other cause, even though God
remains the chief cause, it is still imperfect meekness.
Nevertheless, this is good and is necessary; and God forbid
that you take this in any other manner than I say.
CHAPTER XIV
Unless imperfect meekness comes first,
it is impossible for a sinner to reach the
perfect virtue of meekness in this life
1. EVEN THOUGH I call it imperfect meekness, I would
much rather have a true knowledge of myself as I am, for
I believe that this would achieve for me the perfect type
and quality of meekness by itself much sooner than if all
the saints and angels in heaven and all the men and women
of the Holy Church living on earth, religious or secular
ones of all degrees, would come together all at once and
do nothing else than pray to God for rne to achieve perfect
meekness. In fact, without this it is impossible for a sinner
to achieve, or to keep once he has achieved, the perfect
quality of meekness.
2. LABOR AND SWEAT, therefore, in every way that you
can, seeking to obtain for yourself a true knowledge and
feeling of yourself as you are; and then I believe that soon
afterward you will have a true knowledge and feeling of
God as He is. Not as He is in Himself, for no man can
achieve that, but only God Himself. Neither shall you
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Chapter XIV
know Him as you shall in the bliss of Heaven with both
your body and soul But you shall know Him to the extent
that it is possible and in the way that He permits Himself
to be known and felt by a humble soul living in this
mortal body.
3. Do NOT THINK that because I distinguish two types
of meekness, one perfect and the other imperfect, that I
therefore want you to stop working for imperfect meek-
ness and to seek perfect meekness altogether. Certainly
not; I believe that you would never be able to achieve it.
That is why I will do what I am now about to do.
4. I NOW PROPOSE to tell you and to let you see the
great worth of this spiritual exercise beyond all other exer-
cises physical or spiritual that man can or may do by
grace: how a secret love pressed in purity of spirit upon
this dark cloud of unknowing between you and your God
truly and perfectly contains within it the perfect quality
of meekness without any special or clear beholding of any
thing under God. I will do this because I desire you to
know what perfect meekness is so that you can set it as a
signpost before the love of your heart and perform it for
yourself and for me; and because I wish by this knowledge
to make you more humble.
5. IT OFTEN HAPPENS, so it seems to me, that the lack
of knowledge is the cause of a great deal of pride. It might
be, perhaps, that if you did not know what perfect meek-
ness is you would think, when you had achieved a small
knowledge and feeling of what I call imperfect meekness,
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The Cloud of Unknowing
that you had almost reached perfect meekness. Then you
would be deceiving yourself, believing that you were ex-
ceedingly humble when you were covered over with foul
stinking pride. Try, therefore, to work for perfect meek-
ness, for the condition of It is such that whoever has it
commits no sin while he has it, and very little afterward.
CHAPTER XV
A short proof correcting those who say
that the main reason for humility is the
knowledge of man's own wretchedness
1. TRUST STEADFASTLY that there Is such a perfect
humility as I speak of, and that it may be achieved through
grace in this life. I say this to refute those who state that
the most perfect type of meekness is that which arises from
the remembrance of our wretchedness and of the sins we
have committed in the past.
2. I CONCEDE ALTOGETHER that for those people who
have been living in accustomed sins, as I myself am and
have been, it is most necessary and advantageous to become
meek by means of the remembrance of our wretchedness
and our past sins until such time as the great rust of sin
will have been rubbed away as witnessed both by our
consciousness and our spiritual director. But in the case of
others who are, as it were, innocents who have never com-
mitted a mortal sin with a definite and deliberate will but
only through weakness and lack of knowledge and who
have become contemplatives; and in the case of ourselves
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The Cloud of Unknowing
when both our spiritual director and our own conscious-
ness attest to our having done proper penance in contrition
and in confession according to the statute and ordinance
of the all-Holy Church so that we feel stirred and called
by grace to be contemplatives as well, there is another
means of becoming humble.
3. THIS WAY of being made humble is as far superior to
the remembrance of our wretchedness and our past sins as
the life of our Lady Saint Mary is above the life of the
most sinful penitent in the Holy Church, or as the Life of
Christ is above the life of any man; or as the life of an
angel In heaven who has never felt and who never shall
feel human frailty is above the life of the weakest man
that is here in the world.
4, IF IT WERE TRUE that there is no perfect means by
which to be made humble except by seeing and feeling
one's own wretchedness, I would agree with those who
say that the nature of their meekness is such that they
neither see nor feel wretchedness nor stirring of sin, and
that they never have these within themselves. That is the
case with our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lady Saint Mary, and
all the saints and angels in heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself called us to this and all other kinds of perfection
when he commanded us to be perfect by grace as He Him-
self is by nature.
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CHAPTER XVI
That a sinner truly turned and called to
contemplation reaches perfection sooner
by this than by any other work and
receives God's forgiveness for his sins
1. WHEN A MAN has made the prescribed penance and
has felt himself called to that life which is called contem-
plative, and when he has received the assent both of
spiritual director and his conscience, he should by no
means consider it a presumptuous act for him to dare to
take it upon himself to offer a meek stirring of love to his
God, secretly pressing upon the cloud of unknowing that
is between him and his God. When our Lord spoke to
Mary as representative of all sinners who are called to the
contemplative life and said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee,"
it was not only because of her great sorrow, nor because
of her remembering her sins, nor even because of the
meekness with which she regarded her sinfulness. Why
then? It was surely because she loved much.
2. MEN MAY SEE from this what a secret pressing of love
may secure from our Lord, beyond all other works of
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The Cloud of Unknowing
which man may conceive. I admit that she had a great deal
of sorrow, that she wept very bitterly for her sins, and
that she was made exceedingly humble by the remembrance
of her sinfulness. And we also should do the same, we
who have been wretched and habitual sinners. We too
should make awful and wonderful sorrow for our sins
and become exceedingly humble in remembering our
wretchedness.
3. BUT HOW? Surely as Mary did. Even though she may
not have felt a deep and strong sorrow for her sins all her
life she had them wherever she went as* a burden bound
together and placed secretly in the hole of her heart in
a manner never to be forgotten nevertheless it may be
said and affirmed by Scripture that she had a stronger
sorrow, a more doleful desire, and a deeper sadness; and
she languished more for lack of love than for any remem-
brance of her sins. Yes, she languished almost to the death
for lack of love even though she had a great deal of love.
Do not wonder at this, for it is the condition of a true
lover that the more he loves the more he longs to love.
4. SHE KNEW WELL and felt strongly in herself with a
sad steadfastness that she was a wretch more foul than any
other and that her sins had made a division between her
and her God whom she loved so much. She knew also
that they were in great part the cause of her languishing
sickness for lack of love. But what followed? Did she
therefore come down from the height of desire into the
depths of her sinful life and search in the foul stinking fen
and dunghill of her sins, searching them out one by one
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Chapter XVI
with all their circumstances, sorrowing and weeping over
each one? No, she certainly did not do this. And why
not? Because God in His grace had permitted her to know
within her soul that she could never achieve it in that way.
Had she done that, she would more likely have developed
in herself the ability to sin often than to have secured by
that work the clear forgiveness for her sins.
5. INSTEAD, SHE HUNG UP HER LOVE and her longing
desire in this cloud of unknowing and she learned to love
a thing that she might never see clearly in this life, neither
by the light of understanding of her reason nor by a true
feeling of sweet love in her affection. Very often, in fact,
she had hardly any special remembrance of whether she
had been a sinner or not. Yes, and I hope that she was very
often so deeply immersed in the love of His Godhead that
she hardly saw the details of the beauty of His precious
and His blessed body in which He sat speaking and preach-
ing before her with such great love. Neither did she see
anything else, neither physical nor spiritual. That this was
the case is indicated by the gospel.
ici
CHAPTER XVII
That a true contemplative does not
desire to mix in active life. He does not
care what is done or spoken about him,
and does not defend himself before his
critics
1. IN THE GOSPEL of Saint Luke it is written that when
our Lord was in the house of Martha, Mary, her sister,
sat at His feet all the time while Martha was busy preparing
His meat. And while Mary was listening to His word she
paid no attention to what her sister was doing although
that was very good and holy work, being truly the first
part of the active life. Neither did she pay attention to
the preciousness of His blessed body, nor to the sweet
voice and words of His manhood, although it would be
better and holier to do this since it is the second part of
the active life and the first part of the contemplative life.
2. BUT SHE DID PERCEIVE with all the love of her heart
the ultimate wisdom of His Godhead though it was cov-
ered over with the dark words of His manhood. Therefore
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Chapter XVII
she would not move from where she was for anything
that she saw or heard, or for anything that was being done
around her. Rather, she sat in perfect stillness of body
with the sweetest secret urgings of love pressing upon that
high cloud of unknowing between her and her God.
3. THIS ONE THING I tell you, there has never yet been
a pure creature in this life, nor shall there ever be one so
completely transported by contemplation and the love of
the Godhead that there will not still remain a large and
wonderful cloud of unknowing between him and his God.
It was in this cloud that Mary was occupied, pressed by
many a secret love. And why was this so? Because it was
the best and holiest part of contemplation that may be
possible in this life, and from this she would not move her
desire for anything. In fact, when her sister Martha com-
plained about her to our Lord and asked Him to tell her
to get up and help her so that she would not have to work
so hard by herself, Mary remained sitting in perfect still-
ness, not answering a single word and not even showing
an angry gesture against her sister's complaint. And there
is no wonder in this; for Mary had another work to do
that her sister knew not of. And that is why she had no
leisure to listen to her nor to answer her complaint.
4. FRIEND, LET us TAKE all these words and these ges-
tures that were disclosed between our Lord and these two
sisters and make of them an example for all active persons
and all contemplative persons who have been since then in
the Holy Church, or who shall be until the day of judg-
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The Cloud of Unknoiuing
meat. By Mary Is understood all contemplatives; and they
should make their lives conform to hers. And by Martha
the active person is signified, in the same manner and for
the same reason.
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CHAPTER XVIII
How all active persons complain of
contemplatives just as Martha did of
Mary, but ignorance is the cause of
this complaint
1. JUST AS MARTHA COMPLAINED then about Mary her
sister, so do active persons complain about contemplative
persons unto this very day. For wherever a man or woman
in this world, whether religious or secular without ex-
ception, feels himself stirred through grace and with spirit-
ual counsel to surrender all his outer affairs in order to
devote himself fully to living the contemplative life with
all his knowledge and conscience, all his brothers and
sisters, their close friends, and many others besides who do
not experience these urgings nor this manner of life to
which he is devoting himself will immediately rise against
him in a spirit of great complaint. They will speak sharply
to him, saying that he is doing nothing. Then they will
tell many false tales, and many true ones too, of the fall of
men and women who gave themselves to this life in the
past. But they do not tell the good tales of those who did
not fall.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
2. I ADMIT that of those who forsake the world in this
way many do fall and have fallen in the past. Many who
should have become God's servants and His contemplatives
have become the devil's servants and his contemplatives
because they would not govern themselves by true spiritual
understanding; and they have become either hypocrites
or heretics and have fallen into frenzies and into many
other kinds of mischief m slander of the Holy Church.
I will not say more about this at this time, lest it obscure
our subject. In what follows, nevertheless, men may see
some of the conditions and the cause of their fallings as
it is necessary and if God permits. We will, therefore,
speak no more of these things at this time, but go on with
our subject.
CHAPTER XIX
A short defense of the author teaching
that all contemplatives should excuse
all active persons of their complaining
words and deeds
1. SOME MAY THINK that I pay too little respect to
Martha, that special saint, when I compare the words in
which she complained about her sister to the words of
worldly men. I mean no disrespect, neither to her nor to
them. God forbid that I should say anything in this work
that might be construed as condemnation of any of the
servants of God in any degree, and particularly of His
special saints. It seems to me that she should be completely
excused for her complaint when we consider the time and
the circumstances in which she made it. Her lack of knowl-
edge was the cause of what she said. And it is no wonder,
for she did not know at that time what Mary was doing.
I believe that she had heard very little of such perfection
before that time. And also the things that she said were
spoken courteously and with few words, and therefore she
must always be excused.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
2. IT SEEMS TO ME that the worldly men and women who
are engaged in the active life should be completely excused
as well for their words of complaint of which we spoke
before, even though they speak rudely the things they
say as a result of their ignorance. And why is this so? Just
as Martha knew very little of what Mary her sister was
doing when she complained about her to our Lord, so do
people nowadays know very little or nothing at all about
the aims of the young disciples who set themselves apart
from the business of this world and dedicate themselves to
be God's special servants in holiness and rectitude of spirit
And if they would know truly, I daresay that they would
neither do nor say the things they do,
3. IT SEEMS TO ME, therefore, that they must always be
excused, for they know no better way of life than the one
in which they themselves are engaged. And also, when I
consider the innumerable faults that I myself have com-
mitted before this time in words and deeds through lack of
knowledge, it seems to me that if I would be excused by
God for my ignorant faults, I must always excuse other
men's ignorant words and deeds with charity and pity.
Otherwise I would not be doing to others as I would have
them do to me,
CHAPTER XX
How Almighty God will answer those
who find excuses not to leave their
business for the love of Him
1. IT SEEMS TO ME therefore that those who undertake
to be contemplative^ should not only forgive active men
their complaining words, but they should also be so occu-
pied in spirit that they should pay little attention or none
at all to what men say about them or what they do. That
*was what Mary who is the example for all of us did when
Martha her sister complained to our Lord. And if we will
truly do the same, our Lord will do the same for us now
as He did for Mary then.
2. WHAT WAS THAT? Our beloved Lord Jesus Christ,
from whom no secret thing is hidden, was asked by Martha
to act as judge and to bid Mary to rise and help her serve
Him. He perceived, however, that Mary was fervently
occupied in spirit concerning the love of His Godhead
and He therefore replied courteously as was proper for
Him to do. He answered for Mary in order that she would
not need to leave the love of Him in order to excuse
herself.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
3. AND HOW DID HE ANSWER? Certainly not as a judge
as Martha asked Him to do, but as an advocate defending
according to the law her who loved Him. "Martha,
Martha!" He said. Twice for emphasis He spoke her
name, for He wanted her to hear Him and take heed of
His words. "You are very busy," He said, "and are
troubled about many things/' Those who are active per-
sons must necessarily be busy constantly and be occupied
in doing many different things, first for their own use,
and then in deeds of mercy for their fellow Christians as
charity requires. He said this to Martha, for He wanted
her to know that the work she was doing was good and
beneficial for the health of her soul; but in order that she
should not think that she was engaged in the best work of
all that man may do, He said further, "But one thing is
necessary."
4. AND WHAT is THAT ONE THING? Certainly that God
be loved and praised of Himself above all other things
physical or spiritual that man may do. And for this, in
order that Martha should not think that she could both
love God and praise Him above all other things physical or
spiritual and be busy at the same time with the necessities
of this life; and in order to free her from doubt as to
whether she might not be able to serve God perfectly in
both physical and spiritual aff airs imperfectly she may but
not perfectly He added that Mary had chosen the best
part and that this would never be taken away from her.
The reason is that this perfect stirring of love that begins
here in this life is equal with that which shall last eternally
in the bliss of heaven, for they both are one.
no
CHAPTER XXI
The true exposition of the gospel word,
"Mary has chosen the best part."
L WHAT DOES THIS MEAN: "Mary has chosen the best
part?" Wherever the best Is named, two things are first
required: a good and a better, so that there can be a best
which is the third in number. What then are these three
good things of which Maiy chose the best? There are not
three kinds of lives, for the Holy Church takes cognizance
only of two: the active life and the contemplative life; and
these two lives are expressed in a concealed way in the
story of this gospel by the two sisters, Mary and Martha,
Martha representing the active person and Mary the con-
templative one. Without one of these two lives, no one
may have salvation; and where there are no more than
two, none may choose the best.
2. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE only two kinds of lives, each
of these lives is divided into three parts, each one of which
is better than the other. These three parts have been
described in detail at an earlier point in this book. As has
been said before, the first part consists in good and honest
The Cloud of Unknowing
bodily works of mercy and of charity; and this is the first
degree of active life, as has been said. The second part of
these two lives consists in good spiritual meditations on a
man's own wretchedness, the Passion of Christ, and the
joys of heaven.
3. THE FIRST PART is good, and the second part is better;
for this is the second degree of the active life, and the first
of the contemplative life. In this part, contemplative life
and active life are coupled together in spiritual kinship
and they are made sisters by the example of Mary and
Martha. An active person may rise this high toward con-
templation and he may come no higher except on very
rare occasions, and then only by a special grace. A con-
templative person may come this low toward the active
life and go no lower, except very seldom in a situation of
great need.
4. THE THIRD PART of these two lives is to be found in
this dark cloud of unknowing with many a secret love
pressed to God of Himself. The first part is good; the
second part is better; but the third is best of all. This is
the "best part" of Mary. It is therefore clearly to be seen
that our Lord did not say that Mary has chosen the best
life; for there are no more lives than two, and of two none
may choose the best. But of these two lives, He said, Mary
has chosen the best party and that this shall never be taken
away from her.
5. THE FIRST PART and the second part, although they
are good and holy, must necessarily end with this life; for
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Chapter XXI
in the other life there is no need as there is now to make
use of the works of mercy, nor to weep for our wretched-
ness, nor for the Passion of Christ. No one will be able to
be hungry then nor be thirsty then as they are now; nor
will they then be able to die of cold, nor be sick, nor
houseless, nor in prison; nor will they then need burial, for
none shall then be able to die. But the third part that Mary
chose let it be chosen by whomever is called through
grace to choose it, or let me better say, whomever is
chosen to it by God. Let him turn to it with all his
energies, for it shall never be taken away. If it begin here,
it shall last forever.
6. THEREFORE LET THE VOICE of our Lord call on our
active ones, as though He were speaking now to them for
us as He did then for Mary to Martha, "Martha, Martha! "
"Active ones, Active ones! Make yourselves as busy as
you can in the first part and in the second part, now in the
one and now in the other, and if you are strongly inclined
and feel yourself disposed, in both of them physically at
once. But do not interfere with contemplatives. You do
not know what is troubling them. Leave them undisturbed
in their rest and in their play with the third and best part
of Mary."
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CHAPTER XXII
Of the wonderful love that Christ had
for man In the person of all sinners who
were truly transformed and called to
the grace of contemplation
1. SWEET WAS THE LOVE between our Lord and Mary.
She had much love for Him. He had much more for her.
Whoever would know thoroughly all that took place
between Him and her, not as a gossiper would tell it but
as the story of the gospel bears witness which can not
possibly be false he would find that she was so completely
desirous of loving Him that nothing less than He could
comfort her, nor could anything hold her heart from Him.
This is the same Mary who, when she sought Him at the
sepulcher with weeping hope refused to be comforted by
angels. When they spoke to her so sweetly with such great
love and said, "Weep not, Mary, for our Lord whom you
seek is risen, and you shall have Him and see Him live full
fair among His disciples as He promised," she would not
stop crying for them. And why? Her thought was that
whoever truly seeks the King of Angels will not be con-
tent to settle for angels.
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Chapter XXII
2. AND WHAT MORE? Certainly whoever will look truly
into the story of the gospel will find many points of per-
fect love written of her who is our example. These are in
accord with the work of this writing as clearly as if they
had been written for that very purpose. And certainly so
they were, let whoever will make use of them. And if a
man should desire to see written in the gospel the wonder-
ful and special love that our Lord bore to her, the person
who, of all habitual sinners, was truly transformed and
called to the grace of contemplation, he will find that our
Lord would not permit any man or womanyes, not even
her own sister to speak a word against her without His
answering for her Himself. Yes, and what more? He
blamed Simon Leprous in his own house for what he
thought against her. This was great love. This was sur-
passing love.
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CHAPTER XXIII
How God will answer and care in spirit
for those who do not care for them-
selves because of their work in His love
1. IF WE WILL TRULY and determinedly make our love
and our life conform, as much as is possible for us, to the
love and the life of Mary, there is no doubt but that He
shall answer spiritually now in the same manner for us
each day secretly in the hearts of all those who either say
or think against us. I am not saying that there will not
always be someone who will say or think something against
us as long as we are engaged in the struggles of this life,
as they did against Mary. But I do say that if we will pay
no more attention to what they are saying and what they
are thinking, and if we no more cease our private spiritual
work because of their words and their thoughts than she
did I say that then our Lord will answer them in spirit,
and if all is well with those who are speaking and thinking
this way, they will in a few days be ashamed of their words
and of their thoughts.
2. JUST AS HE WILL ANSWER for us in spirit so will He
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Chapter XX111
also stir other men in spirit to give us the things that a*^
necessary for us in this life, meat and clothes and other such
things, if He sees that we will not leave the work of His
love for such affairs. I say this to refute the error of those
who claim that it is not lawful for men to undertake to
serve God in the contemplative life unless they first secure
for themselves their own bodily necessities. For they say
that God sends the cow but not by the horn.* And in this
they indeed speak wrongly of God, as they well know.
3. TRUST STEADFASTLY, you, whoever you may be who
sincerely turns from the world to God, that God will send
you either one of these two without troubling you about
it: that is, either an abundance of necessities, or sufficient
strength of body and patience of spirit to bear your need.
What does it matter, then, which of these one has? The
net result is the same in all true contemplatives. Whoever
is in doubt of this either has the devil in his breast depriv-
ing him of belief, or else he is not as fully dedicated to
God as he should be, no matter how clever he may be, no
matter how many holy reasons he may show to the con-
trary, and no matter who he may be.
4. You, THEREFORE, having undertaken to become a
contemplative as Mary was, should choose rather to be
humbled under the wonderful height and worthiness of
God who is perfect than under your own wretchedness
which is imperfect. That is to say, take care that your
particular attention is directed more to the worthiness of
*That is, God helps those who help themselves. A version of a
medieval proverb.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
God than to your own slnfulness. To those who have been
made perfectly humble, nothing shall be lacking, not a
physical thing and not a spiritual thing. And why? Be-
cause they have God in whom all plenty is; and whoever
has Him yes, as this book says needs nothing else in this
life.
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CHAPTER XXIV
What charity is in itself, and how it
is truly and perfectly contained in the
work of this book
L As IT is SAID of humility that it is perfectly compre-
hended in this little blind love directed toward God when
it is beating upon the dark cloud of unknowing after all
other things have been put down and forgotten so also
are all other virtues to be understood, and particularly
charity.
2. CHARITY is TO SIGNIFY nothing else to your under-
standing but love of God for Himself above all creatures,
and love of man for God even as yourself. It seems very
good that in this work God should be loved for Himself
above all other creatures. As has been said before, the
substance of this work is nothing else than a naked intent
directed to God for Himself.
3. A NAKED INTENT I call it. The reason is that in this
work the perfect apprentice does not seek to be released
from pain nor to receive greater rewards, but he seeks
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The Cloud of Unknowing
simply nothing but God Himself. In fact, he is not con-
cerned and he does not even take notice of whether he is
in pain or in bliss or whether his will has been fulfilled
in what he loves. Thus it seems that in this work God is
perfectly loved for Himself beyond all other creatures. For
in this work, the perfect worker may not permit the mem-
ory of the holiest creature that God ever made to commune
with him.
4. IT SEEMS SUFFICIENTLY INDICATED that the second
and lower part of charity with respect to your fellow
Christians is truly and perfectly fulfilled in this work. In
this work the perfect worker shows no special favor toward
any man of himself, whether he be kin or stranger, friend
or foe; for he considers all men to be equally related to
him, and no man to be a stranger. He considers all men to
be his friends, and none to be his foes. In fact, he believes
that all those who bring him pain and do him harm in this
life are his full and special friends; and he is therefore
inclined to will them as much good as to the closest friend
he has.
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CHAPTER XXV
That a perfect soul gives no special
attention to any man in this life while
engaged in this work
1. I SAY NOT that the worker in this work shall have a
special regard for any man in this life whether he be
friend or foe, kin or stranger. That cannot be if this work
is to be perfectly done, as it is when all things under God
are completely forgotten in accordance with the require-
ments of this work. But I do say that he shall be made so
virtuous and so charitable by the quality of this work that
his will will be strengthened accordingly. When he does
commune with or pray for his fellow Christian, he will not
do so from the midst of the work, for he may not do that
without great sin. But he will do so from the height of
this work as it is sometimes necessary to do when charity
requires it. He will do the same for his foe as for his friend,
the same to the stranger as to his kin. Indeed, he will some-
times do more for his foe than for his friend.
2, IN THIS WORK, however, he is not free to distinguish
who is his friend and who is his foe, who is his kin or a
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The Cloud of Unknowing
stranger. I do not say that he shall not feel at some time-
in fact, quite often a more intimate affection for one, two,
or three persons; for that is lawful, and in many cases
charity requires it. Christ felt such an intimate affection for
John and for Mary and for Peter beyond many others.
But I do say that in the actual time of doing this work all
shall be equally close to him; for he shall then feel no
principle but God. He shall love all clearly and purely
for God, equally as much as he loves himself.
3. JUST AS ALL MANKIND was lost in Adam and as all
who demonstrate by their works their desire for salvation
are saved or shall be saved by virtue of the Passion of the
only Christ; so also, not quite in the same manner but as
though it were in the same manner, a soul that is perfectly
disposed to this work and is united in this way to God in
spirit as the evidence of this work testifies, does whatever
it can to make aU men as perfect in this work as it is itself.
Just as if a limb of our body feels sore all the other limbs
feel pained and diseased as well, or if a limb feels well all
the others feel better too so is it spiritually also of all the
limbs of the Holy Church,
4. CHRIST is OUR HEAD and we are the limbs if we are
in charity; and whoever wishes to be a perfect disciple of
our Lord will necessarily strain his spirit in this work for
the salvation of all his brethren and sisters in nature, as
our Lord did His body on the Cross. And in what way?
Not only for His friends and his kin and his beloved ones,
but generally for all mankind without any special favor-
itism for one more than another. All who leave sin and
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Chapter XXV
seek mercy shall be saved through the virtue of His
Passion.
5. WHAT is SAID of humility and charity is to be under-
stood also of all other virtues. All of them are truly com-
prehended in this small pressing of love of which we have
spoken before.
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CHAPTER XXVI
That without much special grace or the
continued use of common grace the
work of this book is exceedingly diffi-
cult, for it is the work of the soul
helped by grace and the work only
of God
1. WORK VERY HARD NOW for the present and beat upon
this high cloud of unknowing; then rest afterward. A
difficult task indeed does he have who commits himself to
this work. In fact, it will be exceedingly difficult unless he
either has a very special grace or he has been accustomed
to the work for a long period of time.
2. Now I ASK YOU: in what does this difficult task con-
sist? Certainly not in that devout stirring of love that is
continually wrought in his will not by himself but by the
hand of Almighty God; for God is always ready to bring
this work to pass in each soul that is disposed to carry it
out when the person does whatever is his power and has
done so for a long time in order to carry on the work.
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Chapter XXVI
3. BUT I ASK YOU: in what does this difficult task con-
sist? Certainly it consists in treading down the remem-
brance of all the creatures that God has ever made and in
holding them beneath the cloud of forgetting of which
we have spoken before. All the difficult work is contained
in this, for this is man's fundamental struggle, with the help
of grace. And the other mentioned above that is to say,
the stirring of love that is the work only of God. Go on
with your work, therefore, and surely I promise you that
He shall not fail in His.
4. MOVE STEADFASTLY ahead then. Let us see how well
you can carry yourself. Do you not see how He supports
and sustains you? For shame! Labor hard for a while, and
soon you will find that the difficulty and the pressure of
this strenuous work will begin to be eased. Even though it
is hard and undiminished in the beginning when you have
no devotion, after a while when you have acquired devo-
tion, what had been so hard for you will become much
easier and much less taxing for you to do. You will then
have little work, or perhaps none at all to do; for God
will then work sometimes all by Himself. But that will
not always be, nor will it be for a long period at a time.
It will only be when and as He is so inclined. And then
you will think it is wonderful to leave Him alone.
5. THEN WILL HE perhaps sometimes send out a beam
of spiritual light piercing the cloud of unknowing that is
between you and Him, and He will show you some of His
secret ways of which man neither can nor may speak. Then
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The Cloud of Unknowing
will you feel your desires inflamed with the fire of His
love, far more than I can tell you, or than I can or will say
at this time. For of that work which falls only to God
I dare not take it upon myself to speak with my blabber-
ing fleshly tongue. And even if I dared, I would not do so.
But of that work that falls to man when he feels himself
stirred and helped by grace, listen well while I tell you.
For of the two, this holds less peril.
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CHAPTER XXVII
Who should work in the gracious work
of this book
I. FIRST AND FOREMOST I will tell you who should take
part in this work, and when, and by what means, and
what discretion you shall have in it. If you ask me who
shall work in this, I answer: all who have forsaken the
world with a true will and who give themselves not to the
active life but to what is called the contemplative life. All
those should work in this grace and in this work, whatever
they be, and whether they be habitual sinners or not.
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CHAPTER XXVIII
That a man should not presume to work
in this work before he has been lawfully
cleansed in his consciousness of all his
special deeds of sin
L IF YOU ASK ME when one should begin this work, I
answer: not before he has cleansed his consciousness, in
accordance with the common ordinance of the Holy
Church, of all the special deeds of sin previously com-
mitted.
2. IN THIS WORK a soul dries up within itself the entire
root and ground of sin that always remains in it after con-
fession. Therefore let whoever wishes to undertake this
work first cleanse his consciousness. Afterward, when he
has fulfilled what is lawfully required of him, let him give
himself to the work boldly but meekly. Let him consider
then that he has been held back from the work for a very
long time; for this is the work in which a person should
labor all his lifetime, even if he has never committed a
mortal sin.
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Chapter XXVIII
3. As LONG AS a soul dwells in this mortal flesh, he shall
see and feel this cumbrous cloud of unknowing between
him and God. And not only that, but as a result of the
original sin he shall always see and feel that some of all
the creatures that God has made or some of their works
are constantly pressing into his memory between him and
God,
4. THIS is THE JUDGMENT OF GOD. When man held
the sovereign power over all other creatures, he willfully
submitted himself to their requests and ignored the com-
mands of God and his Maker. Because man did this, he
finds now that whenever he seeks to fulfill the bidding
of God, he sees and feels all the creatures that should
be beneath him proudly pressing themselves above him
between him and his God.
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CHAPTER XXIX
That a man should continue patiently in
this work, enduring its pain and judging
no man
1. WHOEVER DESIRES, therefore, to reach the purity
that has been lost by sin and to achieve that state of well-
being in which there is no pain must necessarily labor in
this work with great patience, enduring the pains of it no
matter how great they be, whether he has been a habitual
sinner or not.
2. EVERYONE FINDS IT DIFFICULT to do this work,
both sinners and innocent people who have hardly sinned
at all. But those who have been sinners have much greater
difficulty, and for good reason. It often happens, however,
that some who have been serious and habitual sinners reach
perfection in this work sooner than those who have not
been sinners. This is the merciful miracle of our Lord who
bestows His grace in ways that arouse the wonderment
of the world.
3. Now TRULY I BELIEVE that the Day of Judgment
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Chapter XXIX
shall be fair and clear so that God will be clearly discern-
ible with all his attributes. On that day, some who are
now despised or who are valued at little or nothing as
common sinners, and perhaps some who now are serious
sinners shall sit side by side with saints in His sight. And,
at the same itme, some of those who are now regarded
among the holy, being worshiped by men as though they
were angels, and some of those who perhaps have not yet
committed a mortal sin shall sit mournfully among the
caves of hell.
4. BY THIS YOU CAN SEE that no man should judge
another here in this life, neither for the good nor the evil
that he does. Only deeds may properly be judged but not
the man, whether good or evil.
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CHAPTER XXX
Who should criticize and condemn
other men's faults
L I ASK YOU: by whom shall men's deeds be judged?
Surely by those who have the capacity and have achieved
the cure of their own souls, either openly in terms of the
statute and ordinance of the Holy Church, or else secretly
in the spirit by the special stirring of the Holy Spirit in
perfect charity.
2. LET EVERYONE BEWARE lest he presume to take it
upon himself to criticize and condemn other men's faults
without his having been truly touched within by the Holy
Spirit in his work. Otherwise he may very easily err in
his judgments. Beware therefore. Judge yourself as seems
right to you between yourself and your God, and let other
men alone.
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CHAPTER XXXI
How a man should maintain himself
against all thoughts and stirrings of sin
when he begins this work
L AFTER YOU HAVE REACHED THE POINT where you
feel that you have done what Is required of you according
to the judgment of the Holy Church, you shall begin
intently to carry out this work. Thea if you find that
particular acts that you have done in the past constantly
come into your memory and come between you and your
God, or that any new thought or stirring of sin does so,
then you must steadfastly step above them with a fervent
stirring of love and tread them down beneath your feet.
2. TRY TO COVER OVER these thoughts with a thick
cloud of forgetting as though they had never existed
neither for you nor for any other man. And if they con-
tinue to arise, continue to put them down. As often as
they come up, so often must you put them down. And
if you think that the labor is great, then you may seek
to develop special ways, tricks, private techniques, and
The Cloud of Unknowing
spiritual devices by means of which you can put them
away. And it is best to learn these methods from God
by your own experience rather than from any man in
this life.
114
CHAPTER XXXII
Concerning two spiritual devices that
are helpful for a spiritual beginner in
the work of this book
1. ALTHOUGH THIS is so, I will tell you what seems
to me to be the best of these special ways. Test them and
improve upon them if you can.
2o TRY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN to behave as though you
are not aware that these thoughts are pressing so strongly
upon you between you and your God. Try to look, as
it were, over their shoulders, as though you were looking-
for somethings else; and this other thing is God enclosed
in a cloud of unknowing. If you do this, I believe that in
a short time your labor will be greatly eased. I believe that
when this method is correctly understood and practiced
it involves nothing else than a longing desire for God, to
feel Him and to see Him as much as is possible in this life.
Such a desire is charity, and it always merits fulfillment.
3. THERE is ANOTHER METHOD, and you may test it
if you wish. When you feel that you are altogether unable
to press down your thoughts, cower beneath them cringing
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The Cloud of Unknowing
as a coward overcome in battle. Think then that it is
foolishness for you to strive any longer with them, and
yield yourself therefore to God in the hands of your
enemies. Regard yourself then as one who has been lost
forever.
4. TAKE THE GREATEST CARE in using this method,
however, for it seems to me that in applying it you can
melt all things to water. But when this method is correctly
conceived it becomes nothing else than a true knowledge
and feeling of yourself as you are, a wretch and a filthy
thing far worse than nothing. This knowledge and feeling
is meekness. And this meekness results in God Himself
coming down with great strength to avenge you on your
enemies, to raise you up and with loving care dry your
spiritual eyes, as the father does to his child about to perish
at the mouths of wild beasts.
136
CHAPTER XXXIII
That In this work a person is cleansed
both of his special sins and of their
pain, and that there is no perfect rest
in this life
L I WILL NOT TELL YOU of any more methods at this
time. If you possess the grace with which to practice these,
I am sure that you will be better able to teach me than
I am to teach you. Even though it should not be so, yet
it seems to me truly that I am very far from the goal. I
therefore beg of you to help me and to labor for yourself
as well as for me.
2. CARRY ON THEN, do the hard labor now, and suffer
meekly the pain that is necessary if you are to succeed
with these methods. Truly, this is your purgatory. When
the painful time has passed and your practices are as though
they were given to you by God and graciously come to
you out of habit, I have no doubt but that you will be
cleansed not only of sin but of the pain of sin. I mean of
the pain of your particular sins committed in the past, and
not the pain of the original sin. That pain shall remain
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The Cloud of Unknowing
with you to the day of your death no matter what you do.
It shall be of little trouble to you, however, in comparison
with the pain of your special sins; and yet you shall not
be left without great and difficult labor.
3. OUT OF THE ORIGINAL SIN there will continually
spring new and fresh stirrings of sin; and it will be
necessary for you constantly to strike them down, cutting
them down with a sharp, double-edged and dreadful sword
of knowledge and will. By this you may see and learn that
there is no steady security and no true rest in this life.
4. You SHALL NOT RETREAT because of this, however,
nor shall you have great fear of failure. For if you have
the grace with which to overcome in the manner described
earlier the pain of the particular sins you have committed
in the past or better still, if you are able to improve upon
these methods then you may be sure that the pain of the
original sin or the new stirrings of sin that are to come will
have very little power to provoke you.
CHAPTER XXXIV
That God gives this grace freely with
no special methods and that it may not
be achieved by means of them
1. IF YOU ASK ME by what means you are to come to
this work, I pray that Almighty God in His great grace
and goodness will teach you Himself. In fact, it is best
for you to know that I cannot tell you. The reason is
that It Is the work only of God especially wrought in
the soul that He desires, and this without respect to the
merit of the soul. Without this grace, no saint or angel
can conceive of seeking it. And I believe that our Lord
particularly and often yes, more particularly and more
oftenpermits this work to be carried through in those
who have been habitual sinners than in those who have
brought Him comparatively little grief. This He does, for
He is all-merciful and almighty; and He works as He
wishes, where He wishes, and when He wishes.
2. HE DOES NOT GIVE THIS GRACE, however, nor take
part in this work with any person who is unable to do it.
And yet there is no soul without this grace, for all are
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The Cloud of Unknowing
capable of It whether a sinner's soul or an innocent's soul.
It is not given as a reward for innocence, nor is it withheld
because of sin.
3. NOTE CAREFULLY that I say withheld and with-
drawn. Take care to beware of error here. It is always so
that the nearer men come to truth, the n!ore it is necessary
for them to beware of error. I mean well for you. If you
cannot conceive it, lay it aside until God comes and
teaches it to you. Do that and do not harm yourself.
4. BEWARE OF PRIDE, for it blasphemes the gifts of
God and makes sinners bold. If you are truly meek, your
feelings about this work will agree with my statement
that God gives it freely without its being merited. The
nature of this work is such that its presence enables a soul
both to have it and to feel it. And no soul may have that
capacity without it. The ability to do this work is in-
herently contained in the work itself so that whoever feels
this work is thereby enabled to do it, and no one else.
In fact, without this work a soul is dead, as it were, and
can neither covet it nor desire it.
5. To THE DEGREE that you will it and desire it, you
have that much of it; no more and no less. And yet it is
not a matter of will, nor a matter of desire, but something,
you never know what, that stirs you to desire and to will
a thing you never know. Pay no heed to this, I beg of you,
if you know no more; but go onward, do more and more,
and keep yourself active.
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Chapter XXXIV
6. THE BRIEFEST WAY for me to put It is this: let
that thing do with you whatever it wishes and let it lead
you wherever it wishes. Let it be the active one, and you
be but the passive one. Do nothing more than observe It
and let it alone. Do not interfere with it thinking you will
help it. Beware of doing that, lest you spoil everything.
7. You BE BUT THE TREE and let it be the caretaker.
You be but the house, and let It be the squire dwelling
within. Be blind at this time and cut away all desire for
knowledge, for that will hinder you much more than It
will help you. It is quite sufficient that you feel yourself
so strongly stirred by a thing of whose nature you know
nothing at all. In this way, the stirring within you carries
no special thought of anything under God, and thus your
intent is directed purely toward God.
8. IF THIS is THE CASE, trust steadfastly that it is clearly
only God who is stirring your will and your desire of
Himself with no special devices being used, neither by
Him nor by you. And have no fear, for the devil is not
able to come so near. He comes to stir a man's will only
very seldom, and then from afar, no matter how clever a
devil he may be. Without special devices, neither can a
good angel stir your will strongly enough; in fact, nothing
can do so, but only God.
9. FROM THESE WORDS it is now possible for you to
conceive in general (and you will understand it much more
clearly from your practice) that in this work men are not
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The Cloud of Unknowing
to use any special devices, for subtle methods will not lead
them to it. All good procedures derive from it, but It
itself depends on none; and there are no special methods
that lead to it.
142
CHAPTER XXXV
Concerning the three practices with
which a contemplative disciple should
be occupied: reading, thinking, and
praying
L THERE ARE METHODS, however, which a student in
contemplation may practice, and these are: Lesson, Medi-
tation, and Orison; or you may call them: Reading,
Thinking, and Praying. You shall find these three things
described much better than I can in another book by
another man. It is, therefore, not necessary for me here
to tell you the details of them.
2. THIS MUCH I WILL TELL YOU, however. These
three are bound together in such a way that, for those
who are beginners and for those who are advancing in
the work but not for those who are perfect in the sense
that we have described it here the stage of thinking can
be reached only after reading and hearing. Reading and
hearing are essentially the same: the clergyman reads in
books, while illiterate men read by means of the clergy-
man when they hear him preach the word of God. But
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The Cloud of Unknowing
prayer may not be achieved, neither in beginners nor in
advanced students, unless thinking comes first. Verify this
with your experience.
3. IN THIS CONTEXT, God's word whether written or
spoken may be compared to a mirror. Spiritually, the eyes
of your soul are your reason, your consciousness is your
spiritual face. And just as it is so that if you have a dirty
spot on your physical face your eyes cannot see that spot
nor know where it is without a mirror or someone else
to tell you; so it is spiritually in the same way that without
reading or hearing God's word it is not possible for a soul
blinded by habitual sin to see the foul spot upon his
consciousness.
4. IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS, when a man looks into
a physical or a spiritual mirror or learns from what other
men tell him where the foul spot is on his face, physically
or spiritually, he runs at once to the well to wash himself,
but not before he knows where the spot is. If this spot
involves a special sin, then the well is the Holy Church
and the water is the confession with all its attendant cir-
cumstances. But if this spot is only a blind root and a
stirring of sin, then the well is the merciful God and the
water is prayer with all its circumstances. You can see
from this that good thinking cannot be achieved, neither
by beginner nor by advanced students, without their first
reading and hearing. And, in. the same way, praying cannot
come before thinking.
CHAPTER XXXVI
Concerning the meditations of those
who are continually engaged in the
work of this book
1. THIS is NOT THE CASE, however, with those who
continually carry out the work of this book. Their medi-
tations come as though they were spontaneous thoughts
and unguided feelings concerning their own wretchedness
or the goodness of God. They come neither from reading
nor from listening, nor are they beholden to any special
thing under God.
2. THESE SPONTANEOUS THOUGHTS and unguided
feelings come to one much more from God than from
man. It is not necessary for you ever to have meditated
on your wretchedness nor on the goodness of God, assum-
ing that you are a person who is stirred by grace and
works with spiritual guidance. It is necessary only that you
meditate on the word SIN or on the word GOD, or on
any comparable words that you may prefer, not analyzing
or interpreting them with refinements of learning, but
simply considering the qualities of the words with the
earnest intention of increasing your devotion.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
3. I BELIEVE that one should never analyze intellectually
in this work. Rather, consider these words as wholes.
Think of sin as a lump, a thing you know not what, that
is, nonetheless, nothing else but yourself. While you are
engaged in this blind beholding of sin considered as an
entity, a lump that is nothing else than yourself, you will
no doubt appear to be as distracted as any mad person
who ever was bound. But it is also possible that if you do
this work without changing your countenance, those who
see you will think of you as being completely sober and
relaxed, whether you are sitting or walking, lying or lean-
ing, standing or kneeling in the work.
146
CHAPTER XXXVII
Concerning the special prayers of those
who are continually engaged in the
work of this book
1. JUST AS THE MEBITATIOISTS OF THOSE wllQ COH-
tinually labor in this grace and in this work appear
suddenly without any preparation, their prayers come in
the same way. I mean their own, personal prayers, not the
prayers that are ordained by the Holy Church. Those who
truly practice this work do not worship by prayer very
much. They pray according to the form and the law that
has been ordained by the holy fathers before us; but their
special prayers always rise spontaneously to God without
having been planned in advance, and without any particular
techniques either preceding them or accompanying them.
2. WHEN THESE PRAYERS ARE IN WORDS, as they
very seldom are, they are only in very few words; in fact,
the fewer the better. Indeed, if it is but a little word of
one syllable it seems to me to be better than a word of
two syllables or more. This is in accordance with the work
of the spirit, for a spiritual worker should always be at the
highest and ultimate point of the spirit.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
3. You CAN SEE that this is so by an example drawn
from the course of nature. When a man or a woman is
overcome by fear in any sudden emergency such as fire,
a person dying, or anything of that kind, he is impelled
immediately to cry out from the intensity of his feeling
calling for help to come at once. Yes, and how does he
do this? Certainly it is not in many words; and it is not
even in one word of two syllables. The reason is that
it would take him too long should he try to explain the
nature of his need. He therefore bursts out all at once with
a great spirit and cries a little word of one syllable, such
as the word "fire" or the word "help."
4. AND JUST AS THIS LITTLE WORD "fire" stirs and
pierces the ears of the hearers much more quickly, so does
a little word of one syllable do the same when it is not
only spoken or thought but secretly intended in the depth
of the spirit. This depth is height, for spiritually all is one,
height and depth, length and breadth. It pierces the ears
of the Almighty God more than does any psalter thought-
lessly mumbled in one's teeth. This is the reason it is
written that short prayer pierces heaven.
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CHAPTER XXXVIII
How and why short prayer pierces
heaven
1. AND WHY DOES IT PIERCE HEAVEN, this little short
prayer of one small syllable? Surely because it is prayed
with a full spirit, in the height and in the depth, in the
length and in the breadth of the spirit of him who prays
it. It is in the height, for it is with all the power of the
spirit. It is in the depth, for in this one little syllable all
the knowledge of the spirit is contained. It is in the length,
for no matter when it would feel as it does feel it would
cry just as it cries. It is in the breadth, for it wills to
everyone the same that it wills to itself.
2. IT is IN THIS TIME that a soul has comprehended
the lesson of Saint Paul and all the saintsnot fully, but
in some manner and in part in accordance with the degree
of his work concerning what is the length and the breadth,
the height and the depth of the everlasting and all-loving,
almighty and all-knowing God. The everlastingness of
God in His length. His love is His breadth. His power is
His height. And His wisdom is His depth.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
3. IT is NO WONDER that a soul that conforms so
closely by grace to the image and likeness of God his
maker should soon be heard by God. Even if it were a
sinful soulwhich is, as it were, an enemy of Godif
he might by means of grace be able to cry such a little
syllable in the height and the depth, the length and the
breadth of his spirit, he would always be heard and helped
by God because of the terrible noise of his cry.
4. LET us TAKE AN EXAMPLE. If you hear a man who
is your mortal enemy cry out through fear in the height
of his spirit the little word "fire" or the word "help,"
you will come to help him. It will not be because you
are concerned about him, for he is your enemy; but it will
be because of the pure pity that is stirred in your heart
and raised by the dolefulness of his cry that you will get
up yes, even if it is a mid-winter's night and help him
to put out his fire or to calm and quiet him in his distress.
5. OH LORD! if a man can be made so merciful in grace
as to have so much mercy and so much pity on his enemy
despite his enmity, what pity and what mercy shall God
have for a spiritual cry in the soul made and uttered in
the height and the depth, in the length and the breadth
of his spirit, considering that God has by nature all that
man has only by grace? Much more certainly beyond com-
parison, much more mercy will He have, for the thing
that is had by nature is much closer to the eternal thing
than that which is had by grace.
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CHAPTER XXXIX
How a perfect worker is to pray, and
what prayer is in itself; and if a man
prays in words, which words are most
fitting for prayer
1. THIS is WHY WE SHOULD PRAY in the height and the
depth, the length and the breadth of our spirit, not in
many words but in a short word of one syllable.
2. AND WHAT SHALL THIS WORD BE? Certainly it shall
be such a word as best fits the nature of prayer. And what
word is that? Let us first see what prayer is in itself, and
then we will be able to know more clearly which word
will best accord with the nature of prayer.
3. PRAYER IN ITSELF PROPERLY is nothing else than a
devout intention directed toward God to receive good
and remove evil. Since all evil is comprehended in sin,
either by cause or by being, let us therefore say, or think,
or mean, when we wish to pray intently to remove evil,
only this little word "sin/' And if we wish to pray intently
to receive good, let us cry either with word or thought,
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The Cloud of Unknowing
or desire no other word and no more words but this one
word, "God." This is because all good is in God, either
by cause or by being.
4. Do NOT MARVEL THEN at my reason for setting these
words beyond all others. If I could find any shorter words
that would comprehend all good and all evil within them
as fully as these words do, or if I had been taught by
God to take any other words either, I would have taken
those and discarded these. And I advise you to do the same.
5. Do NOT STUDY MERE WORDS, for you will never
achieve your purpose in this work that way. It is never
achieved by study, but only by grace. Therefore, even
though I have set forth certain words here, you must not
pray with any other words but those that you are stirred
by God to take. If God should stir you to take these, I
do not advise you to ignore them. I mean if you wish to
pray in words; otherwise not, for these are very short
words.
6. EVEN THOUGH the brevity of prayer is greatly recom-
mended here, we do not place any limit on the frequency
of prayer. As has been said before, the prayer is to be
prayed in the length of the spirit, and this means that it
should never cease until it receives all that it is seeking.
We have an example of this in the man or the woman who
is afraid in the manner we described above. They never
cease crying the little word "help" or the little word
"fire" until they have received some help in their trouble.
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CHAPTER XL
When a person is engaged in this work,
he is to give no special attention to any
vice in itself nor to any virtue in itself
1. You SHOULD UNDERSTAND the word "sin" in the
same spiritual sense as referring to sin in general and not
to a particular kind of sin, whether venial or mortal: pride,
anger, or envy, covetousness, sloth, gluttony, or lust. What
does it matter to a contemplative person which sin or how
many sins he has? He considers all sins to be equally great
in themselvesI mean during the course of this work-
since the least sin separates him from God and deprives
him of his spiritual peace.
2. FEEL SIN TO BE A LUMP, a thing you know not what
that is nothing but yourself. Then constantly call out this
one spiritual cry, "Sin, sin, sin! Out, out, out!" You will
find with experience that you can learn this spiritual cry
much better from God than from the teaching of any man.
It is best when it comes in a pure spirit without any special
thought and even without actually pronouncing a word,
except on those infrequent occasions when both body and
The Cloud of Unknowing
soul are filled with sorrow and the heaviness of sin, and
then, out of the fullness of the spirit, it bursts out in a
spoken word.
3. PROCEED IN THE SAME MANNER with this little
word, "God." Fill yourself with the spiritual meaning of
it without any special attention to any of His works,
whether they be good, better, or the best of all; and
whether they be physical or spiritual, and whether they
be achieved in man's soul by grace. Do not look to see
whether it is meekness or charity, patience or abstinence,
hope, faith, or soberness, chastity, or voluntary poverty.
What does this matter to contemplatives? They find and
feel all virtues in God, for everything is in Him both by
cause and by being. They think that if they have God
they have all good and therefore they have no special
desires for anything but only for Good God. Do the same
yourself as far as you are able to by grace. Intend God
altogether, and all God, so that nothing works in your
mind, but only God.
4. IT WILL ALWAYS BE NECESSARY for you to feel this
foul stinking lump of sin to some degree as long as you
are living in this wretched life, for sin is permanently
united with the substance of your being. Alternate in
your mind, therefore, the two words: sin and God. And
do so with the understanding that if you have God, you
will have no sin; and if you have no sin, you will have God.
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CHAPTER XLI
In all other works beneath this, men
have some leeway; but in this they
have none
1. IF YOU ASK ME FURTHER what leeway you have for
your own judgment in this work, my answer is, none at
all. You are permitted a freedom of decision in the other
things that you do, such as, in eating and drinking, in
sleeping and in protecting your body from extremes of
cold or heat, and in the length of prayer and reading and
in conversation with your fellow Christians. In all these
things you may use your own discretion to see that they
are neither too much nor too little. But in this work you
are to make no measures, for you are not to stop it at
all as long as you live.
2. I DO NOT SAY that you are always to continue in it
with equal strength, for that is not possible. There will
be times when sickness and other unavoidable conditions
of the body and soul with many other necessities of nature
will hinder you a great deal, and often they will draw you
down from the height of this work. What I do say, faow-
*55
The Cloud of Unknowing
ever, is that one way or another you should constantly
be engaged in it, whether in actual working or in your will.
For the love of God, therefore, be as careful as you
possibly can be where sickness is concerned so that you
will not be the cause of your own weakness. I tell you
truthfully that this work requires a great calmness, an
integrated and clean disposition, both in body and in soul.
3. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, therefore, regulate yourself
prudently both in body and in soul and secure your health
as much as you can. And if beyond your power sickness
does come to you, be patient and await God's mercy with
meekness. At such times, everything is good enough. In
fact, it is often true that patience in sickness and in other
kinds of trouble is much more pleasing to God than any
other devotion you might make when you have your
health.
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CHAPTER XLII
That by not varying in this work man
shall have freedom in all other things;
and otherwise none at all
1. PERHAPS YOU WILL NOW ASK ME how you are to
regulate yourself in food and in sleep, and in all other
things of that kind. The answer is brief: Do the best that
you can. Practice this work without stop and without
measure, and then you will know how to control all your
other works with great judgment. I think that a person who
perseveres in this work night and day without limit cannot
possibly fall into error in these outward doings. Otherwise,
it seems to me, he would always be in error.
2. IF I EVER ACHIEVED an alert and active concentration
on this spiritual work within my soul, it would then not
matter at all what I did in eating or in drinking, in sleeping
or in speaking, or in any of my outward activities. And
certainly I can tell you that I would much rather attain
freedom in these things in this way, by not needing to be
concerned about them, than by concentrating a great deal
of attention on them. In fact, if I go about it with such
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The Cloud of Unknowing
deliberateness, marking and measuring my acts in these
things, I would never succeed in my work no matter what
I might do or say.
3. LET MEN SAY WHAT THEY WILL, but let practice be
the proof. Lift up your heart, therefore, with a blind
stirring of love, thinking of sin and God. You are seeking
God, and hoping to be rid of sin. But it is sin that you are
sure of having, and it is God you lack. Now may the good
God help you, for now you are in need.
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CHAPTER XLIII
That all knowing and feeling of a man's
own being must be lost if the perfection
of this work is to be truly felt by any
man in this life
1. TAKE CARE that nothing is active in your mind or in.
your will but only God. Try to strike down all your
knowing and feeling of everything under God, and tread
everything down far beneath the cloud of forgetting. Then
you will understand that in this work you are not only
to forget all creatures other than yourself, their deeds and
your own deeds as well; but in this work you are also to
forget both yourself and your deeds for God as well as
all other creatures and their deeds. For the sign of a perfect
lover is not only that he loves the thing he loves more than
he loves himself, but also, in a sense, that he hates himself
on behalf of the thing he loves.
2. THIS is WHAT YOU ARE TO DO with yourself. You
shall loathe and be impatient with everything that is active
in your mind and in your will unless it is God. Anything
else, whatever it may be, will come between you and your
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The Cloud of Unknowing
God. It is no wonder, then, that you should loathe and
hate to think of yourself, for you always feel sin as a foul
stinking lump of you know not what, intruding between
you and your God. And this lump is nothing else than
yourself. For you must realize that sin is permanently
united with the substance of your being so that it will
never leave you.
3. DESTROY THEREFORE all your knowing and feeling
of every kind of creature, and especially of yourself. Your
thinking and feeling of all other creatures depends on your
awareness of yourself, for when you have overcome that,
all other creatures can easily be forgotten. If you will
actively apply yourself to practice this, you will find that
when you have forgotten all other creatures and all their
words and as a matter of fact, all your own works as
well there will still remain between you and your God
a pure awareness and feeling of your own being. And
this awareness and feeling must necessarily be overcome
before you can experience the work steadfastly in its
perfection.
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CHAPTER XLIV
How a soul is to destroy all knowing
and feeling of its own being
1. Now YOU ASK ME how you can destroy this pure
awareness and feeling of your own being. Perhaps you
think that if it were destroyed all other hindrances would
also be destroyed; and if you think that, you are correct.
But in this regard I must tell you that without a very
special grace given by God without restriction, and also
without an adequate capacity on your part making you
capable of receiving this grace, this pure awareness and
feeling of your being cannot possibly be destroyed.
2. THIS ABILITY is not less than a strong and profound
spiritual sorrow. You must use your discretion, however,
where this sorrow is concerned. Take care, when this
sorrow comes upon you, that you do not strain your body
or your spirit too violently. Instead you should sit com-
pletely still as though you had fallen asleep, worn out by
crying, and sunken in your sorrow. This is true sorrow;
this is perfect sorrow. To achieve this sorrow is a very
great thing.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
3. ALL MEN HAVE REASON FOR SORROW, but most par-
ticularly does he have cause for sorrow who knows and
feels that he is. Compared to this, all other sorrows are
mere sport. When he knows and feels not only what he
Is but that he is, a man can experience sorrow authentically.
And whoever has never felt this sorrow, truly has reason
to be sad; for he has not yet felt the ultimate sorrow. This
sorrow, when it is experienced, cleanses the soul not only
of sin but also of the pain that derives from sin. And it
thereby makes a soul capable of receiving that joy that
separates a man from the awareness and feeling of his
being.
4. WHEN THIS SORROW is truly conceived it is full of
holy desire; otherwise a man in this life might not be able
to bear it. If it were not that the soul receives a certain
amount of comfort from properly doing the work, he
would not be able to bear the pain that comes from being
aware of and feeling his being. The reason for this is that,
whenever he seeks to have a true knowledge and feeling
of his God in purity of spirit, as much as may be in this
life, he realizes that he cannot have it. He discovers time
and again that his awareness and his feeling are occupied
and filled with a foul stinking lump of himself that must
be hated and despised and forsaken if he is to be God's
perfect disciple knowing God Himself upon the mount
of perfection.
5. AND WHENEVER HE REALIZES THIS, he goes prac-
tically mad for sorrow. He weeps then, and he wails; he
straggles and curses profanely. It seems to him, in fact,
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Chapter XL1V
that he is bearing so heavy a burden of himself that he
does not care at all what happens to him; and then it is
that God is pleased. And yet, in all this sorrow, he does
not desire to cease to exist; for that would be the devil's
madness and spitefulness toward God. He wishes very
much to be, and he offers his thanks to God with all his
heart for the great worth and the gift of his being. But
he does desire unceasingly to be rid of the awareness and
the feeling of his being,
6. EVERY SOUL NEEDS TO HAVE and to feel within itself
this sorrow and this desire, either in the above manner or
in some other. God undertakes to teach his spiritual dis-
ciples according to His good will and according to the
degree and nature of their abilities in body and soul. This
is with the purpose that eventually they may be united
with God in perfect charity, as much as may be in this
life, if God makes it possible.
CHAPTER XLV
A good statement of some deceptions
that occur in this work
1. ONE THING I will tell you. A young disciple who
has not practiced this spiritual work long enough to be-
come experienced in it may very easily be deceived. If he
does not proceed with great caution, and if he does not
have the grace to discontinue the work and humbly seek
advice, his bodily powers may quite possibly be destroyed
while his spiritual faculties fall into fantasy. All this has to
do with pride, sensuality, and intellectual curiosity.
2. THIS is THE WAY the deception may come to pass.
A young man or a woman who has newly undertaken the
study of devotion hears this sorrow and desire read and
spoken of, telling how a man shall lift up his heart to God
and unceasingly desire to feel the love of his God. Caught
then in the grip of an intellectual curiosity, they understand
these words not spiritually as they were intended, but
sensually and physically. Their physical hearts are then
greatly excited in their breasts. And then, because of a
lack of grace, and because of their pride and curiosity,
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Chapter XLV
they strain their veins and their bodily powers in such
improper and inordinate ways that they fall either into
frenzies, weariness, or a kind of debility in which they
lose aU desires of body or soul.
3. THIS MAKES THEM GO OUT of themselves and seek
some false and vain physical pleasure on the outside, as it
were, for the recreation of their body and spirit. Otherwise,
if they do not fall into this, then, as a result of their spiritual
blindness and the sensual chafing of their physical natures
from doing this false and vulgar nonspiritual work, their
breasts are inflamed by an unnatural heat caused by their
misuse of their bodies in this pretended work, or else there
comes into them a false heat created by the devil, their
spiritual enemy, and brought about by their pride, their
sensuality, and their curiosity of mind.
4. SOMETIMES THEY THINK that this is the fire of love
received and kindled by the grace and goodness of the
Holy Spirit. Truly, from this deception and from its
branches, many mischiefs come, much hypocrisy, much
heresy, and much error. For just as a true knowledge fol-
lows a true feeling in the school of God, so does a false
knowledge come immediately after a false feeling in the
school of the devil. I tell you truly that the devil has his
contemplatives just as God has His.
5. THE DECEPTION OF FALSE FEELING and of false
knowledge that follows upon it has many amazing varia-
tions, depending on the diverse conditions of those who
are deceived, just as there is a great variety in the true
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The Cloud of Unknowing
feelings and knowledge of those who achieve salvation.
I do not wish to discuss here, however, any deceptions
other than those which I believe will assail yon in the
course of this work If you actually undertake It. Of what
value would it be for you to know how these great schol-
ars and men and women of other degrees than yours are
deceived? Surely it Is of no value at all, and that is why I
will tell you only of those that may pertain to you when
you are engaged in the work. I mention this to you now
so that you will know to be very cautious about these
things m yow work if they should assail you.
1 66
CHAPTER XLVI
A good teaching concerning how a man
can avoid these deceptions and work
with a spiritual desire rather than with a
boisterousness of body
L FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, therefore, be careful in this
work and do not strain your fleshly heart in a tempestuous
way without moderation. Work more with a desire than
with futile strength. The greater your desire, the more
humbly and spiritually you will work; and the more ig-
norantly you proceed, the more physical and vulgar will
be your work.
2. BE CAREFUL, therefore. Any vulgar heart that pre-
sumes to touch the high mount of this work will surely
be beaten away with stones. Stones are hard by nature,
and they hurt very much where they hit. Certainly such
vulgar strainings are closely bound to the feelings of the
flesh and are devoid of a knowledge of grace. They hurt
the foolish soul and make it fester in fantasies constructed
by the devil.
167
The Cloud of Unknowing
3. BE CAREFUL, therefore, with these vulgar ways, and
learn to love with a mild and gentle desire expressed both
in your body and in your soul. Await the will of our Lord
meekly and attentively, and do not snatch overhastily as
though you were a greedy greyhound, no matter how
hungry you may be. Stating it lightly, I advise that you
express what is in yourself, and avoid any vulgar or violent
stirring of your spirit, just as you would certainly not let
Him know now how very much you wish to see Him and
have Him and feel Him.
4. You MAY THINK, perhaps, that this is childishly and
playfully spoken. I believe, however, that whoever will
have the grace to do and feel as I say will make most
pleasant play with Him, kissing and embracing as the
father does with the child.
168
CHAPTER XLVII
A slight teaching of this work in purity
of spirit, explaining how a person is to
show his desire to God, and on the other
hand, to man
1. CONSIDER NOW why I speak so childishly, as though
I were foolish and without common sense. I do it for
certain reasons, for it seems to me that I have been stirred
for many days to feel and think this way and to say this
to some of my other special friends in God as well as to
you.
2. ONE REASON for which I tell you to hide from God
the desire of your heart is the following. I have the hope
that by hiding it, the knowledge of it will reach Him more
clearly for your advantage in fulfilling your desire than
it would by your displaying it, at least, I believe, by any
of the means of displaying it of which you are capable at
this time. Another reason is that, by having you show' it
in a hidden way I would hope to lead you away from the
boisterousness of physical feeling and toward the purity
and depth of spiritual feeling. And thus I would hope
169
The Cloud of Unknowing
ultimately to help you tie the spiritual knot of burning
love between you and your God in spiritual unity and
harmony of will.
3. You KNOW WELL that God is a Spirit, and that any-
one who desires to be united with Him must necessarily
keep himself steadfastly in depth of spirit and far from all
counterfeit physical things. Surely everything is known to
God, and nothing, neither physical nor spiritual things,,
may be hidden from His knowledge. And since God is a
Spirit, the thing that is hidden in the depth of the spirit
is more openly known and shown to Him than things that
are in contact with the physical in any degree. By their
very nature, therefore, physical things are further from
God than are spiritual things. It seems, consequently, that
when our desires have physical qualities mingled with them,
as they do when we stress and strain ourselves in spirit
and body together, we are then further from God than
we would be if we proceeded more devoutly and soberly
in purity and depth of spirit.
4. You CAN NOW PERCEIVE at least partially why I
instructed you so childishly to conceal from God the
stirring of your desire. And yet I have not told you to
hide it completely, for it would be the instructions of a
fool to tell you to do what cannot be done. I have told
you, rather, to do whatever you are able to do to hide it.
And why have I said that? Certainly because I want you
to press it deep into your spirit far from contamination
with physical things, which would make it less spiritual
and take it that much further from God; and also because
170
Chapter XLV II
1 know well that the greater the spiritual quality of your
soul, the less is its physical quality. The nearer then it is
to God, the more pleasing it is to Him, and the more
clearly it can be seen by Him. Not that His sight may be
clearer at one time than at another, nor clearer in one
thing than in another thing, for it never changes. It is
merely that your soul accords with Him better when it is
in purity of Spirit, for He is a Spirit.
5. THERE is ANOTHER REASON for which I tell you to
do whatever you can not to let Him know. You and I
and a great many others among us have so great a tendency
to understand a thing in physical terms when it has been
spoken spiritually that perhaps if I had told you to show
God the stirring of your heart you would have shown it
to Him physically, either by a gesture, or your voice, or
in a word, or in some other vulgar bodily expression, as
you would do if you wished to disclose something hidden
in your heart to a physical person. And if you had done
that, you would be impure. Things are to be shown in
one way to man and in another way to God,
171
CHAPTER XLVIII
How God will be served both with
body and with soul, and will reward
men with both; and how men shall
know whether the sounds and sweetness
that come into the body in the course
of prayer are good or evil
1. I DO NOT SAY THIS because I want you to desist if at
any time you feel stirred to pray with your mouth, or to
burst out in the full devotion of your spirit and speak to
God as to a man and say some good word that may come
to you, such words as, "Good Jesus! Fair Jesus! Sweet
Jesus!" and the like. No, may God forbid that you take
it that way, for truly I do not mean that, and may God
forbid that I should separate the body and the spirit which
God has joined together.
2. GOD WISHES TO BE SERVED with both the body and
the spirit together, as is proper, and He will give man his
reward in bliss both in body and in soul. In giving that
reward, He sometimes inflames the body of His devout
servants with wonderful pleasures here in this life, not only
172
Chapter XL VIII
once or twice, but very often in some cases as He may
wish. Of these pleasures not all come into the body from
outside through the windows of our senses, but come
from within, rising and springing up out of an abundance
of spiritual gladness and out of true devotion in the spirit.
Such pleasures are not to be held suspect. In fact, I am
sure that whoever has such pleasures will not be suspicious
of them.
3. ALL OTHER PLEASURES, however, all sounds and
gaiety and sweetness that come from the outside suddenly
without your knowing from whence they come, of all
these I ask you to be suspicious. They may be either good
or evil. If they have been made by a good angel, they will
be good; if they have been made by an evil angel, they
will be evil. But they will not be evil at all if the deceptions
that come from curiosity of mind or from inordinate strain-
ing of the fleshly heart are removed in the manner that I
have instructed you, or in some better manner if you are
able to devise one.
4. WHY is THIS so? The reason lies in the cause of this
pleasure, that is, the devout stirring of love that arises in
the pure spirit. It is made by the hand of almighty God
with no special methods, and it is necessary, therefore, to
keep yourself far from any fantasy or any false opinion
that may come to man in this life.
5. WITH REGARD to the other pleasures of various kinds
and how you are to tell which are good and which are
evil, I will not speak of them at this rime* It does not seem
173
The Cloud of Unknowing
to me to be necessary, for you will find them described
in another book written by another man a thousand times
better than I can say or write, just as you may be able to
write what I have set forth here much better than I have
done. But what does that matter? I shall not stop my
writing because of that, nor shall it disturb me in fulfilling
the desire and stirring of your heart, which you have
already shown yourself to have toward me, first with your
words and now with your deeds.
6. THIS MAY I SAY TO YOU, however, with regard to
those sounds and sweetnesses that come into you through
the windows of your senses, and which may be either good
or evil. Constantly be engaged with this blind and devout
and desirous stirring of love of which I tell you, and in
time we will be able to talk about these things. And if,
nonetheless, you are astonished by them in the early stages
for they are quite out of the ordinary that will be a
benefit for you. It will serve to hold your heart firmly
within bounds so that you will thereafter place no stock in
such things without first verifying them either within
yourself wonderfully through the spirit of God or else
with the guidance of some discreet father.
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CHAPTER XLIX
The substance of all perfection is
nothing else than a good will, and all
the comforts that occur in the course
of life are as though they were nothing
more than accidents
1. I IMPLORE, therefore, that you give yourself with a
full desire to this meek stirring of love which is in your
heart, and follow it. It will be your guide in this life an3
it will bring you happiness in the next. It Is the substance
of all good living, and without It no good work can be
begun or ended. It is nothing else than a good will in
accord with God with a feeling in your will of being well
content with everything He does.
2. SUCH A GOOD WILL is the substance of all perfection.
Compared to this, all sweetness and pleasures physical or
spiritual are little more than incidental, no matter how holy
they may be. They all depend on this good will. I say
they are only incidental because they may be had or not
had without causing any harm. I mean in this life, for this
Is not the case in the bliss of heaven; there they are united
The Cloud of Unknowing
with the substance and are never separated from it as the
body in which they now work is eventually separated
from the soul.
3. IN THIS LIFE, therefore, their substance is only a good
spiritual will. I strongly believe that whoever experiences
the perfection of this will to the degree to which that is
possible in this life, will regard all human pleasures im-
partially, feeling equally happy either to have or not to
have them according to God's will.
176
CHAPTER L
What chaste love is, and how In some
creatures sensual comforts come but sel-
dom whereas in others they come often
1. You CAN SEE FROM THIS that we ought to direct all
our attention to this meek stirring of love in our will.
Toward all other sweetness and pleasures, physical or
spiritual, no matter how pleasing nor how holy they may
be, we should have an attitude of unconcern. If they come,
welcome them; but do not depend on them lest it weaken
you, for it will take up a great deal of your strength if
you remain with these sweet pleasures for a long time.
2, IT MAY BE ALSO that you will be stirred to love God
for their sake, and if that is the case, you will be able to
recognize it by the fact that you will complain too much
when they are gone. That will indicate that your love has
not yet become either pure or perfect. For a love that is
pure and perfect may permit its body to be fed and com-
forted by sweet feelings and pleasures; but it will not
complain, for it will be equally pleased to be without
these pleasures at God's will. Nonetheless, this love often
177
The Cloud of Unknowing
comes with such pleasures in some persons while in other
persons these pleasures are very seldom had.
3. ALL THIS is IN ACCORD with the principles and will
of God to meet the needs of diverse kinds of people. Some
persons are so weak and tender of spirit that if they were
not comforted by some feelings of pleasure they would
not be able to bear the diversity of temptations and troubles
that they encounter at the hands of their physical and
spiritual enemies in this life, and that they must endure.
There are some who are so weak in their body that they
are not able to perform any great penance by which to
cleanse themselves; and our Lord cleanses these people
very graciously in spirit by means of sweet feelings and
tears. On the other hand, there are some persons who are
so strong in spirit that they can derive sufficient pleasure
for themselves within their own souls by offering this
reverent and meek stirring of love and their will in accord
with God. They do not need to be sustained by pleasures
in their bodily feelings. Which of these is holier and more
precious to God, God knows and I do not.
178
CHAPTER LI
That men should take great care not to
interpret in a physical way a thing that
is meant spiritually, and particularly to
be careful in understanding the word
"in" and the word "up"
1. DIRECT YOURSELF HUMBLY, therefore, to this blind
stirring of love in your heart. I mean not in your physical
heart but in your spiritual heart, which is your will. And
be especially careful lest you interpret in a physical sense
things that have been spoken spiritually. Truly I tell you
that the physical and sensual conceptions of those who
have curious and imaginative minds can be the cause of
considerable error.
2. You CAN SEE AN EXAMPLE of this in my instructing
you to hide your desire from God within yourself. Per-
haps, if I had instructed you to show your desire to God,
you would have thought of it in a more physical way than
you do now since I have told you to hide it. You know
well that when a thing is deliberately hidden it is placed
in the depths of the spirit. That is why it seems to me to
The Cloud of Unknowing
be especially necessary that we be careful in our under-
standing of words that are spoken with a spiritual meaning
so that we will not understand them in a physical sense
but in a spiritual sense as they were intended.
3. IT is PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT that we take great
care about the word "in" and the word "up," for the mis-
understanding of these two words is the source of con-
siderable error and hypocrisy on the part of those who
seek to be spiritual workers. I know this partly from my
own experience and partly from what I have heard from
others; and I would like to tell you something about these
errors as they seem to be,
4. IT is COMMON that when a young disciple leaves the
world to enter the school of God, he believes that when
he has given himself for a little while to penance and to
prayer and has taken counsel in confession, he is then
capable of undertaking the spiritual work of which he
hears people around him speaking and reading and which
he himself perhaps reads. When such young disciples read
or hear people speaking of the spiritual work and par-
ticularly when they hear such phrases as: "how a man
shall draw all his senses within himself" or "how he shall
climb above himself," they misunderstand these words
altogether because of the blindness of their souls and the
sensual curiosity of their minds; and then, because they
have in themselves a natural desire to know hidden things,
they believe that they have been called to the work they
grace.
1 80
Chapter LI
5. IN FACT, if the advice of their teachers does not agree
with their wish to undertake the work, they begin to
complain about their teachers and they thinkand perhaps
they even say so to othersthat they cannot find anyone
who really understands them. As a result of this bold and
presumptuous curiosity of their minds, they discontinue
their humble prayers and penance much too soon, and they
undertake at least so they think a full spiritual work
within their souls. This work, however, if it is correctly
understood, is neither a physical nor a spiritual work. It is
rather, to put it briefly, a working against nature, and the
devil is the leading party in this work. It is the most direct
road to death both of the body and of the soul; for it is
foolishness and not wisdom, and it can even lead a man to
madness. But they do not think that this is the case, for
they undertake in this work to think of nothing but God.
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CHAPTER LII
How young, presumptuous disciples
misunderstand the word "in," and the
errors that result
1. THIS is THE WAY that the madness of which I speak
is brought about. They read and hear it said that they
should stop working outwardly with their senses but
should work inwardly; and since they do not know what
true inward working is, they work wrong. They turn their
physical senses inward to their body against the course of
nature, straining themselves in trying to look inward with
their physical eyes and hear inward with their physical
ears and so on with all their senses, trying to smell, taste,
and feel inwardly.
2. BY DOING THIS they go counter to the course of nature
and because of their curiosity they make their imagination
labor with such a lack of discretion that they eventually
turn their brains in their heads. And as soon as this hap-
pens, the devil is able to trick them with false lights and
sounds, with sweet smells in their noses, with wonderful
tastes in their mouths, and with many strange sensations
i8z
Chapter LII
and burnings in their physical breasts or in their bowels,
in their backs, in their kidneys, or in their limbs.
3. IN THIS FANTASY, however, they think that they have
a sustaining remembrance of their God without being hin-
dered by any vain thoughts; and this may certainly be so,
for they are so filled with falsehood that vanity cannot
intrude. And why? The reason is that the same devil who
would give them their vain thoughts if they were working
in the proper way is also the chief agent in this work.
And you can be quite sure that he is not going to disturb
his own work. He therefore does not take the remem-
brance of God away from them, for fear that he then
would be suspected.
CHAPTER LIII
Concerning the various improper prac-
tices of those who do not follow this
book
1. MANY AMAZING PRACTICES are found among those
who are deceived into doing this false work in any of its
varieties, much more than are found among God's true
disciples who always follow proper practices both physi-
cally and spiritually. But it is quite different with these
others.
2. ANYONE WHO WOULD WATCH THEM while they
are sitting at their work would see, if it happened that
their eyelids were open, that they were staring as though
they were mad and they would look as though they saw
the devil. Certainly you should be careful, for the fiend
is not far off. Some of them draw their eyes up into their
heads as though they were stupid sheep beaten over the
head and about to die at any moment. Some hang their
heads on one side as though they had a worm in their ears.
Some squeak when they should speak, as though they had
no spirit in their bodies; and this is the proper condition of
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Chapter LIII
a hypocrite. Some cry and whine in their throats because
of their greed and haste to say what they think. And this
is the condition of heretics who with presumption and
sophistries of mind will always maintain error.
3. MANY UNRESTRAINED AND IMPROPER PRACTICES
are the result of this error which everyone can see. Some
are so careful, however, that they can stop their practices
when they come before other men. But if these men could
be seen in a place where they feel at ease, then I believe
they would not hide their ways. I think, further, that if
anyone would directly contradict their opinion they would
burst forth in argument, and yet they think that all they
ever do is for the love of God and to maintain the truth.
Now I fully expect that unless God brings a merciful
miracle so that they soon will stop, they will love God
so long in this manner that they will go staring mad to
the devil.
4. I DO NOT CLAIM that the devil possesses so perfect a
servant as to be deceived and infected by all the fantasies
that I have described here. It may well be, however, that
there is one, and perhaps many, who are infected by them
all. But I claim that there is no real hypocrite or heretic
upon the earth who is not guilty in some degree of what
I have described.
5. THERE ARE SOME MEN who are encumbered by very
strange habits in their bodily bearing. When they hear
something, they twist the head to one side in an odd way
and tilt the chin upward, gaping with the mouth open as
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The Cloud of Unknowing
though they were going to hear with the mouth instead
of with the ears. There are some who, when they go to
speak, tap with their fingers either on their fingers or upon
their breasts, or upon the breast of the person to whom
they are speaking. Others can neither sit still, stand still,
nor lie still without waggling their feet or else doing some-
thing with their hands. Some move their arms in rhythm
with their speaking, as though they were swimming across
a great body of water. And there are some who are con-
stantly laughing or smiling at every other word they speak
as though they were giggling girls or jesting jugglers and
did not know how to behave. Such joyousness would be
good and proper if it were accompanied by a sober and
modest bearing of the body and a happy attitude.
6. I DO NOT SAY that all these improper practices are great
sins in themselves, nor that all who do these things are great
sinners. But I do say that if these improper and unrestrained
practices dominate the character of the man who does them,
to the extent that he cannot desist from them when he
wishes to, then I say that they are signs of pride, of a
curious mind, and of an unregulated display and desire
for knowledge. Especially, they are tokens of an instability
of heart and a restlessness of mind that is especially lacking
in the work of this book. The only reason for which I
have discussed so many of these deceptions here in this*
book is in order that spiritual workers shall be able to test
their work by them.
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CHAPTER LIV
How, by virtue of this book, a man Is
regulated by wisdom and is made ex-
cellent both in mind and body
1. ANYONE WHO TAKES PART in this work will find
that it regulates his conduct so agreeably, both in body and
in soul, that it will make him most attractive to every man
or woman who sees him. In fact, if a person who was held
in the very lowest regard should be drawn by grace to
undertake this work, his appearance would suddenly and
marvelously be changed so that all good men who saw him
would be most happy to have him in their company and
would feel that his presence was pleasing to the spirit and
would raise them in God's grace.
2. THEREFORE, whoever is able to secure this gift by
grace, let him do so; for any man who truly has it is able
to regulate himself and all that belongs to him by means
of it. He would be well able to render judgment, if the
need should arise, for people of all natures and dispositions.
He would be well able to bring himself into harmony with
all those who come into contact with him, whether they
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The Cloud of Unknowing
are habitual sinners or not; and he would not fall into sin
himself. Drawing the admiration of all who saw him, he
would be able to lead others by the help of grace to work
in the same spirit in which he works himself.
3. His DEMEANOR AND WORDS would be full of spiritual
wisdom, full of zeal and usefulness, words spoken in sober
steadfastness without any falsehood and far from the pre-
tenses and shams of hypocrites. For there are some who
devote all their capacities, both inner and outer, to thinking
how they can pad their speech with many meek, suppliant
words and with gestures of devotion; but. they are more
concerned to seem holy in the sight of men than to be
holy in the sight of God and of His angels.
4. THE REASON FOR THIS is that these people consider
it more important and take more trouble over an improper
gesture or an improper word spoken out of place before
men than for a thousand vain thoughts and stinking stir-
rings of sin drawn willfully upon themselves and expressed
carelessly in the sight of God, the saints, and the angels in
heaven. O Lord God, surely there must be pride on the
inside when such meek words are so copious on the outside.
5. I AGREE that it is fitting and proper for those who are
humble within to display suitably humble words and
gestures on the outside in accordance with the humility
that is within their hearts. But I do not say that these words
shall be spoken in broken or in squeaking voices, in clear
contrast to the natural disposition of those who speak them.
If what they are saying is true, then these words should
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Chapter LI V
be spoken steadfastly in a firm voice and in the wholeness
of spirit of those who speak them. If a man who has by
nature a clear and openly loud voice should speak these
words poorly and in squeaking tonesunless, that is, he is
physically ill or it is a secret between him and his God
or his confessor then it is a strong token of hypocrisy;
and I include in this hypocrites both old and young,
6. WHAT MORE SHALL I SAY of these venomous de-
ceptions? I truly believe that unless they have the grace
to stop such squealing hypocrisy, their unfortunate souls,
caught between the pride hidden in their hearts within
and those humble words outside, will very soon sink into
sorrow.
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CHAPTER LV
How those who follow the fervor of
their spirits and condemn others are
deceived
1. THE DEVIL DECEIVES SOME MEN In the following
way. Most marvelously, he fires their minds with a desire
to maintain God's law and to destroy sin in all other men.
He never tempts them with a thing that is openly evil,
but he makes them like busy prelates watching over all
degrees of Christian men's living, as an abbot watches over
his monks. They censure all men for their faults, just as
though they had charge of their souls. They think they
are doing nothing for God unless they tell them all the
faults they see, and they claim that they are stirred to do
this by the fire of charity and by God's love In their hearts.
The truth is, however, that they are lying, for they are
stirred to do this by the fire of hell welling in their brains
and in their imagination.
2. THAT THIS is so Is indicated by the following. The
devil is a spirit, and of his own nature he does not have
a body any more than an angel does. Nevertheless, when
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Chapter LV
he or an angel would take a body with God's permission
in order to perform some act for any man in this life, the
quality of his body corresponds, at least in part, to the kind
of work he is doing.
3. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES give us an example of this.
In the Old Testament and in the New Testament as well,
whenever an angel was sent in a bodily form, it always
disclosed either by its name or by some instrument or
quality of its body what its purpose or its message was in
spirit. The same is true of the devil. When he appears in
a body, he represents in some quality of his body what his
servants are in spirit.
4. A SINGLE EXAMPLE of this will take the place of
many. In the case of some disciples of necromancy, those
who have studied the calling up of wicked spirits and to
some of whom the devil has appeared in bodily form, I
have observed that the bodily form in which the devil
appears always has one nostril that is both large and wide,
and he will gladly open it up so that a man can look into
it right up to the brain in his head. This brain is nothing
else than the fire of hell, for the devil can have no other
kind of brain than that. And if he can get a man to look
into the fire of hell, that is all he wants; for with that one
look, the man will lose his senses forever. But a trained
disciple of necromancy knows this well enough, and he
is therefore able to keep things in control and not provoke
the devil.
5. THAT is WHY I SAY and have said that whenever the
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The Cloud of Unknowing
devil takes a body, he represents In some quality of his
body what his servants are in spirit. He so enflames the
imagination of his contemplatives with the fire of hell that
suddenly without any consideration they shoot out their
strange ideas; and without any reason they take it upon
themselves to censure other men's faults much too soon;
and they do this because they have only one nostril
spiritually.
6. THE DIVISION that is in a man's nose physically sep-
arating one nostril from the other is a token of the fact
that man is to have spiritual judgment and is to distinguish
the good from the evil, the evil from the worse, and the
good from the better before he gives any full judgment of
anything that he has heard or seen done or spoken about
him. And by a man's brain, imagination is what is under-
stood spiritually; for by Its nature it dwells and works in
the head.
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CHAPTER LVI
How men are deceived when they
incline more to their natural knowledge
and to the learning gained in the school
of men than to the common doctrine
and counsel of the Holy Church
L THERE ARE SOME who are not deceived in the way
that has been described above, but who leave the common
doctrine and guidance of the Holy Church because of the
pride and curiosity of their minds and because of scholarly
arts. These men with all those who support them depend
much too much upon their own knowledge. Since they
were never grounded in meek blind feeling and in virtuous
living, they have been subject to a false feeling and delu-
sion created by their spiritual enemy. And, because of this,
they eventually burst up and blaspheme all the saints, the
sacraments, the statutes and ordinances of the Holy Church.
Sensual men living in the world who think that the statutes
of the Holy Church are too hard to live by turn to these
heretics quickly and easily and stalwartly maintain them,
thinking that they will be led to an easier path than is
ordained by the Holy Church.
The Cloud of Unknowing
2. Now TRULY 1 MAINTAIN that whoever will not go
the hard way to heaven will go the easy way to hell. Each
man must experience this for himself, for I believe that all
such heretics and all their followers, if they could clearly
be seen as they shall be on the last day, would be seen to
be covered over with the great and horrible sins of the
world in their foul flesh, secretly, in addition to their open
presumption in maintaining error. They may quite properly
be called the disciples of the anti-Christ, for it is said of
them that despite their false fairness in public they are foul
lechers in private.
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CHAPTER LVII
How young, presumptuous disciples
misunderstand the word "up," and the
errors that result
1. LET us SPEAK NO MORE of these things now but
continue with our subject of how young and presumptuous
spiritual disciples misunderstand the word "up."
2. WHEN THEY READ OR HEAR other persons read or say
that men should "lift up their hearts to God," they im-
mediately begin to stare at the stars as though they were
above the moon and they listen as though to hear angels
singing in heaven. Sometimes, in the fantasy of their
imaginations, these men pierce the planets and make a
hole in the firmament through which to look. Then they
create a God to fit their desires, clothe Him in rich gar-
ments, and set Him upon a throne far more precisely than
He was ever depicted upon earth.
3. THESE MEN MAKE ANGELS in bodily forms and set
about each one a varied company of musicians in much
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The Cloud of Unknowing
greater detail than was ever seen or heard in this life; for
the devil will deceive some of these men in amazing ways.
He sends a species of dewthey believe it to be the food
of angels which comes as though out of the air falling
softly and sweetly into their mouths. That is why it is
their custom to sit gaping as though they were catching
flies.
4. CERTAINLY ALL THIS is nothing other than decep-
tion, no matter how holy it may seem; for in time they
leave all souls devoid of any true devotion. Much vanity
and falsehood is in their hearts because of their false way
of working. In fact, the devil often feigns strange sounds
in their ears, strange lights in their eyes, and unusual smells
in their noses. But all this is nothing more than falsehood.
5. THAT is NOT, however, what they believe. They think
that in this upward looking and working they are follow-
ing the example of Saint Martin who saw God clad in His
mantle standing among His angels, and the example of
Saint Stephen who saw our Lord stand in heaven, as well
as many others. And they claim the example of Christ
who ascended bodily to heaven, as witnessed by His dis-
ciples. That is why they say we should turn our eyes
upward.
6. I QUITE AGREE that in our physical observance we
should lift up our eyes and our hands if we are stirred in
spirit. But I say that the work of our spirit is to be directed
neither upward nor downward, neither to one side nor to
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Chapter LVII
the other, neither forward nor backward, as it would be
with a physical thing. The reason is that our work should
be spiritual and not physical, and it should not be carried
out in a physical way.
197
CHAPTER LVIII
That a man should not take Saint Martin
and Saint Stephen as his example and
strain his imagination physically upward
when in prayer
1. LET us CONSIDER what is said about Saint Martin and
Saint Stephen* Although they did see those things with
their physical eyes, it was disclosed to them only in a
miracle and in order to certify a spiritual thing.
2. THEY KNOW PERFECTLY well that Saint Martin's
mantle did not actually come upon Christ's own body,
for He did not need it in order to keep from being cold.
Rather it came as a miracle symbolically for all of us who
are capable of being saved and of being spiritually united
with the body of Christ. Whoever clothes a poor man or
does any other good deed for the love of God, either
physically or spiritually, for any one who is in need, may
be sure that he is doing that deed to Christ spiritually; and
he shall be rewarded for it as substantially as though he
had done it to Christ's own body. He says that Himself in
the gospel.
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Chapter LVttl
3. HE DID NOT CONSIDER that to be enough in itself,
however, and so He affirmed it afterward by a miracle.
That is why He showed Himself to Saint Martin by a
revelation. All the revelations that any man has ever seen
in a physical form here in this life have had a spiritual
meaning. And I believe that if those to whom they were
disclosed had been spiritual enough, or if they had been
able to perceive their significance spiritually, the revela-
tions would never have been displayed in physical form.
Let us therefore pick off the rough bark and feed our-
selves upon the sweet kernel within.
4. How is THIS TO BE DONE? Not as the heretics do,
for they may be compared to madmen who throw their
cups to the wall and break them as soon as they have had
their drink. We should not do this. We should not eat the
fruit in such a way that we come to despise the tree. Nor
should we drink in such a way that we break the cup when
we have drunk. I call the tree and the cup the visible
miracle, and all proper physical observances that accord
with the work of the spirit and do not hinder it. The fruit
and the drink 1 call the spiritual meaning of these visible
miracles, and of such proper physical observances as lifting
up our eyes and our hands to heaven. If they are done by
a spontaneous stirring of the spirit, they are good; other-
wise they are hypocrisy and they are false. If they are true
and contain spiritual fruit in them, why should they be
despised? Men will kiss the cup that has wine in it.
5. WHAT SHALL WE SAY of this, that when our Lord
ascended physically to heaven He made His way upward
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The Cloud of Unknowing
into the clouds and was seen by His mother and His dis-
ciples with their physical eyes? Should we, on account of
this, stare upward with our physical eyes when we do our
spiritual work, looking to see Him sitting bodily in heaven
or standing as Saint Stephen saw Him? Not at all. Cer-
tainly when He showed Himself to Saint Stephen physi-
cally in heaven it was not in order to instruct us to look
upward toward heaven physically when doing our spiritual
work to see Him there as Saint Stephen did, either standing
or sitting or lying down,
6. No MAN KNOWS in what posture His body is in
heaven, whether it is standing or sitting or lying down.
And it is not at all necessary to know this; for all that we
need to know is that His body is united with His soul and
not separated. The body and the soul, which is the essence
of human-ness, is also united with the Godhead and is not
separated.
7. WE DO NOT NEED TO KNOW whether He is sitting,
standing, or lying down, but only that He is there as He
desires to be and that He is there in His body as is proper.
And if He would show Himself by a revelation to any
person in this life to be lying down or standing or sitting,
it would be done only to convey some spiritual message
and not because of the kind of physical posture He has in
heaven.
8. WE CAN SEE THIS by an example. By standing is to be
understood a readiness. Thus it is often said by one friend
to another when they are in physical battle, "Stand up
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Chapter LV III
well, fellow, fight hard and do not give up easily. I shall
stand by you." By this he means not only physical standing,
for it may be that the battle Is on horseback or on foot,
and it may be that the battle is in movement and not stand-
ing still. What he means when he says that he will stand
by him is that he will be ready to help him. This was the
reason for which our Lord showed Himself physically in
heaven to Saint Stephen when he was enduring his martyr-
dom, and it was not to teach us to look up to heaven.
9. HE HAD SPOKEN in this way to Saint Stephen as a rep-
resentative of all those who suffer persecution for His love.
"Lo, Stephen! as truly as I open this physical firmament
which is called heaven and let you see My physical stand-
ing, trust steadfastly that I am truly standing beside you
spiritually with the might of My Godhead. I am ready to
help you. Therefore be staunch in your faith, and endure
with strength the cruel bufferings of those hard stones.
Your reward will be that I shall crown you in bliss, and
not only you, but all those who suffer persecution in any
form for Me." From this you can see that those physical
revelations were made with spiritual meanings.
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CHAPTER LIX
That a man should not take the bodily
ascension of Christ as his example, to
strain Ms imagination upwards physi-
cally when in prayer; and that time,
place, and body should all be forgotten
in this spiritual work.
1. IF YOU SPEAK of the ascension of our Lord saying
that it was performed physically with both a physical and
a spiritual meaning since He ascended both as God and as
man, this is what I will answer you. He had been dead and
He was clothed with immortality, just as we shall be on
judgment day.
2. Ax THAT TIME we shall be made so fine both in body
and in soul that we shall be able to go physically wherever
we wish as swiftly as we are able to go there now spirit-
ually in our thoughts, whether it be up or down, to one
side or the other, behind or before. All, as the scholars say,
will then, I think, be equally good. Now, however, you
cannot come to heaven physically, but only spiritually.
And this must be so spiritual that it cannot be in any
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Chapter L1X
physical manner at all, neither upward nor downward,
neither to one side nor to the other, neither forward nor
behind.
3. ALL THOSE WHO UNDERTAKE to be spiritual workers
and particularly those who follow the work of this book
must understand fully that although they read "lift up" or
"go in" and even though the work of this book is called
a "stirring" they must be constantly aware that this stir-
ring reaches neither up nor in in a physical way, and that
it is not the kind of stirring that moves from one place to
another. Even though it is sometimes referred to as a rest,
you must not think that it is the kind of rest in which you
remain in one place without moving. In its perfection this
work is so pure and so spiritual in itself that, when you
conceive it correctly, you can easily see that it involves
something altogether different from a physical stirring or
from a physical place.
4. IT WOULD BE MUCH BETTER to refer to it as a sud-
den changing than as a stirring, or moving, of place. Time,
place, and body: these three should be forgotten in all
spiritual work. Be very careful in this work, therefore, and
be sure not to take as your example the physical ascension
of Christ so that you strain your imagination when you
pray, trying to move upward physically as though you
were trying to climb over the moon.
5. FROM THE SPIRITUAL POINT OF VIEW, it should not
be done that way at all. Only if you could actually ascend
physically to heaven, as Christ did, would it be correct for
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The Cloud of Unknowing
you to follow that example. No man can do that, how-
ever, but only God, as He Himself testifies, saying, "There
is no man who may ascend to heaven, but only He who
descended from heaven and became man for the love of
man." If this were possible for man at all, as it is not in
any case, it would be so only because of very great spiritual
work done in the power of the spirit; and it would be very
far indeed from any stressing and straining of the imagina-
tion physically either up, or in, or to one side or the other.
Therefore leave such falsehood alone. It is not so.
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CHAPTER LX
That the high way and the closest way
to heaven Is run by desires and not by
paces of feet
L Now PERHAPS YOU SAY, how then should it be? It
seems to you that you have ample evidence that heaven is
upward. Certainly Christ ascended into the air upward
physically, and He sent the Holy Ghost as He had prom-
ised, coming from above physically, and all His disciples
saw it. This is our belief. You think, therefore, that since
you have this evidence, why should you not direct your
mind upward physically when you pray.
2. To THIS I WILL ANSWER as humbly as I can as fol-
lows. Since it was so that Christ did ascend physically and
then sent the Holy Ghost physically, it was only proper
that it be upward and from above rather than downward
and from underneath, or behind, or before, or on one side
or the other. Apart from this, however, He had no more
need to go upward than to have gone downward. I mean,
with respect to the nearness of the way.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
3. FROM THE SPIRITUAL POINT OF VIEW, heaven is as
much down as up, and as much up as down; as much
behind as before, and as much before as behind; and as
much to one side as to any other. In fact, whoever has a
true desire to be in heaven is in heaven spiritually at that
very time. The high road there which is the shortest road
there is run in terms of desires and not of paces of feet.
4. THAT is WHY Saint Paul has said of himself and of
many others that even though our bodies are here on earth
at the present time, nonetheless our life is in heaven. He
was referring to their love and their desire, which is their
life spiritually. Certainly a soul is as truly there when its
love is as it is in the body that lives by means of it and to
which it gives life. Therefore, if we wish to go to heaven
spiritually, it is not necessary to strain our spirit either up
or down, not to one side nor to the other.
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CHAPTER LXI
That all physical things are subject to
spiritual things and are ruled accord-
ing to the course of nature, and not
contrariwise
1. IT is NECESSARY, however, that we do lift our
eyes and onr hands physically upward as though toward
that physical heaven in which the elements are contained.
But we are to do so only if we are impelled to it by the
work in our spirit, and otherwise not. Physical things
depend on spiritual things and must be regulated on that
principle, not on its opposite.
2. AN EXAMPLE OF THIS can be seen in the ascension
of our Lord. When the appointed time had come for Him
to return to His Father physically with His manhood,
which never was and never can be absent from His
divinity, then, by virtue of the great power of the divine
spirit, the manhood in the body went along in the unity of
the person. And this, quite properly, was seen to be
upward.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
3. THE SAME SUBJECTION of the body to the spirit may
also be perceived in a true form by those who are engaged
in practicing the spiritual work of this book. Whenever a
soul gives himself eff ectively to this work, he finds at once,
suddenly and without his knowing what brought it about,
that Ms body, which had been bent downward somewhat
before he had begun the work, is now set upright by virtue
of the spirit, following in physical correspondence the style
of the spiritual work. And it is quite proper that it should
be so.
4. THIS is MOST BECOMING TO MAN, and it is because
of this that man, who is the best-looking creature that God
ever made, is not made bending toward the earth as all
other animals are, but is made upright in the direction of
heaven. And why is this so? In order to represent in physi-
cal form the spiritual work of the soul, a work that is
possible only for those who are upright spiritually and are
not spiritually bent toward the ground. Take note that I
say upright spiritually and not physically, for how can a
soul whose nature has nothing physical in it be drawn
upright in a physical way? No, that never can be so.
5. BE VERY CAREFUL, therefore, not to understand in a
physical way what is meant spiritually, even though it is
spoken in physical words such as up or down, in or out,
behind or before, on one side or the other. No matter how
spiritual a thing may be in itself, it is unavoidable that if
it is to be spoken of at all it must necessarily be spoken of
with physical words, since speech is a work of the body
performed by the tongue, which is an instrument of the
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Chapter LXI
body. But what of that? Does that mean that it should,
therefore, be Interpreted In a physical way? Not at all;
It should be Interpreted spiritually, as it was intended
to be.
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CHAPTER LXII
How a man may know when his
spiritual work is beneath him or outside
of him, when it is even with him or
within him, and when it is above him
and under his God
1. To THIS END, in order that you will be better able to
know how these words that are spoken physically are to
be understood spiritually, I will now explain to yon the
spiritual significance of some words that occur in spiritual
work. Then you will be able to know clearly and without
error when your spiritual work is beneath you and outside
you, when it is within you and even with you, and when
it is above you and under your God.
2. EVERYTHING PHYSICAL is outside your soul and
beneath it in nature. This is true even of the sun and the
moon and all the stars. Although they are above your
body, they are nevertheless beneath your soul.
3. ALL ANGELS and all souls whose grace has been con-
firmed and who are bedecked with many virtues are above
you in purity. But they are only equal to you in nature.
2IO
Chapter LX11
4. WITHIN YOURSELF IN NATURE there are the powers
of your soul. The three principal ones are: Memory,
Reason, and Will. The secondary ones are Imagination
and Sensuality.
5. NOTHING AT ALL is above you in nature, but only God.
6. WHENEVER YOU FIND the word "yourself" used in
spiritual writing, understand it to mean your soul and not
your body. The value and quality of your work is then
to be judged by this, according to the level on which the
powers of your soul are functioning. This will tell whether
your work is beneath you, within you, or above you.
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CHAPTER LXIII
Concerning the powers of the soul in
general, and how memory in particular
is a principal power comprehending
within it all the other powers and all
those things in which they work
1. MEMORY is A TYPE OF POWER which, properly speak-
ing, cannot be said to work of itself. Reason and Will,
however, are two working powers, and Imagination and
Sensuality are two more. All these four powers and their
works are contained in memory and are comprehended
in it. Other than this we cannot say that the memory works,
unless this quality of containing can be called a work.*
2. BECAUSE OF THIS I call some of the powers of the soul
principal and some secondary. This is not because a soul
is divisible, for that is not so at all. It is because the areas
* [The reader should keep in mind that the term "memory" is used
here in a sense that is much more extensive than its modern usage.
It refers to the dynamic quality of the conscious mind as a whole.
The direct source of this conception is St. Augustine, and a close
equivalent to it in modern philosophy would be the memoire of Henri
Bergson. IP.]
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Chapter LXIII
in which the soul works may be divided one from the
other, some being principal as are all spiritual things, and
some being secondary, as are all physical things.
3. THE TWO PRINCIPAL WORKING POWERS, Reason and
Will, work altogether of themselves in all spiritual things
without the help of the two secondary powers. Imagina-
tion and Sensuality work on an animal level in all physical
things, whether they be present or absent. They work in
the body using the body's senses. By them alone, however,
without the help of Reason and Will, a person can never
come to know the nature and condition of physical crea-
tures, nor the source of their existence and their creation.
4. BECAUSE OF THIS, Reason and Will are called the
principal powers, for they work altogether in the spirit
without anything of a physical nature. Imagination and
Sensuality are classed as secondary because they work in
the body, using the bodily instruments that are called our
five senses. Memory is called a principal power because
there is contained within it spiritually not only all the
other powers but all the things with which they do their
work. You can verify this by your own experience.
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CHAPTER LXIV
Concerning the two other principal
powers, Reason and Will, and of their
work before sin and after sin
1. REASON is THE POWER by means of which we sep-
arate evil from good, the evil from the worse, the good
from the better, the worse from the worst, and the better
from the best. Before man had sinned, Reason may have
been able to do all this by its own nature. Now, however,
it is so blinded as a result of the original sin that it is not
capable of doing this work unless it is illumined by grace.
And now, both Reason itself and the things with which it
works are comprehended by and are contained in the
memory.
2. WILL is A POWER by means of which we choose the
good after that has been determined by Reason. By means
of it, also, we love the good, we desire the good, and we
rest ourselves with full pleasure and consent ultimately in
God. Before man had sinned, the Will could not be de-
ceived in its choosing, in its loving, nor in any of its works,
for it was then able by its very nature to know each thing
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Chapter LX1V
as it was. It cannot now do that, however, unless it has
been anointed with grace. Very often now because of the
infection of the original sin, it judges a thing to be good
when it is exceedingly evil and has only the appearance
of good. And both the will and the thing that is willed are
contained and comprehended in the Memory.
2IJ
CHAPTER LXV
Concerning the first secondary power,
Imagination, its works and its obedience
to Reason, before sin and after sin
1. IMAGINATION is A POWER by means of which we
portray the images of all absent and present things; and
both it and the things that it portrays are contained in the
Memory. Before man had sinned, the Imagination was
obedient to the Reason to which it was like a servant,
never bringing to it any unauthorized image of a physical
creature; but now that is no longer the case.
2. Now, UNLESS IT is RESTRAINED by the light of
grace in the reason, the Imagination will never cease,
whether in sleep or in waking, to portray various un-
authorized images of physical creatures, or else some fan-
tasy that is nothing else than a physical conception of a
spiritual thing. And this lends itself increasingly to inven-
tion and falsity, leading soon to error.
3. THIS DISOBEDIENCE OF THE IMAGINATION Can be
clearly seen in the prayers of those who have newly turned
216
Chapter LXV
from the world to the life of devotion. Before the Imagina-
tion has been restrained to a significant degree by the light
of grace in the Reason as is achieved by constant medi-
tation on spiritual subjectssuch as their own wretched-
ness, the passion and the kindness of our Lord God, and
many similar things they are completely unable to put
away the amazing and varied thoughts, fantasies, and
images that are brought to their minds and impressed upon
them by the light of curiosity of Imagination. And all this
disobedience is the result of the original sin.
217
CHAPTER LXVI
Concerning the other secondary power,
Sensuality, its works and its obedience
to the Will, before sin and after sin
1. SENSUALITY is THE POWER of our soul that guides
and controls our physical senses and by means of which
we have bodily knowledge of all physical creatures, those
who please us and those who do not. It has two parts. By
one, it gives attention to the needs of the body; by the
other, it serves the lusts of the physical senses.
2. IT is THIS POWER that complains when the body lacks
any of the things that are necessary for it; and also, in
taking account of the need, it stirs us to take more than
is necessary in feeding and furthering our lusts. It com-
plains at the absence of pleasant creatures, and it is highly
delighted when they are present. It complains of the pres-
ence of creatures it dislikes, and it is greatly pleased by
their absence. Both this power and the things in which it
works are contained in the Memory.
3. BEFORE MAN HAD COMMITTED the original sin, Sen-
ai8
Chapter LXV1
suality was so obedient to the Will to which it was as a
servant that it never brought it to any improper pleasure
or complaint with respect to any physical creature, nor
to any spiritual expression of liking or disliking as might
be wrought by the devil in the physical senses. But now
that is no longer the case.
4. Now, UNLESS SENSUALITY is GOVERNED by grace
in the Will, so that it will endure with meekness and with
moderation the consequences of the original sin that are
visited upon it as the absence of necessary comforts and
as the presence of unavoidable discomforts, it will not be
restrained from lustful pleasures in these things. Then it
will welter wretchedly and wantonly as a swine in the
mire in the wealth of this world and in the foul flesh to
such an extent that our life will be more animal and carnal
than either human or spiritual.
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CHAPTER LXVII
That whoever does not know the
powers of a soul and her manner of
working may easily be deceived in un-
derstanding spiritual words and spiritual
works; and how a soul is made a God
in grace
1. Lo, SPIRITUAL FRIEND, to such wretchedness as you
may see here have we fallen because of sin. It is small
wonder, therefore, that we are blindly and easily deceived
in our understanding of spiritual words and spiritual work-
ing. And this is particularly the case with, those who are
not aware of the powers of their soul and the modes of
their operation.
2. WHENEVER THE MEMORY is occupied with any
physical thing, no matter how good the purpose may be,
you are beneath yourself in that act and you are outside
your soul.
3. WHENEVER YOU FEEL your memory to be occupied
with the subtle qualities of the powers of your soul and
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Chapter LXV1I
their way of operation in spiritual things, such as vices or
virtues whether of yourself or of any other creature who
is spiritually your equal; and whenever your aim in this is
to learn to know yourself in order to work better toward
perfection, you are then within yourself and even with
yourself,
4. BUT WHENEVER YOU FEEL your Memory to be occu-
pied with nothing physical and with nothing spiritual but
only with the very substance of God, as it is and may be
in the practice of the work of this book, then you are
above yourself and you are beneath your God.
5. You ARE ABOVE YOURSELF. And why do I say that?
Because you have then attained by grace a state that you
cannot reach by nature. That is to say, to be united with
God in spirit, and in love, and in harmony of will.
6. You ARE BENEATH your God. And why is that? It
is true that in a sense you and God at this time are not two
but are one in spirit. In fact, you or any other person who
by such an act of unification has reached the perfection of
this work may certainly on the testimony of Scripture be
called a God. But you are beneath God all the same. The
reason is that He is God by nature without beginning. You,
on the other hand, were nothing at all at one time and
after you had been made into something by His might and
His love, you willfully with sin made yourself worse than
nothing. And now only by His mercy and not because
of your merit you are made a God in grace, united with
Him in spirit without separation, both here and in the
221
The Cloud of Unknowing
bliss of heaven without any end. Thus it Is that although
yon are completely one with Him in grace, you are never-
theless very far beneath Him In nature.
7. Lo, SPIRITUAL FRIEND, by this you can see at least
partially that whoever does not know the powers of his
own soul and the manner of their operation can very easily
be deceived in understanding words that are written with
a spiritual meaning. You can thus see a part of the reason
for which I dared not tell you to display your desire for
God plainly, but Instead I bade you childishly to do what-
ever you can to hide it and cover it as In the manner of a
child. And I do this for fear that you will understand in
a physical way what is meant spiritually.
223
CHAPTER LXVIII
That nowhere physically Is everywhere
spiritually, and how the outer man calls
the work of this book nothing
L IN THE SAME SENSE, where another man would tell
you to gather your powers and your senses altogether
within yourself and worship God there, I would not tell
you to do that. He would be speaking truly in saying that;
in fact, if he were correctly understood, no man could
speak more truly. But I would be afraid that you would
come into error by interpreting his words physically. This,
rather, is what I will tell you. Take care that not in any
manner will you be within yourself. And also I do not
want you to be outside of yourself, and not above your-
self, nor behind yourself, and not on one side nor on the
other.
2. * c WHERE THEN," you say, "shall I be? Nowhere,
according to you!" Now truly you speak well; for that
is exactly where I would have you be. The reason is that
nowhere physically is everywhere spiritually. Take great
The Cloud of Unknowing
care then that your spiritual work Is nowhere physically,
and then no matter where the thing on which you are con-
sciously working may be, you will surely be there in spirit
as truly as your body is in the place where you are
physically.
3. EVEN THOUGH YOUR PHYSICAL SENSES can find
nothing there on which to feed themselves for they think
that you are doing nothing, continue doing this nothing,
and do It for the love of God. Do not give up, but labor
on with great effort in that nothing with a strong desire
and a will to have God whom no man can know. I tell
you truly that I would rather be nowhere physically in
this way, wrestling with that blind nothing, than to be so
great a lord that I could be wherever I wished physically,
merrily playing with all this something as a lord with
his own,
4. LEAVE THIS EVERYWHERE and this something alone
and choose this nowhere and this nothing. Do not be con-
cerned if your mind cannot reason about this nothing; for
certainly I love It much the better. It Is so valuable a thing
in Itself that no one can reason about it. This nothing can
be felt more easily than It can be seen, for it brings a blind-
Ing darkness to those who look at it for even a little while.
Nevertheless, to tell the truth, a person is more blinded
in his feeling for it when he has great spiritual light than
when he is In darkness and lacks physical light.
5. AND WHO is IT that calls this nothing? Surely it is our
224
Chapter LXVI11
outer man and not our inner man. Our inner man calls it
All, for it teaches him to know the essence of all things,
both physical and spiritual, with no special attention to
any one thing by itself.
225
CHAPTER LXIX
How a man's affection is marvelously
changed in the spiritual feeling of this
nothing, when it is done nowhere
1. A MAN IS WONDERFULLY CHANGED by the Spiritual
experience of this nothing when it is accomplished no-
where. At the first moment that a person looks upon It,
he sees secretly or darkly painted upon it all the special
acts of sin, physical and spiritual, that he has committed
since he was born. No matter how he turned it around,
they will still appear before his eyes until finally, after
much hard labor, intense grieving, and many bitter tears,
he has finally washed most of them away.
2. SOMETIMES IN THE COURSE of this labor it seems to
him that it is as though he were looking upon hell, for he
thinks that he has no hope of ever achieving his goal of.
spiritual perfection and peace out of that pain. There are
many who come this far inward, but because the pain they
feel is so great and because they miss their pleasures, they
let their attention return to physical things. Then they
seek sensual pleasures on the outside once again in place
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Chapter LX1X
of the spiritual ones they have not yet achieved but which
they would have achieved had they continued.
3. THE MAN WHO CONTINUES in the work eventually
feels some pleasure and has some expectation of perfection,
for he sees that many of the special sins he had committed
in the past are rubbed away by the help of grace. He con-
tinues to feel pain, but he thinks that it will come to an
end since it is becoming less and less. He considers it,
therefore, to be nothing else than purgatory.
4. SOMETIMES HE CAN FIND no special sin shown to
him, and yet he knows that sin is a lump, he knows not
what, and that it is nothing else than himself. This is the
base and pain of the original sin. Sometimes it seems to
him that it is paradise or heaven because of the many
wonderful sweetnesses and pleasures, joys and blessed
virtues, that he finds in it. Sometimes it seems to him to
be God because of the peace and rest that he finds in it.
5. YES, LET HIM THINK whatever he wishes. He will
always find that it is a cloud of unknowing between him
and his God.
127
CHAPTER LXX
That just as by failing in our spiritual
senses we begin to come to a better
knowledge of spiritual things, so also
by failing in our spiritual senses we
begin to come to the knowledge of
God, to the extent that it is possible -by
grace in this life
1. LABOR HARD, therefore, in this nothing and in this
nowhere and turn away from your outward physical
senses and all things with which they deal. I tell you truly
that this work cannot be comprehended by means of them.
2. You CANNOT CONCEIVE of anything by means of
your eyes unless it is in terms of length and breadth, small-
ness and largeness, roundness and squareness, distance and
closeness, or its color. By means of your ears you can con-
ceive nothing except noise or some kind of sound; and
nothing by your nose but a smell, either a stench or a
savor; and nothing by your taste but sweet or sour, salt
or fresh, bitter or pleasant; and nothing by your feeling
but hot or cold, hard or soft, blunt or sharp. And it is
228
Chapter LXX
true that neither God nor any of these spiritual things
have any of these qualities or quantities.
3. TURN AWAY THEREFORE from your outward senses
and do not work with them, neither within nor outside
yourself. All those who undertake to be spiritual workers
within themselves and believe that they should hear, smell,
or see, taste, or feel spiritual things either within or outside
themselves surely are deceived and are working wrongly
against the course of nature.
4. INHERENTLY IT is so that those who follow them
achieve a knowledge of outward physical things; but they
cannot possibly receive through them a knowledge of
spiritual things. At least not from their accomplishments;
but possibly from their failures they may. For example,
when we read or hear of certain things and realize that
our outward senses cannot tell us what the qualities of these
things may be, we can be quite sure then that those things
are spiritual things and are not physical things.
5. IT is QUITE THE SAME in a spiritual way when we
work with our spiritual senses seeking a knowledge of
God Himself. No matter how much spiritual understanding
a man may have in the knowledge of all created spiritual
things, he can never come by means of this understanding
to the knowledge of an uncreated spiritual thing. And this
is nothing but God. But he may do so through Ms in-
capacity, for the thing that he is unable to know is nothing
else than God.
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The Cloud of Unknowing
6. IT WAS FOR THIS REASON that Saint Denis said, "The
best knowledge of God is what is known by unknowing."
Truly, whoever will read Denis' books will find that his
words clearly affirm all that I have said or shall say from
the beginning of this treatise to the end. I do not wish to
cite him or any other authority, however, on any other
point than this, at least at this time. Once men considered
it a sign of humility to speak nothing that came from their
own heads unless they could affirm it by Scripture and by
the words of authorities. Now, however, that has turned
into artfulness and the display of knowledge. You have
no need of that, and therefore I do not do it. Whoever
has ears, let him hear; and whoever is stirred to believe,
let him believe. And otherwise, not.
CHAPTER LXXI
That some may feel the perfection of
this work only in a time of ecstacy,
while others may feel it whenever they
wish, in the common state of man's soul
1. SOME CONSIDER THIS UNDERTAKING tO be SO diffi-
cult and so awesome that it cannot be achieved without
much heavy labor. They claim, also, that it can be com-
prehended but very rarely, and then only in moments of
ecstasy. To these men I answer as humbly as I can and
say that it all depends on the decree and the disposition
of God* This grace of contemplation and spiritual work
is given according to the capacity of the soul.
2. THERE ARE SOME who cannot achieve it without great
and lengthy spiritual exercise; and even then it is very rare
and only by a special calling from our Lord that they can
experience the perfection of this work; and this calling is
referred to as rapture. There are, however, also some who
are so discerning in grace and in spirit and are so familiar
with God in this grace of contemplation that they may
131
The Cloud of Unknowing
have it whenever they wish in the ordinary state of man's
soul, whether sitting, moving about, standing, or kneeling.
In this command they even have full command of their
senses both physical and spiritual and can use them if they
so desire, not without some difficulty, but without great
difficulty.
3. WE HAVE AN EXAMPLE of the first type in Moses,
and of the second type in Aaron, the priest of the temple.
The reason is that this grace of contemplation is symbol-
ized by the ark of the covenant in the Old Testament,
and those who worked in this grace are represented by
those who mingled most around the ark, as the story
indicates. It is quite appropriate to compare this grace and
this work to that ark, for just as all the jewels and relics
of the Temple were contained in that ark so also are all
the virtues of man's soul, which is the spiritual temple of
God, contained in this little love placed upon this cloud
of unknowing. <
4. BEFORE MOSES COULD SEE this ark and before he
could know how it was to be made, he had to climb with
long and difficult labor up to the top of the mountain,
He had to remain there, struggling in the cloud for six
days and waiting until the seventh day in order that the
Lord would be willing to show him the way to make the
ark. The long labor of Moses and the late disclosure that
came to him represent those who are not able to arrive
at the perfection of this spiritual work without long labor
coming before, even then succeeding very seldom and only
when God is willing to reveal it.
23*
Chapter LXX1
5. ALTHOUGH MOSES GOULD COME to see It very seldom
and then only with a great and long labor, Aaron had It
in his power because of his office to see it in the Temple
within the Veil whenever he wished to enter. And Aaron
here represents all those of whom I have spoken above
who may achieve perfection in this work whenever they
desire, by means of their spiritual knowledge and with the
help of grace.
233
CHAPTER LXXII
That a man engaged in this work should
not consider another worker to have
the same experiences as he himself has
1. FROM THIS YOU CAN REALIZE that those who are
able to see or experience the perfection of this work only-
after a long labor and then but seldom may easily be
deceived if they speak, think, or judge other men in terms
of their own experience, thinking that other men are like
them able to achieve it only rarely, and then not without
great labor.
2. CORRESPONDINGLY, the man who can have it when-
ever he wishes will also be deceived if he judges all other
people by himself, saying that they can have it whenever
they wish. That would be very good, but he surely should
not think it is so.
3. Ax SOME TIME it might very well be God's desire that
those who were at first able to have it only very seldom
and then only with great labor should afterward have it
whenever they wish and as often as they please. We have
Chapter LXX11
an example of this in Moses who at first upon the mount
was not able to see the nature of the ark and then only
seldom and with great labor; but after that he was able to
see it as often as he wished from within the veil.
235
CHAPTER LXXIII
In a way similar to Moses, Bezaleel, and
Aaron mingling around the ark of the
Testament, we benefit in a threefold
manner in this grace of contemplation,
for this grace is expressed in that ark
L THE THREE PRINCIPAL MEN who were concerned
with the ark of the Old Testament were Moses, Bezaleel,
and Aaron. Moses learned upon the mount of our Lord
how it was to be made. Bezaleel constructed it and made
it in the Veil according to the instructions that were given
on the mountain. And Aaron was in charge of it in the
Temple to feel it and see it as often as he liked.
2. IN ACCORDANCE WITH THESE THREE, we can ad-
vance in three different ways in this grace of contempla-
tion. Sometimes we can advance only by grace, and then
we may be compared to Moses who could come to see it
only very seldom despite all the climbing and struggle he
endured to reach the mount. And even then, when it was
finally shown to him, it was only because the Lord wished
236
Chapter LXXIII
to show it to him, and not because of the merits of his
labor.
3. SOMETIMES WE ADVANCE in this grace by our own
spiritual adeptness helped by grace, and then we may be
compared to Bezaleel who could not see the ark until the
time when he had made it by his own labor, aided by the
instructions that had been given to Moses on the mount.
4. AND SOMETIMES WE ADVANCE in this grace from
the teachings of other men. Then we may be compared to
Aaron who had it in his charge, and was able to see and
feel whenever he pleased the ark that Bezaleel had con-
structed and had given ready-made to his hands.
5. Lo, SPIRITUAL FRIEND in this work, I have described
it foolishly and without learning and I know that I am a
wretched man not worthy to teach any one the function
of Bezaleel. That function is to make the spiritual ark, and
to describe its nature and the making of it in terms of the
use of your hands. But your work can be much better and
of much greater value than mine if you will be as Aaron;
that is, if you will continually work in this for yourself
and for me. Do this, I pray of you, for the love of God
Almighty. And since we have both been called by God
to carry on this work, I implore you for the love of God
to fulfill in your part of the work what is lacking in mine.
CHAPTER LXX1V
How it is that the subject of this book
is never heard or spoken, nor heard to
be read or to be spoken, by a person
well disposed toward it without feeling
a true sympathy with the effects of the
work; and also repeating the charge
that is written in the prologue
L IF YOU THINK that this manner of working does not
accord well with your disposition in body and soul, you
may leave it without blame and safely take some other way
following good spiritual advice. In that case, I beg you to
excuse me, for I truly wished to be of help to you by
writing with my limited knowledge. That was my inten-
tion. Read it over, therefore, twice or three times, the
more often the better, for you will then understand it more
fully. It may be, in fact, that if there was a sentence that
was very difficult for you at the first or second reading,
you will soon afterwards find it easy,
2. INDEED, IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE to my understanding
Chapter LXXIV
that any person who is disposed to this work should read
it or speak it or else hear it read or spoken without feeling
a close harmony with the consequences of this work. And
then if you think that it does you good, thank God with
all your heart, and for the love of God pray for me.
3. Do THIS THEN. And I beg of you that for God's love
you will let no one see this book except for such a person
as you think is fit for this book according to what you
have found written in the book earlier where it tells which
men should do this work and when they should undertake
it. And if you let any such men see it, then I beg of you
that you tell them to take their time in reading it all over.
4. IT MAY BE that there will be some subject in the begin-
ning, or in the middle, that is left dangling and is not fully
explained there as it stands. But if it is not explained there,
it will be soon afterward, or else before the end. If a man
sees only one part and not another, he might easily be led
into error; and that is why I ask you to work as I have said.
And if you think that there is any subject in this book
that you would like to have discussed more fully, let me
know which it is and your opinions about it; and with my
simple knowledge it will be improved if I am able.
5. As FOR WORLDLY BABBLERS, however, flatterers and
complainers, gossips and tale-bearers and misanthropes of
every kind I hope that they never see this book. I never
had the intention of writing such a thing for them. I would
The Cloud of Unknowing
prefer, therefore, that they did not hear of It, neither they
nor any of those who are merely curious whether they are
learned men or not. They are very good men engaged in
the active life, but this book is not for them.
240
CHAPTER LXXV
Concerning certain signs by which a
man may verify whether he has been
called by God to engage in this work
1. IF YOU READ THIS BOOK or hear it read or spoken of
and if you then feel that It is a good and worthwhile thing,
you should not think that you are therefore called by God
to do this work merely because you feel this stirring when
you read this book. It may be that this stirring comes from
a natural curiosity of mind rather than from the calling
of grace.
2. THOSE WHO WISH TO VERIFY the source of this stir-
ring, however, may do so if they wish. First let them
consider whether they have worked within themselves
previously, and whether they have done anything to en-
able them to cleanse their consciousness for the judgment
of the Holy Church, in accordance with counsel.
3. IF THEY THEN WISH to know more specifically, let
them consider whether this stirring has constantly been
pressing on their minds more persistently than any other
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The Cloud of Unknowing
kind of spiritual activity. And if they think that nothing
else that they do, whether physical or spiritual, satisfies
their consciences as being sufficient unless this secret little
love pressing upon the cloud of unknowing is present in
a spiritual way as the culmination of all their work; then,
if they feel this, it is a token that they are called by God
to do this work; and otherwise, not at all.
4. I DO NOT SAY that it shall last permanently and remain
continually in the minds of all of those who are called to
practice this work. That is not the way it is. In fact, there
are several reasons for which the actual feeling of the work
may often be withdrawn from young spiritual disciples.
Sometimes it is withdrawn so that he shall not treat it
presumptuously and believe that it is largely in his own
power to have it when he desires and as he desires. Such a
belief is pride, and whenever the feeling of grace is with-
drawn, pride is the cause. That is to say, it is not because
of pride he has actually had in the past, but because of the
pride he would have if this feeling of grace were not with-
drawn. Thus it is often the case that young fools think
that God is their enemy, when He is completely their
friend.
5. SOMETIMES IT is WITHDRAWN because of their care-
lessness, and when this is the case they feel a most bitter
pain soon afterward. Sometimes our Lord will delay it
deliberately. By such a delay he wishes to make it grow
and be valued more when it has been newly found and
experienced again after it has long been lost. And this is
one of the surest and most fundamental signs by which a
242
Chapter LXXV
person can know whether or not lie has been called to
practice this work; that Is, If he feels after such a delay
and a long absence of the worK mat wnen It comes sud-
denly as It does, unsought by any special means, that he
has then a greater strength and fervor and feels a greater
love in longing to practice this work than he ever had
before. When this is the case, I believe that he often has
more joy in finding it than he had sorrow when he lost it.
6. AND IF THIS is HOW IT is, it is surely a true token
with no mistake that he is called by God to practice this
work, whatever he is or has been.
7. IT is NOT WHAT YOU ARE, and not what you have
been, but what you wish to be that God considers with
His merciful eyes. Saint Gregory testifies that all holy
desires grow by delays, and if they are diminished by
delays, they were never holy desires. If a man feels less
and less joy in new discoveries and in the unexpected ful-
fillment of old desires he had had in the past, then, even
though they may have been natural desires seeking the
good, they were never holy desires. Saint Austin spoke of
such a holy desire when he said that the entire life of a
good Christian man is nothing else but holy desire.
8. FAREWELL, SPIRITUAL FRIENB, with God's blessing
and mine. I beseech Almighty God that true peace, holy
counsel, and spiritual comfort in God with an abundance
of grace will forever be with you and with all those upon
earth who love God. Amen.
243
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Both as critic of the old and as originator of new conceptions,
Dr. Ira Progoff has long been in the vanguard of those who have
worked toward a dynamic humanistic psychology. In his practice
as therapist, in his books, as lecturer and group leader, as Bollingen
Fellow, and as Director of the Institute for Research in Depth
Psychology at the Graduate School of Drew University, he has
conducted pioneer research and has developed major new tech-
niques for the enlargement of human potential.
These studies have led to the founding of two significant organ-
izations. The first is Dialogue House Associates which is devoted
to using the Intensive Journal developed by Dr. Progoff as the
basis for varied programs of personal growth in education, reli-
gion, industry, and social organization. The second is the Hunianic
Arts Research and Resource Center, which is devoted to develop-
ing experiential programs of advanced training for people who
work in the helping and teaching professions.
The core of Ira Progoff's work is contained in a trilogy of basic
books. The Death and Rebirth of Psychology (1956) crystallizes
the cumulative results of the work of the great historical figures
in depth psychology and sets the foundation for a new psychol-
ogy of personal growth. Depth Psychology and Modem Man
(1959) presents the evolutionary and philosophical perspectives,
and formulates basic concepts which make creative experience
possible. The Symbolic and the Real (1963) pursues the practical
and religious implications of these ideas and applies them in tech-
niques and disciplines which individuals may use in their personal
growth.
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