Greetings and blessings.
Welcome to this guided meditation.
The Cloud of Unknowing is a text from the latter part of the 14th century,
And it's a guide to contemplative prayer.
Its author is unknown,
But it was probably written by a spiritual director or a father superior to guide one of his novices into the work of contemplative prayer.
The Cloud offers us a practice or technique which will help us in the early stages of contemplation.
I'll read a few passages from the book,
And then there will be 10 minutes silence during which you can practice this technique.
Once you're familiar with the technique,
You no longer need to listen to my introduction each time.
You can simply set yourself 10 minutes of silence and practice the technique yourself.
So here are some readings from The Cloud of Unknowing.
Let's begin by reading from chapter 3,
How to do the work of contemplation and why it is the best work.
Lift up your heart to God with a gentle stirring of love.
Focus on Him alone.
Want Him and not anything He's made.
Think on nothing but Him.
Don't let anything else run through your mind and will.
Here's how.
Forget what you know.
Forget everything God has made and everyone who exists and everything that's going on in the world until your thoughts and emotions aren't focused on reaching towards anything.
Just let them be.
The first time you practice contemplation,
You'll only experience darkness like a cloud of unknowing.
You won't know what this is.
You'll only know that in your will you feel a simple reaching out to God.
You must also know that this darkness and this cloud will always be between you and your God,
Whatever you do.
They will always keep you from seeing Him clearly by the light of understanding in your intellect and will block you from feeling Him fully in the sweetness of love in your emotions.
So be sure to make your home in this darkness.
Stay there as long as you can,
Crying out to Him over and over again because you love Him.
It's the closest you can get to God here on earth by waiting in this darkness and in this cloud.
And from chapter 4,
When I refer to this exercise as a darkness or a cloud,
I don't want you to imagine the darkness that you get inside your house at night when you blow out a candle.
When I say darkness,
I mean the absence of knowing.
Whatever you don't know and whatever you've forgotten are dark to you because you don't see them with your spiritual eyes.
For the same reason,
By cloud I don't mean a cloud in the sky but a cloud of unknowing between you and God.
From chapter 5,
If you ever want to make this cloud an integral part of your life so that you can live and work there,
Then you must do one more thing.
Complete the cloud of unknowing with a cloud of forgetting.
To the cloud of unknowing above you and between you and your God,
Add the cloud of forgetting beneath you between you and creation.
If the cloud of unknowing makes you feel alienated from God,
That's only because you've not yet put a cloud of forgetting between you and everything in creation.
When I say everything in creation,
I mean not only the creatures themselves but also everything they do and are.
There are no exceptions,
You must forget everything under the cloud of forgetting.
I also want to say with all due respect that when you're doing the work of contemplation,
It does you little good to focus on the kindness and importance of God or on any of these,
Our Lady,
The Saints,
Angels or the Joys of Heaven.
Although you might think that approach would strengthen your purpose,
It won't.
Yes,
We should remember God's kindness and love and praise Him for our blessings,
But it's much better to think on His naked being and to love and praise Him for Himself.
I know you'll ask me,
How do I think on God as God and who is God?
And I can only answer,
I don't know.
Your question takes me into the very darkness and cloud of unknowing that I want you to enter.
We can know so many things.
Through God's grace our minds can explore,
Understand and reflect on creation and even on God's own works,
But we can't think our way to God.
That's why I'm willing to abandon everything I know,
To love the one thing I cannot think.
He can be loved but not thought.
By love God can be embraced and held but not by thinking.
Even meditating on God's love must be put down and covered with a cloud of forgetting.
And finally in chapter 7,
He says,
Thoughts will come if you find yourself obsessed with one pressing down on you from above.
Tell it that you want only God.
I crave God.
I seek Him and nothing else.
Lift your heart to Him with a humble stirring of love.
You only need a naked intent for God.
When you long for Him,
That's enough.
If you want to gather this focus into one word,
Making it easier to grasp,
Select a little word of one syllable.
The shorter the word,
The more it helps the work of the Spirit.
God or love works well.
Pick one of these or any other word you like,
As long as it is one syllable.
Fasten it to your heart.
Fix your mind on it permanently.
This word will protect you.
It will be your shield and spear,
Whether you ride out into peace or conflict.
Use it to beat on the dark cloud of unknowing above you.
With it,
Knock down every thought and they'll lie down under the cloud of forgetting below you.
Whenever an idea interrupts you to ask,
What do you want?
Answer with this one word.
So here we have the basic teaching from the cloud of unknowing.
He talks about putting the cloud of forgetting underneath you,
Between you and all of creation,
And then beating upon the cloud of unknowing,
Which is above you,
Between you and God.
This cloud will never be penetrated,
He says,
But using your prayer word,
Whether that word is love or God or Jesus,
Every time your thoughts wander,
Use that word.
Make that cloud your home,
The place that you live in.
And so for the next 10 minutes,
Just practice this.
Every time you think about something to do with the world,
Imagine just putting it under you in the cloud of forgetting.
Let it go.
And then let your desire speak forth through your prayer word and beat upon the cloud of unknowing to learn to dwell there in the unknowingness of God.
So just take a moment now to get yourself comfortable sitting in a position in which you can remain for the next 10 minutes.
Take a few deep breaths and as you prepare to enter the silence,
I will read the prayer from the beginning of the cloud of unknowing.
God,
To you all hearts are open,
To you all longings speak,
And to you no secret thing is hidden.
I beg you,
Purify the intentions of my heart through the unspeakable gift of your grace,
So that I can love you with all I am and praise you for all you are.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
