The ninthe chapitre. That, in the tyme of this werk, the minde of the holiest creature that ever God maad letteth more then it profiteth.
Put Down Clear Beholdings
The sharp stirrings of understanding that produce clear thoughts of anything beneath God must be put down, for they come between you and God.
Therefore, you must always suppress the sharp stirring of your understanding, which will keep pressing in on you whenever you set yourself to this blind work. If you don't suppress it, it will suppress you—to the point that when you think you're dwelling best in this darkness, with nothing in your mind but God alone, you'll find if you look closely that your mind is occupied not with this darkness, but with a clear focus on something beneath God. And if that happens, then that thing is surely above you for the moment, standing between you and your God. Therefore, commit yourself to putting down such clear thoughts, no matter how holy or pleasing they may seem.
The Blind Stirring of Love Is Best
A blind stirring of love toward God is more profitable than any clear contemplation of saints or angels, and we must lift our love to the cloud, forgetting all else.
I tell you one thing: it's more profitable for the health of your soul, more worthy in itself, and more pleasing to God and to all the saints and angels in heaven—yes! and more helpful to all your friends, bodily and spiritual, living and dead—such a blind stirring of love toward God for His own sake, and such a secret love set upon this cloud of unknowing; and it would be better for you to have and feel it in your spiritual affection than to have the eye of your soul opened in contemplation or beholding of all the angels or saints in heaven, or in hearing all the joy and the melody that is among them in bliss.1 Don't be surprised by this, because if you could see it as clearly as you can touch and feel it through grace in this life, you would agree with me.2 But be certain of this: no one will ever have clear sight in this life, though people may experience the feeling through grace when God grants it. Therefore, lift up your love to that cloud. To be honest, let God draw your love up to that cloud, and strive, with the help of His grace, to forget everything else.3
Even Holy Thoughts Hinder
Any thought of anything less than God, even of saints or holy things, hinders this work, though such thoughts are not evil; the perfect seeker rests in nothing less than God.
For since a mere thought of anything less than God, intruding against your will and awareness, puts you farther from God than you would be without it, and hinders you and makes you less able to experience the fruit of His love—how much more, then, do you think a thought knowingly and willfully directed toward yourself will hinder your purpose?4 And since a thought of any particular saint or any pure spiritual thing will hinder you so much, then how much more do you think the thought of any person living in this wretched life, or any bodily or worldly thing, will hinder and obstruct you in this work? I'm not saying that such a bare, sudden thought of any good and pure spiritual thing beneath God — pressing against your will or your awareness, or else willfully drawn upon yourself with deliberation to increase your devotion — is therefore evil, even though it does hinder this kind of work.5 No — God forbid that you take it that way. But I say that even though it is good and holy, still in this work it hinders more than it helps — I mean for the time being. For surely anyone who seeks God perfectly will not finally rest in the thought of any angel or saint in heaven.
Read the original Middle English
And therfore the scharp steryng of thin understondyng, that wile alweis prees apon thee when thou settest thee to this werk blynd, behoveth alweys be born doun; and bot thou bere him doun, he wile bere thee doun; insomochel that whan thou wenest best to abide in this derknes, and that nought is in thi mynde bot only God, and thou loke witterly thou schalt fynde thi mynde not ocupied in this derknes, bot in a cleer beholdyng of som thing beneeth God. And yif it thus be, sekirly then is that thing aboven thee for the time, and bitwix thee and thi God. And therfore purpose thee to put doun soche clere beholdinges, be thei never so holy ne so likyng.
For o thing I telle thee: it is more profitable to the helthe of thi soule, more worthi in itself, and more plesing to God and to alle the seintes and aungelles in heven -ye! and more helply to alle thi freendes, bodily and goostly, quik and dede -- soche a blynde steryng of love unto God for Himself, and soche a privé love put upon this cloude of unknowyng; and beter thee were for to have it and for to fele it in thin affeccion goostly, then it is for to have the ighe of thi soule openid in contemplacion or beholding of alle the aungelles or seyntes in heven, or in hering of alle the mirthe and the melody that is amonges hem in blisse.
And loke thou have no wonder of this, for mightest thou ones se it as cleerly as thou maist bi grace com to for to grope it and feele it in this liif, thou woldest think as I say. Bot seker be thou that cleer sight schal never man have here in this liif, bot the felyng mowe men have thorow grace whan God vouchethsaaf. And therfore lift up thi love to that cloude. Bot yif I schal sey the sothe, lat God drawe thi love up to that cloude; and prove thou thorou help of His grace to forgete alle other thing.
For sithen a nakid minde of any thing under God, presyng agens thi wille and thi wetyng, putteth thee ferther fro God than thou schuldest be, nere it were, and letteth thee, and makith thee inasmoche more unable to fele in experience the frute of His love: what trowest thou than that a mynde wetyngly and wilfuly drawen apon thee wil hindre thee in thi purpos? And sithen a mynde of any special seinte or of any clene goostly thing wil hindre thee so moche, what trowest thou than that the mynde of any man levyng in this wrechid liif, or of any maner of bodely or wordely thing, wil hinder thee and let thee in this werk?
I say not that soche a nakid sodein thought of any good and clene goostly thing under God, presyng agens thi wille or thi wetyng, or elles wilfuly drawen apon thee with avisement in encresing of thi devocion, though al it be lettyng to this maner of werk, that it is therfore ivel. Nay, God forbede that thou take it so. Bot I say, thof al it be good and holy, yit in this werk it letteth more then it profiteth -- I mene for the tyme. For whi sekirly he that sekith God parfitely, he wil not rest him finaly in the mynde of any aungel or seinte that is in heven.
Notes
- 1 ↩enm 'privé love' rendered as 'secret love' (interior/hidden love directed to God alone), not merely private in a social sense.
- 2 ↩ME 'grope' means to feel or handle by touch; rendered as 'touch' to keep the tactile sense without modern sexual connotations.
- 3 ↩ME 'prove' here means endeavor or try; rendered as 'strive'.
- 4 ↩ME 'letteth' means hinders/obstructs, not modern 'allows'. 'Nakid minde' is the Cloud's bare, unadorned mental attention or remembrance, not mere emptiness.
- 5 ↩nakid: in Cloud usage, a bare thought stripped of images; rendered here as bare.
The Cloud of Unknowing companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent