The one and thritty chapitre. How a man schuld have hym in beginning of this werk agens alle thoughtes and steringes of sinne.
Beginning the Work Against Stirrings of Sin
After lawful amendment, one must begin this contemplative work by steadfastly treading down all thoughts of past sins or new stirrings under a cloud of forgetting, putting them down as often as they rise, and if the labor seems great, seeking subtle devices from God by experience.
And once you feel you've done everything lawfully within your power to amend yourself according to the judgment of Holy Church, then you should set yourself firmly to work at this work. And then, if it happens that your past particular deeds keep pressing into your mind between you and your God—or any new thought or stirring of any sin either—you must stoutly step above it with a fervent stirring of love, and tread them down under your feet.1 And try to cover them with a thick cloud of forgetting, as if they had never been done in this life by you or by any other person either. And if they often rise, put them down often; and, to put it shortly, as often as they rise, put them down as often. And if it seems to you that the labor is great, you may seek devices and crafty methods and private subtleties of spiritual skill to put them away—devices that are better learned from God by experience than from any person in this life.2
Read the original Middle English
And fro the tyme that thou felist that thou hast done that in thee is lawefuly to amende thee at the dome of Holy Chirche, then schalt thou sette thee scharply to worche in this werk. And than, yif it so be that thi fordone specyal dedes wil alweis prees in thi mynde bitwix thee and thi God, or any newe thought or steryng of any synne outher, thou schalt stalworthly step aboven it with a fervent sterying of love, and treed hem down under thi fete. And fonde to cover hem with a thicke cloude of forgetyng, as thei never had ben don in this liif of thee, ne of other man outher. And yif thei ofte rise, ofte put theim doun and, schortly to sey, as ofte as thei rise, as ofte put theim doun. And yif thee think that the traveyle be grete, thou mayst seek sleightes and wiles and privé sotiltees of goostly sleightes to put hem awey, the whiche sleightes ben betir lernyd of God by the profe then of any man in this liif.
Notes
- 1 ↩fordone specyal dedes: past particular deeds already done (often past sins); not ongoing works still to be performed.
- 2 ↩sleightes / wiles / sotiltees: spiritual skill-devices and craft, not necessarily deceit; goostly sleightes = techniques of interior practice. profe = experiential proof/practice.
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