The thre and fourty chapitre. That alle wetyng and felyng of a mans owne being must nedelynges be lost, yif the perfeccion of this werk schal verrely be felt in any soule in this liif.
Forgetting All but God
The author instructs the reader to let nothing work in mind or will but God alone, and to forget all creatures and even oneself, following the way of a perfect lover who hates himself for the sake of what he loves.
Make sure that nothing works in your mind or will but God alone. And strive to bring down all knowledge and feeling of anything beneath God, and trample it all far down under the cloud of forgetting. And you should understand that in this work you must not only forget all other creatures besides yourself, or their deeds or yours, but also in this work you must forget both yourself and your deeds for God's sake, as well as all other creatures and their deeds.1 For it is the way of a perfect lover not only to love what he loves more than himself, but also, in a sense, to hate himself for the sake of what he loves.2
The Self as the Last Barrier
The author explains that the sense of self, as a foul lump of sin, remains as the final obstacle between the soul and God, and must be utterly forgotten and broken down to attain the perfection of this work.
This is how you should treat yourself: you should loathe and grow weary of everything that works in your mind and will, unless it is only God. For otherwise, whatever it may be, it is surely between you and your God. And no wonder if you loathe and hate to think of yourself, when you will always feel sin—a foul, stinking lump, you never know what—between you and your God: and that lump is nothing other than yourself.3 For it will seem to you joined and fused with the substance of your being—yes, as if inseparable from it.4 So, break down all knowledge and feeling of every creature—but most diligently of yourself. For the knowing and feeling of all other creatures hangs on the knowing and feeling of yourself; for next to that, all other creatures are easily forgotten.5 For if you'll diligently put this to the test, you'll find that when you've forgotten all other creatures and all their works — yes, and all your own works too — there will still remain afterward, between you and your God, a naked knowing and feeling of your own being, which knowing and feeling must always be destroyed before the time comes when you truly feel the perfection of this work.6
Read the original Middle English
Look that nought worche in thi wit ne in thi wil bot only God. And fonde for to felle alle wetyng and felyng of ought under God, and treed alle doun ful fer under the cloude of forgetyng. And thou schalt understonde that thou schalt not only in this werk forgete alle other creatures then thiself, or theire dedes or thine, bot also thou schalt in this werk forgete bothe thiself and also thi dedes for God, as wel as alle other creatures and theire dedes. For it is the condicion of a parfite lover, not only to love that thing that he loveth more then himself, bot also in maner for to hate himself for that thing that he lovith.
Thus schalt thou do with thiself: thou schalt lothe and be wery with alle that thing that worcheth in thi witte and in thi wil, bot yif it be only God. For whi sekirly elles, whatsoever that it be, it is bitwix thee and thi God. And no wonder thof thou lothe and hate for to think on thiself, when thou schalt alweis fele synne a foule stynkyng lumpe, thou wost never what, bitwix thee and thi God: the whiche lumpe is none other thing than thiself. For thee schal think it onyd and congelid with the substaunce of thi beyng, ye, as it were withoutyn departyng.
And therfore breek doun alle wetyng and felyng of alle maner of creatures; bot most besily of thiself. For on the wetyng and the felyng of thiself hangith wetyng and felyng of alle other creatures; for in rewarde of it, alle other creatures ben lightly forgetyn. For, and thou wilt besily set thee to the preof, thou schalt fynde, when thou hast forgeten alle other creatures and alle theire werkes, ye, and therto alle thin owne werkes, that ther schal leve yit after, bitwix thee and thi God, a nakid weting and a felyng of thin owne beyng, the whiche wetyng and felyng behovith alweis be distroied er the tyme be that thou fele sothfastly the perfeccyon of this werk.
Notes
- 1 ↩"thi dedes for God" may mean either deeds done for God, or forgetting yourself and your deeds for God's sake. Rendered here as purposive (for God's sake), which fits the chapter's call to lose all knowing and feeling of one's own being.
- 2 ↩"in maner" rendered as "in a sense" (qualified / after a fashion), not as ordinary manner alone.
- 3 ↩ME 'synne a foule stynkyng lumpe' keeps the Cloud's stark identification of the felt self-obstacle with sin; the lump is then equated with the self ('none other thing than thiself'), not a separate entity beside it.
- 4 ↩'thee schal think' is impersonal ME ('it will seem to you'); 'onyd and congelid' rendered as joined/fused to preserve both unity and hardened coalescence without sounding archaic.
- 5 ↩ME 'in rewarde of it' rendered as 'next to that' (comparative regard): awareness of other creatures is slight beside awareness of self.
- 6 ↩ME 'and thou wilt' = conditional 'if you will'; 'nakid weting' kept as 'naked knowing' for the Cloud's technical sense of bare awareness of one's own existence.
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.
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