The thrid chapitre. How the werk of this book schal be wrought, and of the worthines of it bifore alle other werkes.
The Work of Loving Intention
The author instructs the reader to lift up their heart to God with humble love, intending God alone and forgetting all created things, as the essence of the contemplative work.
Lift up your heart to God with a humble stirring of love, and intend Him Himself—not any of His gifts.✦1 And to that end, see that you're reluctant to think of anything except Himself, so that nothing works in your mind or your will but only Himself. And do everything in your power to forget all the creatures God ever made and all their works, so that neither your thought nor your desire is directed or stretched toward any of them, neither in general nor in particular. But leave them alone, and pay them no attention.
The Worthiness of the Work
The author declares that this work most pleases God, brings joy to saints and angels, enrages fiends, helps all people, eases souls in purgatory, cleanses the soul, and is both light with grace and hard without it.
This is the work of the soul that most pleases God. All the saints and angels rejoice in this work, and they hurry to help it with all their might. All the fiends go mad when you do this, and they try by every means they can to bring it down.2 All people living on earth are wonderfully helped by this work—you don't know how. Yes, the souls in purgatory are eased of their pain by virtue of this work.3 You yourself are cleansed and made virtuous by no work so much. And yet it is the lightest work of all when a soul is helped by grace with a felt desire—and the quickest to do.4 But otherwise it is hard and astonishing for you to do.5
Persevering in the Cloud of Unknowing
The author urges the reader to persist in the work until it becomes delightful, describing the initial experience of a 'cloud of unknowing' and a naked intent toward God, and promising that through perseverance in this darkness one may eventually encounter God.
So don't give up — keep working at it until you feel delight in it.6 For the first time you do it, you find only a darkness, and so to speak a cloud of unknowing — you don't know what — except that you feel in your will a naked intent toward God.7 This darkness and this cloud, no matter how you approach it, is between you and your God, and it keeps you from seeing Him clearly by the light of understanding in your reason, or from feeling Him in the sweetness of love in your affection. And so prepare yourself to stay in this darkness as long as you can, always crying out to Him whom you love; for if you are ever to feel Him or see Him — as far as that is possible here — it must always be in this cloud and in this darkness. And if you'll diligently work at it as I bid you, I trust in His mercy that you'll come to it.
Read the original Middle English
Lift up thin herte unto God with a meek steryng of love; and mene Himself, and none of His goodes. And therto loke thee lothe to thenk on ought bot on Hymself, so that nought worche in thi witte ne in thi wille bot only Himself. And do that in thee is to forgete alle the creatures that ever God maad and the werkes of hem, so that thi thought ne thi desire be not directe ne streche to any of hem, neither in general ne in special. Bot lat hem be, and take no kepe to hem.
This is the werk of the soule that moste plesith God. Alle seintes and aungelles han joie of this werk, and hasten hem to helpe it in al here might. Alle feendes ben wood whan thou thus doste, and proven for to felle it in alle that thei kun. Alle men levyng in erthe ben wonderfuli holpen of this werk, thou wost not how. Ye, the soules in purgatori ben esed of theire peine by vertewe of this werk. Thiself arte clensid and maad vertewos by no werk so mochel. And yit it is the lightest werk of alle, when a soule is holpen with grace in sensible liste, and sonnest done. Bot elles it is hard and wonderful to thee for to do.
Lette not therfore, bot travayle therin tyl thou fele lyst. For at the first tyme when thou dost it, thou fyndest bot a derknes, and as it were a cloude of unknowyng, thou wost never what, savyng that thou felist in thi wille a nakid entent unto God. This derknes and this cloude is, howsoever thou dost, bitwix thee and thi God, and letteth thee that thou maist not see Him cleerly by light of understonding in thi reson, ne fele Him in swetnes of love in thin affeccion. And therfore schap thee to bide in this derknes as longe as thou maist, evermore criing after Him that thou lovest; for yif ever schalt thou fele Him or see Him, as it may be here, it behoveth alweis be in this cloude and in this derknes. And yif thou wilte besily travayle as I bid thee, I triste in His mercy that thou schalt come therto.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.25.1 — Of David. To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
Notes
- 1 ↩ME "goodes" here means God's gifts and benefits (creatures, consolations, favors), not material wealth; the contrast is God Himself versus what He gives.
- 2 ↩Middle English wood means furious or frenzied, not timber; rendered as go mad.
- 3 ↩Affirmative yea/yes, not the plural pronoun.
- 4 ↩Sensible liste means a desire or liking that can be felt in the affections; rendered as felt desire.
- 5 ↩Middle English wonderful here means marvelous or astonishing, not merely delightful; paired with hard.
- 6 ↩ME lyst (liste): felt delight or liking for the work, matching the previous section's sensible liste; rendered as delight.
- 7 ↩nakid entent is a technical Cloud term: a bare, undressed willing toward God without images or discursive content; kept as naked intent.
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