The Cloud of Unknowing: A Review

For many Catholics, the act of contemplating is a daunting task. The Cloud of Unknowing presents the reader with a way of prayer that is not customary to modern day Catholics. Awkwardness of approaching God through prayer has become a crisis in the Church. This easy to read book containing over seventy short, concise chapters provides the solution to starting this journey of an ongoing dialogue with Christ. The author states this book is for souls aspiring to contemplative prayer, not for those undisciplined seekers of the marvelous. Thought by many critics to have been a Cistercian monk during the Middle Ages, the author describes the stages of contemplation traveled by a soul desiring to enter God's presence. He humbly describes this work as an attempt to create a spiritual work for the reader and to instruct him how to construct it himself. 

God is found through contemplation and prayer. Accompanying this invitation to form a unique relationship with God must come humility. God asks the soul to claim our heritage, heaven, and humility demands us to forget the past and claim the future. Wanting only his love, God waits for the soul's cooperation to accomplish this work only in privacy, away from distractions. The soul is instructed to practice superior discipline, continuing in prayer even through the cloud of darkness going to God. Time is of the utmost importance: losing or gaining heaven is in one moment. When attempting contemplative prayer, senses and imagination are to be left behind. A pure, undivided love is the only way to pierce this cloud of unknowing about God. Contemplation is by no means a physical act; it is purely spiritual. The author humorously admonishes the act of looking up while praying as though one were to climb over the moon.

In reaching this level of contemplation in the cloud of unknowing, the soul should possess an industrious will, coupled with charity and humility. Imperfect humility begins with self-knowledge, admitting our sinful nature and recognizing the love of God. Perfect humility comes from firsthand experience of God’s goodness. Starting with imperfect humility, one has an awareness pushing away pride resulting from lack of knowledge. The perfectly humble person lacks for nothing. The more one loves, the more one wants to love. Divine contemplation already participates in eternity. Simply put, contemplation is a direct reaching out to God; it becomes a fulfillment of God’s Will.


Those who sincerely desire to leave the world should attempt contemplation. The first step of practicing contemplation is to purify the conscience by removing sins according to the practices of the Church. Our Lord gives his miracle of grace to those coming from a sinful life. Wanting to experience God on earth is an expression of love. God’s grace will assist the faithful soul through the way of contemplation. He withholds his grace sometimes, but He will never withdraw Himself from us. The next step in preparation is reading, reflection, and prayer. One cannot see his own frailty if he does not read the Word of God. Forgetfulness of self and supression of thoughts concerning subjects inferior to God is necessary for entering this cloud of approaching God. Sorrow of our past and a holy desire to joyfully receive the knowledge of God precedes a perfect union with Him. Although spiritual enthusiasm is necessary to attempt contemplation, humility strengthens the skill. A peaceful disposition of body and soul prepares the soul to love God joyfully and willingly. The physical aspects of prayer includes this peaceful disposition. As St. Paul said in his epistle on charity, we cannot do anything without love acting as our guide in the world. 
The author proceeds to the effects or results of contemplation. Contemplation destroys our impulse to sin more effectively than any other practice and motivates us to practice virtue. Contemplation knows no limits during one's lifetime. Those who practice contemplation become better companions to those around them, and others are attracted to this life of prayer. The contemplative soul knows how to govern himself and understand others, giving to them what he has received. The author makes the analogy between the division of the nose into two nostrils and the ability to see good and evil. Unlike the devil who only has one nostril for us to see hell at the end of his nose, we have two nostrils in order for us to distinguish between good and evil before making a judgment. 

The author encourages the reader to do his part, and God will discover the rest to him through this cloud of Divine Love. One must take the effort. Travel the challenging and narrow road to heaven, and resist the easy path to hell. The highway to heaven is to be measured in terms of desire, not miles. Reason and the power of the will must be used to desire the good and to achieve it. The reader is promised, if he continues contemplation, he will realize God's grace has obliterated many of his sins. True love, in this cloud of unknowing, contains all the virtues in the spiritual temple of God - the soul. Dionysius, a philosopher of the Middle Ages, sums up the message of The Cloud of Unknowing: "Whoso deserves to see and know God rests therein [in the darkness] and, by the very fact that he neither sees nor knows, is truly in that which surpasses all truth and all knowledge."

Image Credits:
"The Cloud of Unknowing", at The Cloud of Unknowing Google images
"Benedictine tradition", pamphlet at Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery



Product Details can be found at Paraclete Press.