There's a lot to ponder here. I was glad to read this along with Cloud Devotion a book that read Cloud of Unknowing in a year with Bible verses and prayer prompts. It was interesting to see the different interpretations of this classic. Not something to just read through, rather a book to meditate on. ( )

Written in Middle English, probably by a Carthusian priest, The Cloude of Unknowyng is regarded as a foundational work of Christian mysticism. The Book of Privy Counseling is its short sequel.

Fairly esoteric stuff, and much of it I didn’t get. Towards the end there was a warning about the kind of person that won’t profit from and shouldn’t be encouraged to read the book, and it described me with painful accuracy. Free tip for anonymous Middle English Carthusian mystic authors: Put your warnings in the front of the book. ( )

Summary: A classic on contemplative prayer in a new modern translation.

The Cloud of Unknowing is perhaps one of the greatest works on contemplative prayer. We don't know the author but it was written in the 14th century in Middle English. This edition is a re-publication of a 2009 translation by Carmen Acevedo Butcher in an inexpensive paperback format.

It seems that many of the spiritual classics we read come to us in stuffy, Victorian English. Butcher's translation strives for a simplicity and informality of conversation between a spiritual director and a directee, and this is one of the most winsome aspects of this work.

To give you both a sense of the work and the significance of the title, here is a brief passage in which the author describes the experience of beginning to contemplate:

"The first time you practice contemplation, you'll only experience a darkness, like a cloud of unknowing. You won't know what this is. You'll only know that in your will you feel a simple reaching out to God. You must also know that this darkness and this cloud will always be between you and your God, whatever you do. They will always keep you from seeing him clearly by the light of understanding in your intellect and will block you from feeling him fully in the sweetness of love in your emotions. So be sure to make your home in the darkness."

One of the critical themes running through the work, true to the apophatic tradition out of which it comes, is that God cannot be known with our minds but only in our love--"we can't think our way to God." Contemplation is best pursued according to this author by simple reflection on a single word--"sin" and "God" are the two commended to us. He discourages trying to attain an experience of God through the senses, and encourages dismissing both our thoughts and feelings into a "cloud of forgetting."

What I found attractive in this work is its wisdom and sense. We are assured that longing for God is enough, as this will open us to a deeper understanding of God. He discourages strenuous physical exertions that enervate and weaken us. He stresses the value of pursuing our contemplation accompanied by a spiritual director. He identifies four stages of spiritual maturity, with no sense that one is "better" than another, but only reflect a progress in love for God:

The ordinary which is our active life in the world
The special, where one continues to live an active life but also longs for God and begins to contemplate.
The singular is where contemplation becomes the focus of one's life, praying without ceasing in love toward God.
The perfect, where we are with God, as we pass from this life into God's presence.

The work itself consists of 75 brief "chapters" often connected to one another, that seems especially fitted for devotional reading of one or a few chapters a day.

Butcher's translation includes an introductory essay and recommendations for further reading, including renderings in the Middle English, works on English mysticism and Christian mysticism more broadly, as well as reference resources. Her notes also offer explanations for her translation and other helpful background.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ( )

I read this book after running across references to it in two books, “Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse” by Louise Erdrich and “Yoga and the Quest for the True Self” by Stephen Cope. I figured if I ran across the reference twice in such disparate places, I should check it out.

There were definitely some parallels with yogic meditation, which was the main thing I was curious about. In yoga as I practice it, Isvara is the “divine ideal of pure awareness”, and Pranidhanat is “devotion or devotion”. So in this book that ideal of Isvara would be Jesus Christ, of course. It was nice to read about the contemplative side of Christianity and to see it placed on an equal footing to the active side of Christian faith. This might be the first book where I have seen that happen. As such, it was definitely worth the read for me.

Two works on contemplative prayer from an anonymous Christian of the 14th century.

This volume includes both The Cloud of Unknowing and The Book of Privy Counsel, the former far more famous than the latter.

Both are written as invitations to explore contemplative prayer, the process by which one might develop in contemplative prayer, some of the pitfalls that come from the endeavor and what others may think of the contemplatives, and its value. "The Cloud of Unknowing" is introduced early in the volume as that "place" one enters when one pursues God who is ultimately unknowable, and one proceeds to perceive one's delusions about oneself and how to nevertheless continue to seek after God in contemplation. "The Book of Privy Counsel" seems to become a bit more "practical" about the whole matter.

The introduction by the translator is extremely helpful as an aid to understanding, as are the notes which tend to highlight the nuances of the author's Middle English which may get lost in translation. An excellent edition of a spiritual classic. ( )