The Roots of Christian Mysticism Session 14
Summary of Brother Patrick Moore's "The Cloud of Unknowing" talk, The London Christian Meditation Centre, St Mark's, Clerkenwell, 24 January 2006

Introduction

It is a treatise or a letter written by an unknown person, probably a man who is an experienced teacher, a trained theologian and a spiritual director, to a younger man of about 24years. The young man was about to begin the life of a hermit. The author was probably his spiritual director and it is a treatise on how to live a contemplative life.

Background

The 14th century saw a flowering of mysticism. This was amid the Black Death, the Hundred Years War and the Peasants Revolt. It was also at a time when the Church’s authority was at an all time low both internationally with contending Popes and in England where corruption among the clergy was rife. There was also a tremendous revival of interest in magic particularly in East Anglia.

In England there emerged “The English Mystics” Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, the author of the Cloud and Julian of Norwich. A recent study has shown that mystical thought was common in parish life in the province of York at this time. Both the author of the Cloud and Julian wrote in English, in an East Anglian dialect, which was unusual at the time as the church’s liturgy and spiritual teaching was all in Latin.

Influences on the author of the Cloud

(1) Pseudo-Dionysius
The author of the Cloud restates the ideas of Pseudo-Dionysius contained in his treatise on mystical theology. This is the first use of the word “mystical” in the Christian tradition. It is important to understand that to the author of the Cloud and to his early readers (up to 1500) this Syrian treatise was regarded as having scriptural authority. It was actually written in about 500A.D. by someone who had called himself Dionysus (or Denis as the author of the Cloud calls him) presumably with the intention that he should be identified with Dionysius the Areopagite, companion of Paul (mentioned in Acts of the Apostles). It is to Pseudo-Dionysius that we owe the ordering of the angelic hierarchy.

(2)The Victorines
In the 12th century this work was translated by, and greatly influenced, the Victorines in Paris (A school of Augustinian canons).

When the Victorines translated the treatise they associated love with darkness. This association had been made in the Patristic era but has only really surfaced again since the 14th century in the last couple of years with feminist theology. Only when Paul was blinded could he see. Mary Magdalene (who the author identifies as the sister of Martha, the sister of Lazarus and the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet) is the woman who though the greatest sinner, loved much. The via negativa then is the way of love.

The teaching of the Cloud

(1) The via negativa
The way of the author is the via negativa. We are not capable of comprehending God with our minds. This is not to say that the author of the Cloud is anti-intellectual but it is the nature of our intellect to contain and understand and God is incomprehensible. He cannot be grasped. Our ideas and images enable us to grasp but we must let go of our grasp in order to become more receptive to God. He can be known but not known about. We must start by forgetting what we know and go to a deeper level of ourselves. We can then move from the cloud of forgetting to the cloud of unknowing. In the cloud of unknowing we can take a sharp dart of longing love and throw the dart and pierce the heart of God. In that piercing we can be one-d with God (ch.6). We must love a person for who they are not what they are (ch. 5). The contemplative experience is a life-long process. Unlike the work of helping to feed the poor the contemplative life is a foretaste of our activity in heaven and therefore very worthwhile but we can only make a start now while we live in this world of images and physicality. He also talks about our activity as work (ch. 6)
When we move into the cloud of unknowing we are no longer in control. It is dangerous to be passive in the presence of evil and it is dangerous to let down all barriers in the presence of evil so it is important to be rooted and in a safe place within prayerful boundaries. And he talks about waiting for God to do the work (if he wants).

(2) The importance of desire
The author of the Cloud belongs to the tradition which began with St. Augustine and came through the Victorines to England which states that we are drawn to God by God’s attractiveness.

The person to whom the author is writing is hungry for God. The author tells us that the book is not for everyone. It is only for those who have this tremendous hunger. It is important to note however that the author does not regard contemplatives as an elite or a special sinless group. He identifies “the sinner” Mary Magdalene as the contemplative sister of Martha (contemporary biblical scholarship no longer makes this identification).

(3) Psychological maturity
When you move away from thoughts and images and defence mechanisms that give you security you are in a sacred place and this is not to be attempted without guidance. Stripped of words and images we are in a very vulnerable place and this requires a great deal of psychological maturity. The author says that this shouldn’t be stressful or full of anxiety.

Conclusion

The only questions to ask are:
Where is God calling me?
Who can help me along the way?
What would feed me at this particular time?

Finally the Cloud is a very practical book and the author has a sense of humour. His advice at one stage is, if you can’t fight temptation roll yourself into a ball and ask God to take care of it!