Then, read the text. Consider approaching the text in a contemplative manner, allowing words or phrases to draw you into reflection, prayer, etc. Christians call this type of engagement with a text, lectio divina—sacred reading. How God will be served both with body and with soul, and reward men in both; and how men shall know when all those sounds and sweetness that fall into the body in time of prayer be both good and evil

That nowhere bodily, is everywhere ghostly; and how our outer man calleth the work of this book nought That a man shall not take ensample at the bodily ascension of Christ, for to strain his imagination upwards bodily in the time of prayer: and that time, place, and body, these three should be forgotten in all ghostly working

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The Cloud of Unknowing is written by an unknown 14th century English contemplative. It, and the Book of Privy Counsel, are directions and advice concerning Christian contemplative prayer. Bete evermore on this cloude of unknowyng that is bitwix thee and thi God with a scharpe darte of longing love. Given the wide range of Augustine's views, however, the emphasis on the intellect must be qualified by his observation that the best experience of God is to be found not in knowledge but in love, a view that signals his major influence on the affective mysticism of the Middle Ages as well. In fact, his treatment of the will and the affections is so central to his mystical thought that he could affirm, with considerable controversial impact, that the act of loving one's neighbor is an experience of God (TeSelle, p. 29). Nevertheless, continuity and "the efficacy of the purified intellect . . . remained characteristic principles of the Augustinian concept of the contemplative way" (Lees, p. 272). Consequently, a principal mark of the Augustinian tradition is illumination, the second stage of the mystical ascent, the one that, according to Evelyn Underhill ( Mysticism, p. 238), is the most densely populated, since for her it characterizes the mysticisms of nature and poetry. In the later Middle Ages, the two different emphases in mysticism take their place in a more widely debated controversy as to whether the intellect or the will is the primary or most noble human power. This is a difference that Dante attempts to reconcile in the Paradiso, XI, 37-39, by celebrating as complementary both the splendore that illumines the intellect and the ardore that inflames the will. Johnston, William. The Mysticism of “The Cloud of Unknowing.” 1967. 4th ed. Foreword by Thomas Merton. New York: Fordham University Press, 2000. The author gives an extensive study of the mysticism of the period and also compares the teaching of The Cloud of Unknowing with that of Saint John of the Cross and other apophatic mystics. There is a good introduction by Thomas Merton. Every beginner in contemplative prayer must practice three skills: reading, reflecting, and praying.

That men should have great wariness so that they understand not bodily a thing that is meant ghostly; and specially it is good to be wary in understanding of this word in, and of this word up The monk often references his own "clumsy speech", again making his own voice less definitive. It's almost as if the monk is writing letters to a fictitious student because he is uncertain and developing...maybe this is a monk's own, personal journal? Notice these are not letters to a rank above the Monk asking pointed questions.

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How these young presumptuous disciples misunderstand this word in, and of the deceits that follow thereon Please note: Your participation in this course entitles you to access, but not to forward, duplicate, or share course content. If you know someone who might benefit from this - or any other The Monk Within Self-Study course - please invite them to register directly. The Book of Privy Counsel is much less well known. It covers some the same ground, but seems to be directed at a more experienced and mature practitioner of contemplative prayer. It seemed to me to be even clearer and more pointed. The latter part of this book was the part I appreciated most in the whole work. I was inwardly saying "yes, yes, yes" frequently while reading this part. But mistrust all other spiritual experiences, such as consolations and sounds, gladness and ecstasies that come from an unknown source.

If we are ignorant of our soul’s powers, we will misinterpret spiritual instruction. We will misinterpret Contemplative Prayer.Mary represents a person who is truly converted and is called to the grace of contemplative prayer. That all writing and feeling of a man’s own being must needs be lost if the perfection of this work shall verily be felt in any soul in this life Work at contemplative prayer, and do not stop. Those other areas will fall into place. You will have a beneficial indifference to them. God, it seems, cannot really be known, but only related to. Or, as the mystics would assert, we know God by loving God, by trusting God, by placing our hope in God. It is a non-possessive, non-objectified way of knowing. It is always I-Thou and never I-It, to use Martin Buber’s wonderfully insightful phrases. God allows us to know God only by loving God. God, in that sense, cannot be “thought” at all. [1] In prayer we need both humility and patience. Humility is not just a sense of our sin taken separately ( which is almost never from God, if not simultaneously connected to God's surprising love for us). In real humility we know the extent that we are sordid, sad, weak creatures but no less the object of God's superabundant love, humbled by " the amazing glory and goodness of God." We need patience since " Grace is rarely in a rush! It touches and changes us bu usually not as soon or as suddenly as we like."

If, on the other hand, the idea of Contemplative Prayer does indeed resonate with you, stay with it. Act upon it.

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God can be loved, but not thought. [John of the Cross (1542–1591) and many other mystics say the same thing. Christians could have saved ourselves so much fighting and division if we had just taught this one truth!]