Sitting with the Unknown

What does it feel like to enter a state of contemplation for the first time? The beloved text, The Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous, has offered generations of contemplative seekers insights for living a more engaged life. Join us in considering some key lessons of The Cloud of Unknowing in February’s We Conspire series. 

Written in England by an anonymous mystic in the 1300s, The Cloud of Unknowing is structured as a letter to a friend. The author begins, “My dear friend in God, I would like to pass on to you what I’ve roughly observed about the Christian life…. You know yourself, that at one time you are caught up in the common manner of the Christian life. In a day-by-day mundane existence, along with your friends. I think the eternal love of God, which had once created you out of nothing and then redeemed you from Adam’s curse to the sacrifice of his blood, could not bear to let you go on living in so common a life far from him…”  

The author invites us to find the courage to reach out for deeper union with God, who is yearning for union with us. To do this, we must first create an experience of stillness and openness that invites God to join us in presence.  

It’s not always easy—we all struggle with finding moments of contemplative stillness in the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives. But if we can leave our daily concerns behind, even for a moment, the author of The Cloud reminds us that we have taken an important step towards a deeper union with God. The author writes: “The first time you practice contemplation, you’ll only experience a darkness, like a cloud of unknowing…Stay there as long as you can, crying out to [God] over and over again, because you love him. It’s the closest you can get to God here on earth, by waiting in this darkness and in this cloud.” 

From that experience, our next challenge presents itself. How do we forget everything we think we know about ourselves—our names, duties, worries—long enough to wait for God in the stillness? This humbled state is something that Richard Rohr often calls “the beginner’s mind.” He writes, “The author of The Cloud of Unknowing is always saying you’ve got to balance your knowing with a willingness not to know…first we have to enter the Cloud of Forgetting—to forget all our certitudes, all our labels, all our explanations, just forget them! They are all a waste of time. They are nothing but our ego projecting itself and announcing itself. It has nothing to do with objective reality. If the world doesn’t learn this kind of humility, what we’re calling ‘beginner’s mind’, I think we’re in trouble.” 

According to author of The Cloud of Unknowing, it’s when we have begun to regularly cultivate reaching for Divine union, that we experience a life of action and contemplation. The author writes, “The higher stage of the active life is also the lower stage of the contemplative life. That’s why you can’t be truly active unless you participate in the contemplative life, and you can’t be fully contemplative unless you participate in the active life. The active life starts and ends on earth, but the contemplative life begins on earth and never ends.”  

As our name suggests, here at the Center of Action and Contemplation, we find deep meaning in finding balance between sacred stillness and actively serving the wellbeing of others. We welcome you to bring the wisdom of the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing into the daily rhythm of your life.  

Learn more about The Cloud of Unknowing on Season 5 of Turning to the Mystics podcast with James Finley.  

Reflect with Us 

When did you first experience contemplative stillness? Share your reflection with us. 

Special gratitude for CAC Librarians Lee Staman and Seth Wilmor for their detailed and thorough research on The Cloud of Unknowing. 

We Conspire is a series from the Center for Action and Contemplation featuring wisdom and stories from the growing Christian contemplative movement. Sign up for the monthly email series and receive a free invitation to practice each month.