That it should figure in likeness bodily the work of the soul ghostly; the which falleth to be upright ghostly, and not crooked ghostly. This same subjection of the body to the spirit may be in manner verily conceived in the proof of this ghostly work of this book, by them that work therein. Let every instrument, be tuned for praise! And because that ever the whiles thou livest in this wretched life, thee behoveth al- ways feel in some part this foul stinking lump of sin, as it were oned and congealed with the substance of thy being, therefore shalt thou changeably mean these two words—sin and God. Termed Equivalents, Stieglitz believed that abstract forms and monochromatic contrasts could represent corresponding inner emotional and spiritual states, coined in his own inimitable words as "vibrations of the soul". Composed in England (most probably in the East Midlands area) during the latter half of the fourteenth century, the Cloud is a spiritual handbook penned to an also anonymous twenty-four-year-old aspirant, guiding them to self-reflection and the art of contemplative prayer. Chapter 48 – 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. Chapter 32- Of two ghostly devices that be helpful to a ghostly beginner in the work of this book. It was a deep thinker as well as a great lover who wrote this: one who joined hands with the philosophers, as well as with the saints. Book the cloud of unknowing. And for the defailing of this working, a man falleth evermore deeper and deeper in sin, and further and further from God. And this may on nowise be evil, if their deceits of curiosity of wit, and of unordained straining of the fleshly heart be removed as I learn thee, or better if thou better mayest. Its infinite worth makes it incomprehensible. All these agree fairly closely; except for the facts that Harl. And therefore thee thinkest since thou hast thus very evidence, why shalt thou not direct thy mind upward bodily in the time of thy prayer?
For as all men were lost in Adam and all men that with work will witness their will of salvation are saved or shall be by virtue of the Passion of only Christ: not in the same manner, but as it were in the same manner, a soul that is perfectly disposed to this work, and oned thus to God in spirit as the proof of this work witnesseth, doth that in it is to make all men as perfect in this work as itself is. First when thou askest me what is he, this that presseth so fast upon thee in this work, proffering to help thee in this work; I say that it is a sharp and a clear beholding of thy natural wit, printed in thy reason within in thy soul. And all this is along of pride, and of fleshliness and curiosity of wit. Lines by heart: The Cloud of Unknowing. 'Where then, ' you ask, 'will I be?
With so great an authority it comes, bringing with it such wonder and such love, that "he that feeleth it may not have it suspect. " One is the filth, the wretchedness, and the frailty of man, into the which he is fallen by sin; and the which always him behoveth to feel in some part the whiles he liveth in this life, be he never so holy. The cloud of unknowing quotes car insurance. For wit they right well that Saint Martin's mantle came never on Christ's own body substan- tially, for no need that He had thereto to keep Him from cold: but by miracle and in likeness for all us that be able to be saved, that be oned to the body of Christ ghostly. So, because you love God, take care of yourself.
The lower stage of active life requires extroversion and takes place between you and the world under you, so to speak, while the higher stage of the active (lower stage of the contemplative) becomes interior and you start getting acquainted with yourself. For why, in this work a perfect worker hath no special beholding unto any man by himself, whether that he be kin or stranger, friend or foe. For why, our work should be ghostly not bodily, nor on a bodily manner wrought. Do this work evermore without ceasing and without discretion, and thou shalt well ken begin and cease in all other works with a great discretion. And yet in this time they have full deliberation of all their wits bodily or ghostly, and may use them if they desire: not without some letting (but without great letting). The interesting side effect of this agnostic approach is that it makes it harder for the rational mind to attack it, as Armstrong explains: There were only 17 manuscripts of the book originally, so it wasn't that popular during the time it was written. For I may not trow that a soul continuing in this work night and day without discretion, should err in any of these outward doings; and else, me think that he should always err. All of the 15th century; and two on paper (Royal 17 C. of the 16th century, and Royal 17 D. v. The Cloud of Unknowing | A Cloud of Forgetting. late 15th century). And I am ready to help thee, and therefore stand thou stiffly in the faith and suffer boldly the fell buffets of those hard stones: for I shall crown thee in bliss for thy meed, and not only thee, but all those that suffer persecution for Me on any manner. " For surely whoso might verily see and feel himself as he is, he should verily be meek. And for this, that Martha should not think that she might both love God and praise Him above all other business bodily or ghostly, and also thereto to be busy about the necessaries of this life: therefore to deliver her of doubt that she might not both serve God in bodily business and ghostly together perfectly-—imperfectly she may, but not perfectly—He added and said, that Mary had chosen the best part; the which should never be taken from her. Fast thou never so much, wake thou never so long, rise thou never so early, lie thou never so hard, wear thou never so sharp; yea, and if it were lawful to do—as it is not—put thou out thine eyes, cut thou out thy tongue of thy mouth, stop thou thine ears and thy nose never so fast, though thou shear away thy members, and do all the pain to thy body that thou mayest or canst think: all this would help thee right nought. BUT peradventure thou askest me, how thou shalt govern thee discreetly in meat and in sleep, and in all these other. God wouldest thou have, and sin wouldest thou lack.
Here may men see what a privy pressing of love may purchase of our Lord, before all other works that man may think. But fast after each stirring, for corruption of the flesh, it falleth down again to some thought or to some done or undone deed. And another reason is, for I would by such a hid shewing bring thee out of the boisterousness of bodily feeling into the purity and deepness of ghostly feeling; and so furthermore at the last to help thee to knit the ghostly knot of burning love betwixt thee and thy God, in ghostly onehead and according of will. "Do forth ever, more and more, so that thou be ever doing.... Mystical Texts: The Cloud of Unknowing –. Do on then fast; let see how thou bearest thee. SOME think this matter so hard and so fearful, that they say it may not be come to without much strong travail coming before, nor conceived but seldom, and that but in the time of ravishing. Let not, therefore, but travail therein till thou feel list.
"If you wish to enter into this cloud, to be at home in it, and to take up the contemplative work of love as I urge you to, there is something else you must do. By Moses's long travail and his late shewing, be understood those that may not come to the perfection of this ghostly work without long travail coming before: and yet but full seldom, and when God will vouchsafe to shew it. The third part of these two lives hangeth in this dark cloud of unknowing, with many a privy love pressed to God by Himself. Moses ere he might come to see this Ark and for to wit how it should be made, with great long travail he clomb up to the top of the mountain, and dwelled there, and wrought in a cloud six days: abiding unto the seventh day that our Lord would vouchsafe for to shew unto him the manner of this Ark-making. The cloud of unknowing free. And all this inobedience is the pain of the original. AND, therefore, if thou wilt stand and not fall, cease never in thine intent: but beat evermore on this cloud of unknowing that is betwixt thee and thy God with a sharp dart of longing love, and loathe for to think on aught under God, and go not thence for anything that be- falleth. These sudden conceits and these blind feelings be sooner learned of God than of man. Without one of these two lives may no man be safe, and where no more be but two, may no man choose the best.
In Dionise Hid Divinite, a version of the Mystica Theologia, this spiritual treasure-house was first made accessible to those outside the professionally religious class. Look then busily that thy ghostly work be nowhere bodily; and then wheresoever that that thing is, on the which thou wilfully workest in thy mind in substance, surely there art thou in spirit, as verily as thy body is in that place that thou art bodily. But a perfect prentice of necromancy knoweth this well enough, and can well ordain therefore, so that he provoke him not. Say what men say will, and let the proof witness.
"Meddle thou not therewith, as thou wouldest help it, for dread lest thou spill all. You can't always keep your zest for contemplation. For he will sometime, me think, make me weep full heartily for pity of the Passion of Christ, sometime for my wretchedness, and for many other reasons, that me thinketh be full holy, and that done me much good.