✶Gnosis
← Contents
Theme
37 / 80

Listen

Dhammapada · narration sample

A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.

The Cloud of Unknowing · 37 of 80

Chapter 32. Of two ghostly devices that be helpful to a ghostly beginner in the work of this book

NEVERTHELESS, somewhat of this subtlety shall I tell thee as me think. Prove thou and do better, if thou better mayest. Do that in thee is, to let be as thou wist not that they press so fast upon thee betwixt thee and thy God. And try to look as it were over their shoulders, seeking another thing: the which thing is God, enclosed in a cloud of unknowing. And if thou do thus, I trow that within short time thou shalt be eased of thy travail. I trow that an this device be well and truly conceived, it is nought else but a longing desire unto God, to feel Him and see Him as it may be here: and such a desire is charity, and it obtaineth always to be eased.

Another device there is: prove thou if thou wilt. When thou feelest that thou mayest on nowise put them down, cower thou down under them as a caitiff and a coward overcome in battle, and think that it is but a folly to thee to strive any longer with them, and therefore thou yieldest thee to God in the hands of thine enemies. And feel then thyself as thou wert foredone for ever. Take good heed of this device I pray thee, for me think in the proof of this device thou shouldest melt all to water. And surely me think an this device be truly conceived it is nought else but a true knowing and a feeling of thyself as thou art, a wretch and a filthy, far worse than nought: the which knowing and feeling is meekness. And this meekness obtaineth to have God Himself mightily descending, to venge thee of thine enemies, for to take thee up, and cherishingly dry thine ghostly eyen; as the father doth the child that is in point to perish under the mouths of wild swine or wode biting bears. p. 177

Asked of Guide

Why does the author tell the reader to 'look over their shoulders' toward the cloud of unknowing?

The author tells you to look over the shoulders of distracting thoughts in order to seek God “enclosed in a cloud of unknowing,” turning attention away from particulars toward a single longing desire to feel and see God. This act is a practical device: it reframes restlessness into yearning, which the chapter names as charity, and that yearning “obtaineth always to be eased.”

When struggle becomes too fierce, the chapter advises yielding like a defeated caitiff, feeling your littleness and filth to invoke meekness; that meekness invites God to descend and rescue you. The strategy resembles Thomas à Kempis in The Imitation of Christ, which also advocates interior surrender and humble longing as means to union with God.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.